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Obtaining Repairman Certificate

retpd2001

Member
When I got my airworthiness cert from the DAR I asked if he could help getting me my repairman cert. He said the FAA changed the rules and I now had to set up an appointment and go to my FSDO with my builder log etc and be interviewed to make sure I was the builder first, said they took away that detail from the DAR's. Then someone in another district tells me he challenged the FAA on that to produce a rule, and they could not, and after a couple weeks bantering back and forth with them, he just mailed in his app and got it.

I really don't feel like taking a day off work to drive 300 miles round trip to be interviewed by the FAA. So what say you about this? Thanks!
 
Take 1/2 a day and fly

I was living in Austin and had to go to the FSDO in San Antonio to get my Repairman Certificate. So I flew my RV down and had a fun afternoon.

The FAA guy was very friendly. I had my builder log with me, but he barely glanced at it.


Remember, there's no rush to get it unless your annual condition inspection is due. That's the only time you really need the Repairman Cert.
 
The rule has always been that only the FAA can issue the repairman certificate.
Standard procedure is to meet with an ASI and interview to determine qualification.
There have been instances where the FSDO will mail out the certificate, but that isn't how it's supposed to be done.
When I issue an airworthiness certificate, I help the applicant fill out the application for the repairman certificate and issue a "letter of recommendation". Since I've been doing this, the issuance of the certificate has been pretty straight forward.
It seems to give the ASI a "warm fuzzy", if you will, because they have someone else's signature in the file.
 
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I did as you have been instructed to do in 2004

I went to the FAA Office in Long Beach, California with my builders log & photo album and the required documentation. All of this was thoroughly reviewed and I received the Repairman Certificate for the plane sometime later in the mail. It seems to me that it would be irresponsible for the FAA to give out such a valuable certificate with less scrutiny. I think you are correct in pursuing this to completion now rather than waiting an perhaps letting this get away from you and getting into a worse situation for dealing with the requirement. Builders should have this in mind as they build and and systematically build a collection of chronological records and photographs to support their claim as builder which is easy to review and appreciate its substantial credibility. To do otherwise is putting your ability to gat a repairman certificate at risk.

Bob Axsom
 
...Then someone in another district tells me he challenged the FAA on that to produce a rule, and they could not, and after a couple weeks bantering back and forth with them, he just mailed in his app and got it....

This sounds about right! Different answers from different people and different regions.

I say pursue the **** out of it. If you have to go to the FSDO, do it. If you don't like their customer service, try someone else. Don't do what I did and succumb to the bureaucratic red tape.

In the late '89, I went to the FSDO in Fresno, just down the road from where I was stationed at NAS Lemoore. I took a copy of my training jacket, with highlighter all over it, and a copy of the A&P oral and practical study guide with everything cross referenced so that it could be easily validated. All I was looking for was a waiver to sit for the A&P written based on my OJT and work experience.

I had, at that point, more than 8 years of airframe and powerplant experience, doing everything from flight control rigging to skin repairs to engine remove&replace. Plus, I had a ton of experience doing general servicing and daily, turnaround , and phased maintenance interval inspections.

The guy that interviewed me refused to even look at anything I brought to show my OJT and experience. All he saw was that my navy rating (primary MOS) was "Avionics". That's all it took for him to deny my application.

As helo aircrewman with a maintenance rating, I was assigned to small units or detachments in which everyone was cross-trained as much as possible. When I was at Lemoore, I was designated as an "all-systems" QA, (navy's equivalent of an IA).

I've been told since, that guy was FOS. But, at the time I was so pissed, I didn't bother taking it any further.
 
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I was able to get the FSDO to come to my hanger and interview me. He filled out all of the paperwork for me so all i had to do was sign! While he was at it he looked over the plane, complimented me on the workmanship. This was post AW issuance and after 10-20 hours or so.
 
I guess I was lucky. FSDO did my AW and Repairman's at the same time. He did chuckle when I dropped three five inch binder's of photos and builder documentation. All 1,400+ log entries. I kept a printed copy of mykitlog entries as a backup to the online copy.

It did take about two months to actually get my certificate, wheareas the AW only took a couple weeks to process. I just got it earlier this week. I had both temporaries the day of inspection.

I can't say enough nice things about our local CMH FSDO. They have been very supportive of the local builder community.
 
My FSDO was very cooperative, and made the process quite painless, but I did have to drive there with all my records, logs, and photos. (I was still in Phase I at the time.) Once they looked at all my documentation, they issued the Certif. ... I was in and out of there in 35 minutes. Plastic card came in the mail 3 to 4 weeks later.
 
Huh?

It did take about two months to actually get my certificate, wheareas the AW only took a couple weeks to process. I just got it earlier this week. I had both temporaries the day of inspection.

You lost me here. Why did you get a "temporary" airworthiness certificate.
The airworthiness certificate should be issued at the time of the inspection.
 
Op Lims question

Mel,

I ran across something on a different forum that I hadn't seen. Some recent Op Lims have fields that indicate the necessity to determine certain V-speeds as part of leaving Phase 1. Is this requirement now universal and how long has it been in effect?

Here is a doc with the wording in question (paragraph 4):

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=8&cad=rja&ved=0CFoQFjAH&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sportpilot.info%2Fsp%2FExperimental_Amateur_Built_Operating_Limitations.doc&ei=Yu45UqXbK4vW2QXqloHgDA&usg=AFQjCNH1oOy98-5iKXHOcA9REYL_mjZ6Rw&sig2=dJD70rUhCXGqdrXzatPBfQ&bvm=bv.52288139,d.dmg
 
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My AW was issued May 2011 and the op limits had those (Vso, Vy, Vx at such and such cg and weight) words included.
 
Mel,
I ran across something on a different forum that I hadn't seen. Some recent Op Lims have fields that indicate the necessity to determine certain V-speeds as part of leaving Phase 1. Is this requirement now universal and how long has it been in effect?

I just went back through my files and it looks like that was added in December of 1999.
I became a DAR in October of '99 and the aircraft that I inspected in October and November did not have that paragraph, but the two that I did in December of that year do.
 
Mel,

I ran across something on a different forum that I hadn't seen. Some recent Op Lims have fields that indicate the necessity to determine certain V-speeds as part of leaving Phase 1. Is this requirement now universal and how long has it been in effect?

Here is a doc with the wording in question (paragraph 4):

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=8&cad=rja&ved=0CFoQFjAH&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sportpilot.info%2Fsp%2FExperimental_Amateur_Built_Operating_Limitations.doc&ei=Yu45UqXbK4vW2QXqloHgDA&usg=AFQjCNH1oOy98-5iKXHOcA9REYL_mjZ6Rw&sig2=dJD70rUhCXGqdrXzatPBfQ&bvm=bv.52288139,d.dmg

I just went back through my files and it looks like that was added in December of 1999.
I became a DAR in October of '99 and the aircraft that I inspected in October and November did not have that paragraph, but the two that I did in December of that year do.

Interesting.

My Sept 1999 Op Lims didn't have any reference to v-speeds and I've never heard any of the host of local RVers whose planes were certificated in the early 2000's mention the speed requirements. Maybe I'm further behind the curve on this one than I realized.....
 
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