Experimenter

JAN 2013

Experimenter is a magazine created by EAA for people who build airplanes. We will report on amateur-built aircraft as well as ultralights and other light aircraft.

Issue link: http://experimenter.epubxp.com/i/101874

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 51 of 55

Hangar Debrief Building Your Homebuilt Using the New FAA Major Portion Checklist Why should you care about this bureaucratic subject? By Joe Gauthier Why should you care about the FAA's newest (in 2009) major portion rule checklist? The answer is both simple and complex. (How about that for polar opposites?) An amateur aircraft builder is required to build 51 percent, or the major portion, of an aircraft for recreation or education. The rules that allow amateurs to build their own plane require that it be solely for educational or recreational purposes. Only a carefully measured amount of commercial assistance is allowed. Fortunately we have kit companies that make it possible for many to build their own aircraft by providing kits that meet the FAA rules, so you don't have to worry about it. Or do you? By the way, it's okay to use prefab wheels, brakes, nuts and bolts engines, avionics, paint, upholstery, etc. No one, not even the FAA, requires the builder to mine for ore, cast metal parts, or build such things as engines, instruments, wheels, tires, brakes, cosmetics, and interior goodies. However, if you wish, you have the freedom to do it all. About the Checklist We've used checklists to determine compliance with major portion assessments by the amateur and the FAA since early in the 1970s. The checklist came into existence in the mid-1970s right after the Christen Eagle showed up as a "very" complete kit. People came to believe that the Eagle kit was far too complete to be certificated as an amateurbuilt aircraft. An FAA/industry working group was formed, and it developed the checklist; associated techniques were added to the homebuilders list of required knowledge. Also, new terms were added to our vocabulary, such as "tasks" and "compensation," which we'll explain shortly. In 1996 the FAA produced an advisory circular 52 Vol.2 No.1 / January 2013 (AC) on the subject of commercial assistance; it became AC 20-139. Since that time, that AC has been incorporated into the AC on homebuilt aircraft, AC 20-27. You should get to know them as part of your education into the world of homebuilt aircraft. The early checklist could be found on FAA Form 8000.38. It was used successfully for years, right through the Van's, Lancair, Kitfox, and Glasair, etc. era with little fuss and fanfare. It worked, and life was good. The checklist was used by the FAA for evaluating kits to be added to the FAA's List of Eligible Kits and further used by field personnel, when needed, to establish major portion questions when (not if) those issues arose. So why did we get a new checklist in 2009? Connect those dots directly to the FAA's concern about and attention to commercial assistance shops (sometimes known as professional builders) that had been going on for a couple years, and you would be very close to understanding the reason why the FAA became pressured into doing something. Yes, the checklist resulted from blatant abuse by professional shops and individual builders who recognized there was money to be made building aircraft for those who had the money, but neither the time nor skills to build. This nefarious activity was moving forward very quickly until homebuilt aircraft performance and design sophistication was noticed by the general aviation manufacturers. They realized there was performance available in homebuilt aircraft that standard-category airplanes couldn't deliver. The perception of safety in homebuilt aircraft reached levels that were also attractive. This dramatic upturn in commercial activity, and the pressure manufacturers felt by competing interests, worried the FAA, and it took intense

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of Experimenter - JAN 2013