A&P License using Amateur Built Experience
 

Greetings All,

It's been 10+ years since this was discussed as best I can tell. I'm curious if there has been any movement on the topic of using time amateur building an experimental airplane "under the supervision of an A&P" as apprenticeship credit toward the required hours to sit for the A&P exam with the FAA.

EAA has an article posted (link below) that it's possible to do this but a lot of discretion is left to the FAA to decide whether or not said experience counts.

Has anyone done this lately or know anyone that's had success going this route? I'd love to build/have an RV-8 and also have my A&P....this seems like a good way to get both in the same effort.

https://www.eaa.org/eaa/aircraft-bui...mJbVIg3DpBruV4

I recently acquired the 8610-2 sign off to take the A&P tests. I provided documentation of a variety of experience from my professional aircraft paint experience, maintenance performed under supervision on my own certified aircraft as well as experience gained working on my RV8 kit. I would say the kit building definitely made a positive impression and the inspector definitely took it into consideration.

How many total hours did you have logged to present to the examiner and how many of those were building the RV-8? I also have a certified aircraft which I can log time working on as the owner/operator so I guess that helps.

Subscribed, want to do the same

I wrote up a bit of my experience doing this a couple fo years ago, and we discussed it on this thread:

http://www.vansairforce.com/communit...d.php?t=147776

The bottom line is that it will take considerably more than building one airplane to meet the requirements for most inspectors - I had been working on GA and experimental aircraft under A&P’s for decades, and had three repairman certificates for planes I had built. The real tough part for most homebuilders is qualifying for the “P” part - most haven’t done real engine work, just installed and worked on accessories. But....if you’ve got the experience, go for it!

Paul

I just got laid off after 15 years in the oilfield. I am ready to to get my 8610-2 application reviewed but the FSDO in Houston is not accepting appointments until this pandemic is over. 30-60 days. I?ve got my DD-214 showing my airframe schools, a letter of recommendation from an A&P and I?m presenting the letter from Mel that I was going to use to get my repairman certificate for good measure.

Would they take into consideration automotive engines ? Transmissions (PSRU) ?

I got my 8610-2 approved a couple months ago based on experience maintaining my own airplanes over 40+ years. I listed my 2 RV builds but the inspector said they couldn't count but I had plenty of experience otherwise. Along with the recommendation letter I included a kind of CV with all my aviation related background - education, airline jobs, aircraft ownership and piloting experience, etc. Instead of a log of hours I made a list of all the significant maintenance tasks I had done over the years. The IA that signed my letter said I had more backup than others he had signed off. It might have been overkill but it worked.

I had a lot of trouble finding a sample letter so I'm linking to mine hoping it will help someone else. Just an example, no guarantees, YMMV, yada yada?
http://www.bentwing.com/files/Submit...20scrubbed.pdf

I recently got my approval to take the tests. I had built 1.5 airplanes and worked on several other certified and experimental aircraft, done several engine overhauls, etc. over a 14 year time period. I got lucky in that the FAA inspector who did my repairman certificate was also at our local airshow/flying and saw my airplane in person. Seeing examples of my workmanship helped. I also had three recommendation letters from A&P/IA's that I had worked with over the years further documenting my experience.

In my logs, I made sure that I documented the subjects that we worked on that are listed in the Appendices B, C, and D to part 147. This way, I made sure that I had documented evidence of the subjects that I had training in and I could better prove to the inspector that I had experience in more than 50% of them.

Check your FSDO's website. Mine had a form that I found out about too late that formats your documented experience in a way that makes it easier for them to determine if you qualify or not.

Its a long road to get an A&P this way, but it can be done.

I'm working on the written exams now. Not sure how I'm going to be able to take the tests though.

It appears that this situation is much like the airworthiness inspection, varies from fsdo to fsdo. About 5 years ago I was lucky enough to get a legit job working in a well regarded shop. Early on in my employment there, I contacted the Baltimore fsdo regarding a possible reduction in the amount of work experience hours in consideration of the airplanes I’ve built. I was told to give them a call when I had 30 months of full time employment, working on certificated aircraft.

On another occasion I contacted an old buddy that worked at the same fsdo regarding an initial airworthiness inspection on my current project. My buddy told me that he would love to do it for me. He also said that if he did, his name would be mudd around there. The airworthiness guys had had all been told to not go near an experimental. They had done a few in the past, but no more.

As we all know, some fsdo’s are willing to do the airworthiness inspections. I have heard the same regarding consideration of experimental hours of experience
toward the A&P. Not in Baltimore.

In addition, they require a log book to substantiate your experience on certificated aircraft. I was told not to show up without it.