dhall_polo
Well Known Member
I went down to the shop and looked around. Hey, there's not much really left on the shelf. And then I looked at the punch list of things I wanted to do before taking my metal baby to the airport, and there ain't much there either. Then even better, I call my rv guru who lives down the street, and he finally seems to agree it might be about time to go to the airport. You mean my plane might actually go to a hangar? a place where planes live? Hey, that's big! Now what?
I knew there was some 'paperwork stuff' that I'd eventually have to do, but I figured I'd just go read up on EAA and VAF when the time comes. Time came. Dangit, more firehose: data plates, inspections, weight and balance, faa forms, homemade poh, equipment lists, etc. etc...
Maybe you're working on the fuse or fwf. Here's my breakdown of this paperwork pile so far. I'm not done yet.
1) I have had an N number reserved for years now. I never registered anything to it, just reserved. For some reason, I thought "registered" was post-inspection. Nope. I could have converted "reserved" to "registered" whenever I wanted. (note: know the tax implication of doing so.)
2) To get registered, I need a Bill of Sale. What? I built this thing, one five thousand dollar bill at a time. Alrighty, called Van's. They're sending me a bill of sale. It has to be made out to whomever or whatever the plane is going to be registered with. In my case, that's the corp. Next todo...
3) Do I want to register to myself? or an LLC or s-corp or c-corp? I opted for a corp. Lots of debate on the tax and liability benefits here, and I'm no lawyer or accountant, so my opinion is worth something less than zero. But I opted to establish a corp. So boom, now I'm a CEO or at least I'll call myself that. Cool. Called Van's and they are sending a Bill of Sale made out to the corp.
4) Gotta get the registration form from the FAA. For some reason, the FAA has decided to make every form in the world available electronically except for the registration form. Need to get this one from the local FSDO. Thankfully, I called my local FSDO, and they offered to save me the trip and mailed me the form, which arrived promptly. Thank you, Atlanta FSDO!
5) Dataplate. Still gotta get my dataplate engraved. engravers.net looks as good as any, so I'm going that route.
6) Rolling my own POH. Not sure if this is required or not for experimental, but it's definitely a nice to have. Quite frankly, the process of putting one together is extremely useful in terms of really acquainting myself with the future operations of the airplane. The samples on VAF are all about the same - all great starting points. Thanks for sharing, VAF.
7) Find and contact my inspector. My inspector, Mike Huffman, sent me some forms and documents that he uses to help make inspections go easier. All great stuff. One resulted in my going and hunting down everything on the airplane with a part number and serial number.
8) Insurance. Holy moly. OK, the ink on my taildragger endorsement is still drying, and I guess insurance companies don't like that. Dang, the plane takes another bite out of backside before first flight. My newfound corp is sure off to a bad fiscal year.
Might have been nice to build more TD time in a cheaper bird over the past few years, but no looking back. I am, however, eligible for some discounts on insurance because of a well-equipped panel and my instrument proficiency. Oh, coincidentally, insurance is issued to the corp...
9) Transition training. Have my TD, but still need my RV time, preferrably RV-TD time. Thankfully, Kent Gorton has an RV6 on the south side of Atlanta. It'll be fun balancing transition training and finishing the plane. I've also probably flown less than 50 hours in the past two years. Nice memories of that time, in which I earned MEL, TD, and ferried a buddy's Nanchang CJ back from Oshkosh with my daughter. Maybe this year, I can do Osh with an RV grin and my girls who have lived most of their lives with this project.
Not sure if my paperwork is going to be a long pole for me. That'd be nice because it means I'm about to the finish line. I could have done most of this 6 months ago.
Exciting times. Plane moves Saturday.
I knew there was some 'paperwork stuff' that I'd eventually have to do, but I figured I'd just go read up on EAA and VAF when the time comes. Time came. Dangit, more firehose: data plates, inspections, weight and balance, faa forms, homemade poh, equipment lists, etc. etc...
Maybe you're working on the fuse or fwf. Here's my breakdown of this paperwork pile so far. I'm not done yet.
1) I have had an N number reserved for years now. I never registered anything to it, just reserved. For some reason, I thought "registered" was post-inspection. Nope. I could have converted "reserved" to "registered" whenever I wanted. (note: know the tax implication of doing so.)
2) To get registered, I need a Bill of Sale. What? I built this thing, one five thousand dollar bill at a time. Alrighty, called Van's. They're sending me a bill of sale. It has to be made out to whomever or whatever the plane is going to be registered with. In my case, that's the corp. Next todo...
3) Do I want to register to myself? or an LLC or s-corp or c-corp? I opted for a corp. Lots of debate on the tax and liability benefits here, and I'm no lawyer or accountant, so my opinion is worth something less than zero. But I opted to establish a corp. So boom, now I'm a CEO or at least I'll call myself that. Cool. Called Van's and they are sending a Bill of Sale made out to the corp.
4) Gotta get the registration form from the FAA. For some reason, the FAA has decided to make every form in the world available electronically except for the registration form. Need to get this one from the local FSDO. Thankfully, I called my local FSDO, and they offered to save me the trip and mailed me the form, which arrived promptly. Thank you, Atlanta FSDO!
5) Dataplate. Still gotta get my dataplate engraved. engravers.net looks as good as any, so I'm going that route.
6) Rolling my own POH. Not sure if this is required or not for experimental, but it's definitely a nice to have. Quite frankly, the process of putting one together is extremely useful in terms of really acquainting myself with the future operations of the airplane. The samples on VAF are all about the same - all great starting points. Thanks for sharing, VAF.
7) Find and contact my inspector. My inspector, Mike Huffman, sent me some forms and documents that he uses to help make inspections go easier. All great stuff. One resulted in my going and hunting down everything on the airplane with a part number and serial number.
8) Insurance. Holy moly. OK, the ink on my taildragger endorsement is still drying, and I guess insurance companies don't like that. Dang, the plane takes another bite out of backside before first flight. My newfound corp is sure off to a bad fiscal year.
Might have been nice to build more TD time in a cheaper bird over the past few years, but no looking back. I am, however, eligible for some discounts on insurance because of a well-equipped panel and my instrument proficiency. Oh, coincidentally, insurance is issued to the corp...9) Transition training. Have my TD, but still need my RV time, preferrably RV-TD time. Thankfully, Kent Gorton has an RV6 on the south side of Atlanta. It'll be fun balancing transition training and finishing the plane. I've also probably flown less than 50 hours in the past two years. Nice memories of that time, in which I earned MEL, TD, and ferried a buddy's Nanchang CJ back from Oshkosh with my daughter. Maybe this year, I can do Osh with an RV grin and my girls who have lived most of their lives with this project.
Not sure if my paperwork is going to be a long pole for me. That'd be nice because it means I'm about to the finish line. I could have done most of this 6 months ago.
Exciting times. Plane moves Saturday.
