AS I LISTENED TO NIKOLCE POPOVSKI, EAA 102536, OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, EXPLAIN ALL THE
THINGS HE WOULD HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY DURING HIS EIGHT-YEAR RESTORATION OF
HIS TAYLORCRAFT L- 2, I SILENTLY WONDERED IF HE WAS HIS OWN WORST CRITIC.
I DON’T PROFESS TO BE AN EXPERT in award-winning
restorations, but after inspecting Nick’s olive drab
Taylorcraft, it sure looked like a winner to me. I
wasn’t the only one who felt this way; Nick’s little
“warbug” was christened Best L-Bird during the
2010 Sun ’n Fun International Fly-In & Expo.
As Nick continued on about replacing the fabric
twice and the windows four times, I couldn’t take it
anymore and blurted out, “Perfectionist.” Without
missing a beat Nick smiled and said, “It’s old school,
and it’s the only way I know.”
OLD SCHOOL IN THE OLD COUNTRY
Born in the late 1950s and raised in Yugoslavia in the
area now known as Macedonia, Nick began flying
gliders during his teenage years. He eventually
acquired more than 500 hours in gliders, became a
glider instructor, and was crowned Macedonian
Regional Glider Champion. Although Nick loved to
soar high in the mountain updrafts through the
never-ending thermals, he wanted to try his hand at
powered flight as well.
