Sport Pilot Talk

I saw a Flight Design CTSW, 2005 with only 323 total time on Barnstormers for the ridiculous price of $32,000, no damage, decent avionics and always hangared.
Too good to be true,right?

So I called the broker handling the sale and here is the situation:
The aircraft is SLSA and the engine has a time limitation that is expired, so it needs to have an overhaul or engine replacement to get in annual.
So great, just change over to ELSA and just keep flying it.
Problem is, to put it into ELSA it must be a current annual. It’s out of annual.
So there it is, a great deal until you figure what it’s going to take to get it flying.
I guess if you have access to a replacement motor, get an annual, do the ELSA changeover and put the original engine back in when it’s converted.
Just thought I’d throw this out there for discussion as I have never seen a situation like this before.
Dave

Borrow a motor or buy and resell a used motor. Of course that all has you circling the money drain.

It’s prolly a ULS. If all else is true, 323 TT, always hang’d and NDH, it sounds good for someone who has another $20-30k to spend. That will give you an overhaul on the existing engine or a new 912. Go EAB, put in a 912 iS. $60k still ain’t bad IMO.

Sling 2 Pilot wrote:Go EAB...

E-LSA, right?

To put it in ELSA it has to have a current annual.
Putting in $20-30k defeats the great bargain.
May as well buy one for $60 k without having to jump thru so many obstacles.
Just doesn’t sound right, I believe there were some discussions about this issue on the CT forum on this mandatory overhaul based on time.
The problem is finding an A&P who will do an annual on it under those circumstances.
Dave

N601XP wrote:I saw a Flight Design CTSW, 2005 with only 323 total time on Barnstormers for the ridiculous price of $32,000, no damage, decent avionics and always hangared.
Too good to be true,right?

So I called the broker handling the sale and here is the situation:
The aircraft is SLSA and the engine has a time limitation that is expired, so it needs to have an overhaul or engine replacement to get in annual.
So great, just change over to ELSA and just keep flying it.
Problem is, to put it into ELSA it must be a current annual. It’s out of annual.
So there it is, a great deal until you figure what it’s going to take to get it flying.
I guess if you have access to a replacement motor, get an annual, do the ELSA changeover and put the original engine back in when it’s converted.
Just thought I’d throw this out there for discussion as I have never seen a situation like this before.
Dave

Sell the old engine to the homebuilt market, then put a new 2000 hour/15 year engine in it. You will have a low time airplane with a new engine for less than $50,000.

Personally I think I can make a pretty good case for going on condition. Flight Design doesn't have a TBO listed for the engine in their maintenance manual. What they do say is to follow Rotax's manual for inspections and maintenance. Rotax's inspection checklist doesn't say anything about TBO. The requirement to follow the manual for maintenance doesn't mean you have to perform the overhaul, but rather if you perform maintenance you must follow the manual.

Until the FAA clarifies its 2 opposing legal interpretations you can be on either side of the fence. Besides inspecting on condition using CFR 43 appendix D should be considered satisfactory means of inspecting the airplane, since it is their own.

I should probably know this, but I don't... what regulation mandates that the plane have a current annual before being allowed to be converted?

Don’t know the regulation or if there even is one.
The DAR doing my conversion of SLSA to ELSA
Made it very clear that he would be checking the logs for a current condition inspection and it was required.
Dave

Nice airplane.
So much for Elsa being worth less than Slsa.
I wonder if the engine has the case fretting issues. I believe 2005 falls in the time frame.
The engine may be a candidate for a short block replacement rather than a complete engine.

N601XP wrote:Don’t know the regulation or if there even is one.
The DAR doing my conversion of SLSA to ELSA
Made it very clear that he would be checking the logs for a current condition inspection and it was required.
Dave

I think you have a case to ask him to prove that. FAA ORder 8130.2J doesn't mention that at all

Type47 wrote: I wonder if the engine has the case fretting issues. I believe 2005 falls in the time frame.

Unfortunately, it does. Any crankcase s/n lower than 06.0010 is the old design, which is in fact vulnerable to case fretting. But just because it's vulnerable doesn't mean the problem will necessarily develop on that particular engine.

As far as the 12 year TBO limitation is concerned, even in an SLSA it's not mandated in the FARs. The FAA Legal Interpretation that says the manufacturer can't mandate maintenance is more recent that the earlier one that says they can. So you'd be on solid legal ground running the engine on condition. If the A&P/IA won't sign off the aircraft because of this, take the plane to an LSRM, who knows the ASTM rules and probably will!

Have you flown a 2005? There are some differences.

Where is the airplane?