Ed, The concept that you wrote up for the two-tier owner/AP sounds reasonable. I know you were not be exclusionary, but please, don't forget to add Alons, Forneys and Mooney M-10s to your writings. Although we often use Ercoupe and Coupe to include the ERCO, FORNEY, ALON and MOONEY aircraft, the FAA rules will be applied more strickly.
I would like to explore in more depth exactly how the certifications would be handled for the coupes group. Our type club is not adequate to handle training certification at the moment, although it would be (simple?) enough to set up a committee to draft specific student and teacher curriculums, oversee the initial selection of instructors, and set up a certification procedure (pursuant to subsequent FAA requirements). Would you propose that both levels of certification be required to pass the AP rating test in order to have a general knowledge of aircraft systems? For example, I've learned a lot about the coupe over the past two years, but I'm still learning some basic stuff; for example, what a truss head screw is and about different lubricants specific to aircraft. What little I know about corrosion I learned from a John Wright lecture specific to the wing corrosion. But I don't know anything about corrosion in general--like on bolts, where I presume it could also be a problem. I hope that this certification concept doesn't turn into a "cheap" way to maintain our aircraft. I suggest that the planners put some effort into turning out qualified (tier 1) APs and (tier 2) AIs that would receive respect from FAA officials and traditional AP/AIs. Maybe the aviation colleges would even teach the aircraft specific courses over short time periods on weekends or evenings for owners; provided they had proper course material from the type club. As with Ed, my comments are also intended to elicit imput--positive and critical. Ken Doyle Springfield, Mo Alon N5477E
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