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/118927
H o m e b uil d e r 's C or n e r The Type Club Coalition… …and you By Rick Weiss, Chairman, EAA Homebuilt Aircraft Council The Type Club Coalition (TCC) is an entity you should get to know more about because it could be the resource you need to learn more about your type of aircraft. This is especially true for all of you orphan aircraft owners—that is, owners of plans/kit-built aircraft that are no longer supported by the original designer/manufacturer. The formation of type clubs happens primarily to promote safety, but there are numerous other benefits associated with like type owners getting together, such as operational standardization, maintenance issues, design improvements, etc. Recent EAA Sport Aviation articles have emphasized the importance and advantages of forming a type club. Since the recent issuance of the National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB) report, "The Safety of Experimental Amateur-Built Aircraft," your EAA Homebuilt Aircraft Council has been reviewing the types of orphan homebuilt aircraft and have found that, although like owners network with one another and share information, there is very little documentation that helps promote safety. A formal type club could provide the following help for the individual types: • standard pilot's operating handbook (POH), though we recognize that the numbers will be somewhat different due to individual configurations, weights, etc. • aircraft information manual—useful information not contained in the POH, such as background information, questionnaire, building/flying tips, accident reports, etc. • parts pool—very important with limited kits, offering the potential to reduce costs • scheduled fly-ins/membership meetings • periodic newsletters • published membership list • primary point of contact for EAA Headquarters to disseminate information • Members who have a letter of deviation authorization (LODA) can provide formal checkouts and proficiency checks in experimental amateur-built (E-AB) aircraft of the same type or similar. Learn more here. Any EAA members who build an aircraft and use the expertise of a technical counselor and flight advisor, and subsequently maintain proficiency in their aircraft while properly maintaining it, can expect to have many hours of accident-free flying comparable to or better than the overall general aviation (GA) safety record. However, as the NTSB report points out, E-AB aircraft represent nearly 10 percent of the U.S. GA fleet, but account for approximately 15 percent of the total accidents and 21 percent of the fatal U.S. GA accidents. We must take steps to reduce these numbers if we expect to continue to exercise our freedoms of building and flying E-AB aircraft. Remember, this freedom is not in the Constitution or Bill of Rights. It's a privilege granted to us by our government. If the accident numbers don't show improvement, the FAA could restrict our activities, add additional rules and requirements, or take away this precious right. It's our responsibility as builders and pilots to not let this happen. As the preeminent expert in this area of aviation, EAA remains in the forefront of these issues and continually educates and helps the FAA to understand how we, as builders and pilots, can safely go about our business of enjoying our sport. For specific information on how to form your own type club, call EAA's TCC coordinator, Tom Charpentier of the EAA Advocacy and Safety Department, at 920-426-6522. Do it now. Then go dream it, build it, and fly it—safely! On the cover: George Richards fies his Falco in his native New Zealand. (Photography by Darryn Morgan) 2 Vol.2 N o.4 / A pril 2013