All,
The reason the "spinner topic" has been "beat to death so many times"
is that it has not yet been conclusively resolved. I shall attempt
once again to do that so we shall not forever continue to "beat a dead
horse".
We were all new to the Ercoupe (et al) once. At that time our limited
"frame of reference" was insufficient to separate good information from
misinformation. We need to inform these people, not confuse them.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but they are not entitled
to muddy clear water for others in the process. The process is not a
democratic one, in which strong opinions prevail over actual pertinent
facts. Accordingly, the facts should speak for themselves.
FAR Section 91.7(a) states: "No person shall operate a civil aircraft
unless it is in airworthy condition...".
The FAA interpretation of "airworthy" is in Order 8130.2D, Fig. 8-1,
which refers to Title 49 Section 44704 (c) and CFR part 21. The
statutory language requires that:
"The aircraft must conform to its TC (type certificate). Conformity
to type
design is considered attained when the aircraft configuration and the
components installed are consistent with the drawings, specifications,
and other data that are part of the TC, and would include any STC and
field approved alterations incorporated into the aircraft."
An Ercoupe without a spinner is NOT AIRWORTHY because the spinner
drawing and all production drawings depicting the aircraft with the
spinner installed "are part of the TC" to which conformance is
mandatory. There is no more authoritative document in relationship to
a particular airplane than its type certificate.
An Ercoupe with a skull cap (or other non-standard spinner) whose
installation in place of the original is not properly documented as a
"field approved alteration" is similarly NOT AIRWORTHY!
ERCO's manufacturing process was never itself approved by the CAA.
Instead, ERCO employed certain persons authorized by the CAA to flight
test each plane and personally certify that it conformed in every
respect to the applicable type certificate before the Airworthiness
Certificate could be issued. The ERCO Equipment List that was
submitted to the CAA for every Ercoupe lists 24 items as "STANDARD -
Installed on all Airplanes". The spinner is item no. 22.
Regards,
William R. Bayne
.____|-(o)-|____.
(Copyright 2009)
--
On Sep 1, 2009, at 15:09, Bob Swinney wrote:
Amen........
--- On Tue, 9/1/09, kgassert <[email protected]> wrote:
From: kgassert <[email protected]>
Subject: [ercoupe-tech] Re: Skull cap spinner
To: [email protected]
Date: Tuesday, September 1, 2009, 1:50 PM
Sorry but the parts catalog is just that, a parts catalog with a list
of parts and where they are applicable. Applicable, not mandatory.
The mandatory stuff is in the TC and equipment list. This spinner
topic has been beat to death so many times you can read about it in
the archives for hours. How many of you guys have your sun shade and
glove boxes??? They are in the parts manual you know. How about those
little chrome trim strips on the panel. Need any more examples?
Kevin1
