Getting a plane certified

Talk about airplanes! At last count, there are 39 (and growing) FAA certificated S-LSA (special light sport aircraft). These are factory-built ready to fly airplanes. If you can't afford a factory-built LSA, consider buying an E-LSA kit (experimental LSA - up to 99% complete).

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3Dreaming
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Re: Getting a plane certified

Post by 3Dreaming »

HAPPYDAN wrote:
Possum69 wrote:I did talk with the EAA got some good feed back, But still like to get every ones feed back
Great bunch of folks, they are! They were building a twin engine ultralight while I was there, similar to one in the museum. Can't imagine what sort of certification, if any, that will require.
If it is a ultralight it requires no certification. If it is not an ultralight it can be certified as a experimental amueture built.
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Re: Getting a plane certified

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If you can turn the fat ultralight into a single seater, then as long at it weighs in at 254 pounds or less empty, and has a fuel capacity of 5 gallons or less, I believe you can still fly it under Part 103 ultralight rules. But to register it as an Experimental Amateur Built LSA, you would have to present a Designated Airworthiness Representative with documentation showing that you did at least 51% of the work.
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3Dreaming
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Re: Getting a plane certified

Post by 3Dreaming »

drseti wrote:If you can turn the fat ultralight into a single seater, then as long at it weighs in at 254 pounds or less empty, and has a fuel capacity of 5 gallons or less, I believe you can still fly it under Part 103 ultralight rules. But to register it as an Experimental Amateur Built LSA, you would have to present a Designated Airworthiness Representative with documentation showing that you did at least 51% of the work.
If you are referring to my comment I was speaking to this posted by HAPPYDAN about the guys at EAA, "Great bunch of folks, they are! They were building a twin engine ultralight while I was there, similar to one in the museum. Can't imagine what sort of certification, if any, that will require.".
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Re: Getting a plane certified

Post by drseti »

Ahhhh...
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Re: Getting a plane certified

Post by TimTaylor »

There is a twin engine ultralight kit available. I don't remember what it's called.
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Re: Getting a plane certified

Post by 3Dreaming »

I remember one like this from the 70's or 80's at Oshkosh. They even flew it in the airshow demonstration aerobatics.
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Re: Getting a plane certified

Post by HAPPYDAN »

I believe that may be the same one in the Museum. One of the Docents said it was used by National Geo in Africa for filming a documentary. The plane the guys were building in the Marks/Weeks hangar north of the field was a kit, donated by someone who bought it but couldn't build it.
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Re: Getting a plane certified

Post by 3Dreaming »

HAPPYDAN wrote:I believe that may be the same one in the Museum. One of the Docents said it was used by National Geo in Africa for filming a documentary. The plane the guys were building in the Marks/Weeks hangar north of the field was a kit, donated by someone who bought it but couldn't build it.
I believe the airplane the National Geographic used was an Aircam. Definitely not LSA or ultralight, though it does have some ultralight genes.
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rsteele
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Re: Getting a plane certified

Post by rsteele »

drseti wrote:If you can turn the fat ultralight into a single seater, then as long at it weighs in at 254 pounds or less empty, and has a fuel capacity of 5 gallons or less, I believe you can still fly it under Part 103 ultralight rules. But to register it as an Experimental Amateur Built LSA, you would have to present a Designated Airworthiness Representative with documentation showing that you did at least 51% of the work.
This isn't quite right. You have to convince them that 51% was built by amateurs for educational or recreational purposes (i.e., someone didn't build for hire). To restate: the person registering the plane doesn't have to be the one that built it. The built-it-myself argument is only required to get the repairman certificate, which is only needed for the annual inspection sign-off, not for doing actual repairs.

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Re: Getting a plane certified

Post by 3Dreaming »

rsteele wrote:
drseti wrote:If you can turn the fat ultralight into a single seater, then as long at it weighs in at 254 pounds or less empty, and has a fuel capacity of 5 gallons or less, I believe you can still fly it under Part 103 ultralight rules. But to register it as an Experimental Amateur Built LSA, you would have to present a Designated Airworthiness Representative with documentation showing that you did at least 51% of the work.
This isn't quite right. You have to convince them that 51% was built by amateurs for educational or recreational purposes (i.e., someone didn't build for hire). To restate: the person registering the plane doesn't have to be the one that built it. The built-it-myself argument is only required to get the repairman certificate, which is only needed for the annual inspection sign-off, not for doing actual repairs.

Ron
To add to this, you don't have to build 51% to get the repairman certificate. A group of 4 can build a kit where 51% is completed for education or recreation. All 4 can have equal roles completing 12.75%. Any 1 of the 4 can apply for the repairman certificate, but only 1 repairman certificate will be issued per aircraft.

Also worth noting that there is no Experimental Amateur Built LSA classification. It is either Experimental Amateur Built or Experimental LSA. There is a big difference between the two. Experimental LSA does not require any specific build percentage requirements, only that it conform to a ASTM approved aircraft, except for the previously grandfathered aircraft.
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Re: Getting a plane certified

Post by drseti »

Ron and Tom, your comments are 100% correct. Thanks for clarifying my oversimplification of the 51% rule.
The opinions posted are those of one CFI, and do not necessarily represent the FAA or its lawyers.
Prof H Paul Shuch
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[email protected]
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