Chris,
Once a project is finished it is very difficult to go back and make changes
. Painting prep is prep. To get a good primer finish, you have to sand/fi
ll/prime anyway. That is 95% of the job. Putting a final coat on is just
like one more coat of primer but it is shiny. I have an EAA member that cl
osed his paint shop on his farm but he still has a paint booth. Look aroun
d your area. I=92ve found paint shops are happy to put on a final coat. T
hey don=92t want to do the prep either.
Small add ons are not difficult after final paint. Flap covers can be glue
d on, you can make stall strips and just tack them on with sealant and they
look very neat and can be removed for maintenance. I use Imron paint, and
sealant like cheap Kwik caulk or GE silicone, will stick well, but are eas
ily cleaned off. There are plenty of small things done without destroying
the new paint. Good paint is easily touched up in a day. Base clearcoat t
end to suck as clearcoat is a bit soft and is damaged easily.
Nobody is lazier than I am. I stare at stuff often and take excessive coff
ee breaks staring at my airplane. Tough to jump on it and just get it done
, but once you get motivated, you jump on it. I just added a spring rudder
trim and took it out, and am modifying it again. It is experimental. I s
wapped props, spinners, wheel pant fairings, wing fairings and the like. I
made the panel easy to remove, with G10 FRP plates for easy changes and re
pair. Looks nice too. It=92s a plastic airplane, put your antennas where
you want and add and subtract equipment as you see fit. Putting the ELT in
a really solid spot in the aft fuselage where you can=92t get to it is not
smart. Make everything accessible, inspectable and maintainable so there
is not damage. Same with the engine compartment. It looks neat when you h
ide the 912 fuel manifold down in the area behind the engine until you have
to get to it again to clean out the FS O2. If you use MOGAS, you should p
ump it out and replace with AVGAS for storage as the MOGAS can get nasty, s
o make the fuel line break easy to get to easily so you can just turn on th
e AUX PUMP and =93git=92er=92done=94.
On to LSA. An Experimental Amateur Built (EAB) airplane that meets LSA cri
teria can be flown by a pilot exercising his right to fly under the LSA rul
es. Today we have the =93pilots bill of rights=94 and one can fly under wh
at is called =93Basic Med=94. So LSA is dead as far as I=92m concerned. G
et a basic med exam (one should get a physical one or twice a year anyway),
take a test every couple years and you are good to go. If you aren=92t he
althy enough to pass a basic med exam, you probably shouldn=92t be flying L
SA either.
Back to LSA aircraft. The Kitfox and Europa can meet LSA provided during p
hase one the plane was documented properly and the ID plate does not exceed
1320 pounds on the placard Wt., the Phase one sheet indicates the aircraft
is controllable clean at 45 Knots, and does not exceed 120 KIAS at Sea Lev
el at max continuous it is an LSA. Of course the aircraft has to be fixed
gear, fixed prop.
NOTE: Your Phase One sheet and the log book must document the LSA min and
max airspeed limits are met, so it can be flown by a pilot exercising his
right to fly LSA. If the builder adds a constant speed prop, cleans off th
e VGs and logs it in the aircraft logs, then the aircraft technically canno
t return to LSA status EVER. However, I have had guys tell the FAA that th
ey didn=92t know that, and the FSDO authorized a change of the aircraft bac
k to LSA with another FAA DAR rechecking the aircraft (for a fee) and anoth
er Phase one fly off to clear up his logbooks.
Of course I would never do anything like that!
Referencing those flexible fliers called factory built LSA aircraft:
There are pilots with a Class III medical that had their ELSA aircraft modi
fied to full Experimental Exhibition Class and with a =93Program Letter=94
to the FSDO, he flies anywhere he wants. In Exhibition Class you have to c
all the FSDO for every flight, no FSDO wants that, so you do a program lett
er indicating where you fly (like the CONUS). Remember, an ELSA is an SLSA
and must not deviate from the SLSA factory requirements. You can change p
aint color, but you cannot modify it outside of the SLSA equipment list wit
hout express permission of the manufacturer. What a stupid rule, but the E
LSA is strictly a some assembly required airplane, not a 51% EAB therefore
it is not a REAL Experimental. Also the pilots of the LSA aircraft were as
sumed to be 20 hour wonders or old guys that couldn=92t pass a medical to q
ualify for Basic Med.
Best Regards,
Bud Yerly
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________________________________
From: owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com <owner-europa-list-server@matr
onics.com> on behalf of n7188u <chmgarb@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2019 5:28:54 PM
Subject: Europa-List: Re: of interest
Bud,
You can tell I am bored :) I read the papers you posted and find the inform
ation fascinating. I always wondered if my Europa could be registered as an
LSA (not that I need to do that now but I am not getting any younger). it
seems from your write up that it should be possible to do. I still need to
read the whole in detail (at work now).
Can a plane that has been already registered as an experimental be changed
over to LSA? You mention in your paper that you can go for LSA at the begin
ning but what if you tell the airplane you are substantially modifying the
airplane and want to obtain a new Airworthiness Certificate?
Chris
Read this topic online here:
http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=490892#490892
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