March 2008 Chapter 898 Website EAA898.ORG
BUYING AND AIRCRAFT OR KIT AIRCRAFT
I have been researching the purchase of an aircraft. What I have found is an order of events and research which starts with the personal requirements of the purchaser. The first requirement is financial. How many hours do you intend to fly each year. What fixed expenses are involved. Hanger cost, tie down cost, initial insurance cost. Then you must choose the payload required, and how much fuel you will need with this payload, this will give you the total useful load (gross weight minus basic empty weight). This is a very important step. You cannot exceed this weight at a later time but being conservative will add to the price of the aircraft. What is your intended purpose for the aircraft. If you want to fly locally or do extensive cross country flights.
Now you can start looking at aircraft. If you only use it for local fun flying with one other person you may want to consider a light sport aircraft. If you want some speed then you may want to look at the Cessna Citation. If you want to be able to carry a load a Boeing 747 may be the plane for you. There are plenty of planes between a light sport and a 747.
There are some problems in buying a plane which you do not have the qualification for. If you are a private pilot and you buy a pressurized plane you will pay a fortune in insurance. If you buy a plane with retractable gear and you have never flown a retractable aircraft before, you can plan on between 10 and 25 hours with an instructor and around 10 solo hour before the insurance company will allow you to take up friends and family.
These are just the beginning steps and you will need lots of research to choose the aircraft that is right for you. If you are building an aircraft you will need to research the kits which match your mechanical skills.
Gene Bunt
"Pilots
track their lives by the number of hours in the air, as if any other kind of
time isn't worth noting."
-Michael
Parfit, Smithsonian Magazine, May 2000
FAA Places Moratorium on New Additions to 51 Percent Approved List
Amateur-built ARC report published
The FAA today issued the final report of the Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) that it appointed more than 18 months ago to investigate and make recommendations regarding the interpretation and enforcement of the amateur-building “51 percent Rule.” Concurrently, the FAA also placed a moratorium on its customary practice of providing to aircraft kit manufacturers and builders courtesy evaluations of new kits’ compliance with the 51 percent requirement.
The moratorium means FAA has temporarily suspended amateur-built aircraft kit evaluations. No new kits will appear on the “51 percent approved list” until the FAA has completed its new process revision for determining the major portion (51 percent). The new policies will be printed in a future Federal Register notice. EAA estimates that notice will be published in the April-May time frame. That notice will provide the public an opportunity to comment on the various changes. (See EAA’s Questions and Answers regarding the moratorium here.)
“We understand the logic behind the FAA’s suspending advance evaluations and approvals until after it has announced exactly how it will interpret and enforce the rule going forward,” EAA’s Earl Lawrence said. “However, we also understand that manufacturers and customers may have difficulty in making decisions until the FAA makes its policy clear. Accordingly, we’re stressing to the FAA that this ‘limbo period’ should be as brief as possible.”
