Nope ... the builder is the mfr same as Cessna or Piper. The kit company is just a vendor to the manufacturer. Now whether someone would sue successfully is another issue ...

All that said, why not sawzall 3 feet off the wings and then put the gear in cement blocks at a playground. Kids woud LOVE LOVE LOVE to get in an move the controls.

Oh well...

I'm pretty close to sure that the answer is 'no.'

But as someone else mentioned, paying for a defense can be ruinously expensive. EAA should offer some kind of liability legal defense product for cases like this.

Playground equipment liability can be a big bummer too.

Didn't Richard Collins of Flying Magazine fame have his C210 destroyed for the same reason? N130RC I think was the N number. He bought it new and flew it for many hours and years. Just did not want to risk selling it and future liability.

Yeah, but it's attached to the owner not the manufacturer. Suspect someone would have bought it from him for $1

I feel I am only the caretaker of my airplane, and it is the same if you build one, after you enjoy it you should allow someone else to do so too, ideally your son. Cutting up a wonderful RV-8 is a deed that makes that person undeserving to be an aviator. If he is so scared (or better, the lawyers succeeded in really scaring him), spray it with Corrosion-X, pickle the engine as per Continental guidelines, hang it up in your hangar, and let your estate make it available to another aviator.

Sorry guys, given the "Hollywood Polish" (background music) on this video this was someone wanting to make a statement, not someone truly worried about liability. I put it over in the BS column.

I agree with Tom. There are "solutions" to this problem. Letting the estate take care of it is one that makes a lot of sense.

I figure this guy is "a nut".

This fellow and my friend that took his apart would find a lot of commonality I believe.

Jgreen

What a Travesty! That plane could have been donated to a school for instructional purposes etc., what a crying shame to destroy it. SMH!

Could have been donated to a museum, given to an A&P school, hung inside an airport, or have been handed down to a family member. Sink it off of Catalina Island as a dive attraction. Give it to the local airport as a wind indicator. He could have done anything with it! He clearly doesn't need the tax writeoff so no need to limit ideas to 501s.

I'm glad he can casually toss aside that kind of money (really) but this is obviously about the attention. Why else post on youtube? If it's a statement, why not put your name to it?

Sad to see a good plane that could have continued to serve general aviation chopped up for no good reason.

I flew a Tbone for seven years in the 80's and 90's. I bought a second one that was in really poor condition to get the engines when one on my Tbone broke a generator shaft and made metal.

I installed the "good" engine on my airplane while having my old one rebuilt, sold the 2nd engine for a core. That left me with the airframe which was in pretty bad shape.

I wanted to take it out to a piece of land I owned on State Hwy #8, dig a hole and stick the airplane in it up to the windshield, tail up, like it had crashed. Then, I was going to put a smoke generator in it, just for funsies. Yea, I'm a little at times.

My wife said "**** no", somebody would have a wreck looking at it and sue us.

So, I gave it to the Mississippi State Fire Academy. I am told they still use it for training.

I do seriously believe that we are stewards of all of our assets. We should be good stewards.
This man was not.

Jgreen

If you destroy your airplane to blame in on the ''risk of liability." I have many words to describe you, none are good. My dad was killed in a second hand experimental, think we had a case? Nope. This guy reminds of those bratty kids you grew up that had nice things but would never share them. You'll see a child that, rather than share his toy, would destroy it to keep you from playing with it. Sometimes they grow up and nothing changes.

From the video, it looks like he'd pulled the engine, avionics, even the tires, hoses, and brake lines. Then he sold the airframe for scrap. He didn't "scrap a $100,000 airplane;" he parted it out.

He could've pulled the wings and sold them on barnstormers. He could've done the same with the fuselage. Some RV builders would've happily put them on their projects.

No class.

This is stupid. If he were so worried about liability why does he fly? He could have crashed into a school yard. Why does he drive? Why does he take any risks at all? Why would he sell parts of the plane? This is a guy with an attitude about "the state of this country" and this is his way of proving it. Stupid.

Q: What do you do when the value of your RV-8 as a flying airplane is less than that of the engine, prop, and avionics?

A: Part it out. Sell the major components for more than I could otherwise get for the whole airplane, take the basically worthless fuselage and crush it. Make a funny movie, post on youtube to get a bunch of people wound up, oh, and I'm still pissed off at that attorney who sued me a few years ago, so let's blame it all on the lawyers!

It's funny to watch so many otherwise smart guys on here get played!