51% Rule Questions?

[flybye]

If I was to buy a project plane with say 30% of the work completed, is it still possible to earn an A&P license by completing the project? Does the FAA have specific guidelines on this subject? I'm also wondering what the rules are on doing your own maintenance on an Experimental. If you only complete a small percentage of the project, are you limited in the maintenance that you are allowed to perform on the airframe?

[vic syracuse]

As long as there is a documented trail that the airplane was 51% built by "amateur" builders via pictures and logs, there shouldn't be any problem obtaining the airworthiness certificate.
All maintenance on Amateur-built aircraft is allowed to be performed by the owner or others. The only time a certificate is required (Repairman's certificate specific to the make/model and serial number of the aircraft, or an A&P) is for the condition inspection, which is performed on an annual basis.
Obtaining the Repairman's certificate is a separate process from the airworthiness inspection, although in some geographical areas they can be done at the sime time by the same person. You just have to be able to prove, again via logs and pictures, that you are qualified to do the condition inspection. Sometimes this requires a trip to the FSDO and a discussion with an Inspector to obtain the Repairman's Certificate.

Vic

[Mel]

What Vic said!

[Garage Guy]

Originally Posted by vic syracuse

You just have to be able to prove, again via logs and pictures, that you are qualified to do the condition inspection. Sometimes this requires a trip to the FSDO and a discussion with an Inspector to obtain the Repairman's Certificate.

To convince the FSDO and get the repairman's cert, do the logs and pictures have to be of me building the plane? Or are there any known cases of demonstrating I'm qualified to do a condition inspection by just documenting me actually doing a condition inspection...?

--Paul

[Mel]

This is where you will find differences between FSDOs.
Some will allow you to convince them that you know enough about the build and some will not.