Could you buy the data plate off a wrecked EAB and then have a shop rebuild it?

Why? There are many people that have kit planes built for them. You think many of those Lancair guys are building Evolutions? I think a good number of Evolutions fly out of Oregon. There is a ''builder assist'' company on the same airport as Lancair....

I am pretty sure you could if you wanted to do so.

The only advantage I can think of at the moment is that you may be able to bypass the test period and associated travel restrictions. But this time is a good investment in a lot of cases.

Or, maybe you want to recreate an historic aircraft that was damaged beyond repair, that would be cool.

You will never be able to get the repairman certificate as you are not the original builder, whereas you could if you helped the shop enough to qualify for the 51 percent rule on a new serial number.

A new serial number will have a few more hoops to jump through with the feds and some would say a bit of liability if it ever leaves your possession.

So, what are you doing? Enquiring minds, you know.

Purely theoretical.

There was a comment on another thread about someone being conservative with their RV in crosswinds - not wanting to smash it after all that work. My thought was that what's the big deal - insurance can pay a shop to fix it. Which got me wondering just how far that could go. Seemed like an interesting legal loophole to legally build an experimental from scratch without any personal involvement.

There was a comment on another thread about someone being conservative with their RV in crosswinds - not wanting to smash it after all that work. My thought was that what's the big deal - insurance can pay a shop to fix it.

I agree my comment is a little callous. I can see how building an airplane would make someone particularly attached to the fruits of their labor. I get that. And I didn't respond in that way, because it seemed like a jerk thing to say.

But I thought it. And it was what gave birth to my "Could a shop repair an EAB data plate" idea.

I've seen several super cubs built entirely around a data plate.

Nope. If you change engines (which this would be) or make major changes to control surfaces (which this would be) and many other conditions all require a restart of phase 1 testing. Now, if you rebuild exactly the same, you may get away with a 25 hour test period versus the 40.

Tim

Exactly.

Does Phase I require FAA/DPE oversight?

Now we are getting way beyond my knowledge. The oversight and rules are determined by the DAR and/or the FSDO if understand correctly. Usually the rules stipulate such things as testing area, VMC/IMC type limitations....

Tim

The operating limitations on the RV that I built had no such oversight. Any change that required going back into phase one was a log entry by me, and then after 5 hours another log entry and good to go again.



Now we are getting way beyond my knowledge. The oversight and rules are determined by the DAR and/or the FSDO if understand correctly. Usually the rules stipulate such things as testing area, VMC/IMC type limitations....

Tim

I don't think I understand the question. If you bought a data plate and "then had it rebuilt", aren't you just buying a wrecked EAB airplane? If your goal is to own an EAB airplane and not have your name on the data plate, why not just buy a flying airplane?

I must be missing something.

Robert

Edit: This does make the think about wrecking an insured EAB airplane from the builders perspective. Say the builder never intends to sell the plane for liability reasons, but insures the airplane. If he bends the plane and it becomes the property of the insurance company and might be returned to service. Maybe another reason not to buy hull coverage on an experimental.