Warbird Information Exchange

Kermit Weeks is due to fly his Benoist XIV replica across Tampa Bay on 1 January--less than six days from now as I write this. Won't he have to fly off 50 hours (uncertificated engine) before the airplane is signed off by the FAA, or will his Tampa/St. Pete flights be considered part of the standard homebuilt/experimental test program?

This article addresses all the concerns:
http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninter ... nt/2158517

It gets signed off before it flies, then has a defined fly off period that could have a max of 40 hours or as little as 5.



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http://www.biplanerides1.com/

Interesting. When I built my Falco it was 25 hours within 25 nm of "base" with a certificated engine, 50 hours noncertified engine. Have things changed that much?

It has been 25 hours with a certified engine/prop and 40 with a non-certified engine/prop for as long as I remember - that goes back almost 20 years.

I meant 40, not 50. My mistake. And my flying goes back 47 years...

Maybe the local FAA or a DAR might allow this FAR to apply:
§21.197 Special flight permits.
(a) A special flight permit may be issued for an aircraft that may not currently meet applicable airworthiness requirements but is capable of safe flight, for the following purposes:

(1) Flying the aircraft to a base where repairs, alterations, or maintenance are to be performed, or to a point of storage.

(2) Delivering or exporting the aircraft.

(3) Production flight testing new production aircraft.

(4) Evacuating aircraft from areas of impending danger.

(5) Conducting customer demonstration flights in new production aircraft that have satisfactorily completed production flight tests.

Got a flyable Benoist just sittin' around here waiting for warmer weather.

http://www.duluthaviationinstitute.org/

Just sayin'...

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It was a good idea, it just didn't work.

IIRC Kermit has worked pretty closely with these guys and their replica.

I wasn't trying to one up ya, Stephan. If it came across that way, I apologize. My 20 year comment was just to allow some wiggle room if the reg's changed before I got into the experimental side of aviation.

Sorry, that was rude of me.

Four days to go, and he's not had it on the water yet. I think he posted that he needs to fly off 10 hours before the Feds will sign it off for the event in St Petersburg on Wednesday morning. I'd estimate 2 days to bust it down, truck it there and reassemble it, so that leaves today and tomorrow to put it on the water, fly off the 10 hours and fix all the snags. A big ask! I hope he makes it.

I think there is some confusion here between the requirements for certification under the Experimental - Amateur Built category, which would apply to the Falco, and Experimental - Exhibition. The Benoist would have to be certified under the latter category since the owner did not build at least 51%.

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Rob C

Historically, the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels; it is a way to avoid debate by claiming that the matter is already settled. “

– Michael Crichton

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