At 05:06 PM 5/28/98 -0500, you wrote:
>On the Ellison site there was a link to an "Interesting court decision
>about homebuilt aircraft which may affect your insurance coverage." The
>gist of this decision was that the builders insurance claim was denied
>because the builder made a modification to his homebuilt after the FAA
>certified the plane and failed to notify the FAA of the change.
>
>This surprised me. I was under the impression that when I get my
>Repairman's Certificate I am free to make modifications to my homebuilt
>without recertifying the plane.
>
I just read the court's decision. Very interesting. I guess I was a
little off base in my previous e-mail.
What the court said was that if you build your plane to look like A, and
then you modify the fuel system to look like B, and then you decide you
don't like it and rip it out, and make it look exactly like A again, that
your aircraft is no longer certified, and thus you are flying illegally.
The very act of making any modification having any "appreciable effect on
the weight, balance, structural strength, reliability, operational
characteristics, or other characteristics affecting the airworthiness of
the product..." (including fuel system changes), renders your airplane no
longer legal, until you have it recertified.
No matter that you have restored it to its original "certified" condition.
Boy, that's a new one on me! Kinda takes the "experimental" out of
experimental aircraft, doesn't it! I predict a flurry of accidental log
omissions.
Dave Morris
Soon to be N55UP
PPSEL, Dragonfly, CAF, EAA
Dragonfly pictures, info, and links at:
http://www.davemorris.com/dave/dfly.html
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