These are examples of the excellent articles found in our award-winning chapter newsletter.
| Are
you operating legally? by Mel Asberry |
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| Is your amateur-built aircraft operating
legally? There are many times we do things to our airplanes to improve
them. We must be very careful to assure that the Airworthiness Certificate
is valid. Have you changed your engine? Prop? Have you done anything that
significantly changes the flight characteristics? What does your operating
limitations allow you to do without recertification? Sometimes we think
that the FARs are a bit picky. But what will your insurance carrier say if
you have a problem and they find that your Airworthiness Certificate is
invalid? They most likely won’t pay the claim and you have therefore
wasted all those premiums.
The operating limitations for amateur-built aircraft change periodically. The ones issued for your aircraft do not change. You must comply with whatever your limitations say. If a change comes out that you like better than what you have, you can petition you local FSDO to update them. But it doesn’t happen automatically. For example, my limitations state that if I change engines I must fill out a new Airworthiness application (8130-6), notify the local FSDO |
and put the airplane back into phase I. They
will then approve (or not) my test area and forward the 8130-6 to Oklahoma
City to update the registry. I, then and only then, can fly the aircraft
for a minimum of 5 hr., make the appropriate logbook entry and return to
phase II. Later operating limitations state that you must go through this
procedure if you change the TYPE of engine. i.e. reciprocating to turbine
or if you change a fixed pitch propeller to or from a controllable pitch
prop.
Another thing to be concerned about is, if you modify your airplane outside the scope of your operating limitations, they are no longer valid. Even if you return the airplane to the old configuration, you have broken the chain and are no longer in compliance. This was fought in the courts a few years ago (and lost). Bottom line is: Make sure you are operating within your operating limitations. Otherwise you may be paying those insurance premiums for nothing.
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| Sport
Pilot - Is it really here? by Mel Asberry |
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In December the FAA held a prototype seminar in Oklahoma City to determine what information should be included in the training seminars for the new Light Sport Aircraft certification. This was a “working” seminar and only about 22 people were invited. Most attendees were from the FAA and industry (DAR wantabes). I was one of only four current DARs. I was invited for my experience with amateur-built aircraft. Other DARs were there to provide input concerning powered parachutes, trikes, gyroplanes and lighter than air.At the beginning of the meeting on Tuesday morning it was expressed that the first training seminar would probably be in January 2005. By the end of the meeting Thursday afternoon that prediction had been changed to "maybe March". The regs concerning the certification process have a lot of problems. There are basically two categories for Light Sport Aircraft. Special LSA Category covers aircraft that are factory built, test flown and sold ready to fly. DARs for SLSA will be able to issue Special Airworthiness Certificates and special flight permits for test flying. Experimental LSA covers those aircraft built from kits. These kits are not required to meet the 51% rule as amateur-built are. The kit manufacturer may provide as much as 99% of the work. These kits must be assembled exactly according to instructions supplied by the kit manufacturer. After certification they may be modified or altered. (I didn't say it made sense.) DARs for E-SLA will be able to issue Experimental Airworthiness Certificates for the purpose of operating Light Sport Aircraft very similar to the present amateur-built aircraft. |
One major difference between amateur-built and light sport aircraft comes in how maintenance and inspections are performed. Whereas an amateur builder may obtain a repairman's certificate allowing him/her to perform the annual condition inspection simply upon the basis of having built 51% of the aircraft, the LSA owner/builder must complete an 80 hr. course to perform maintenance and the condition inspection or a 16 hr. course to just do the condition inspection. These classes will be conducted by FAA and are still being developed. If the owner chooses not to complete this training, he can always hire an A&P mechanic to perform these tasks.Another group included in the E-LSA is the "existing fleet". This includes the presently flying ultralights that do not actually meet part 103 regs for one reason or another. This group also includes the 2-place ultralights flying under an "instruction only" exemption. These "existing" aircraft will have until January 2008 to be eligible for LSA certification. After that, it's a new ball game. Don't ask the obvious question. At this time no one has the answer.As the regs are written now an LSA aircraft may not have retractable landing gear. A seaplane may have a repositionable gear, but it may not be operable from the cockpit. As you might guess, this is not popular with the amphib guys.The other rather large gray area deals with how the driver’s license/medical is handled. But that's an operational issue. We DARs have enough on our plate without getting into operations.There will be several changes in the near future. Surprised?
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