Moving an Owner-Maintenance Airplane back to Normal Category

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Spandau
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Moving an Owner-Maintenance Airplane back to Normal Category

Post by Spandau »

I don't think anyone has done this yet, but what are the steps to take an O-M aircraft back to the Normal category? My understanding is:

-overhaul of the engine and prop
-overhaul or replace all the required instruments
-have the aircraft inspected and signed off for conformity to the Type Certificate

or is there more to it than that?

A friend of mine is looking at an O-M Champ but would like to be able to take it to Oshkosh down the road.
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AirFrame
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Re: Moving an Owner-Maintenance Airplane back to Normal Cate

Post by AirFrame »

Your friend will run up against the sad reality that Transport does not want aircraft moving in and out of O-M. Yes, it is theoretically possible to bring an O-M back into the certified category... Your list is about right. But completing those steps to the satisfaction of Transport may not be as straightforward as it sounds.

Unless he's getting the Champ for free, it's probably going to be cheaper to buy a Champ that's already certified. Even if he is getting it for free it might be cheaper to look for another one.
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Spandau
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Re: Moving an Owner-Maintenance Airplane back to Normal Cate

Post by Spandau »

There's no doubt it would make for a pretty substantial C check on the airframe, but I wonder what all they'd want for documentation... Would you have to individually prove the pedigree of every strand of wire and every washer?
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5x5
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Re: Moving an Owner-Maintenance Airplane back to Normal Cate

Post by 5x5 »

You may well have to prove every single piece and part. After all, while in OM who knows what nefarious activities may have taken place.

Seriously though, depending on the inspector it could pretty much come down to that. Even taking a privately registered plane to commercial registration can be very costly for similar reasons. If any part has been recorded as being replaced you better be able to produce the documentation for it. Without it, even though it may be perfectly serviceable, you will have to replace it with another one for which you have the cert.
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Taiser
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Re: Moving an Owner-Maintenance Airplane back to Normal Cate

Post by Taiser »

I asked an inspector about this a while back. Like stated above they don't want you going in and out of that category. To bring it back you would basically have to do a complete rebuild. Feasible on a Cub maybe if you're re-doing the fabric, but a Cessna or other metal plane would involve striping all the skins off for inspection of every rib, spar etc... It would never be worth the price of doing it.
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