Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater
Sat, 19 Feb 2022
Building a Biplane: The Technical Counselor Shuffle
When I started on this idea of building a biplane, five years ago, I had done a bunch of research into the process. Not just the technical stuff like how to glue things together, or how to weld, but also the administrative process. The government, and therefore the FAA, runs on paperwork, so I looked into the paperwork.
One of the things that was supremely unclear to me, and remained unclear until just very recently, was essentially, "Who makes sure this thing is safe to fly?"
The logical answer should be, "The FAA." Like, that's their job, right, to make sure that the magical mystery contraptions don't fall down on the heads of unsuspecting people on the ground? Turns out, yes, but also no.
The advice I read from EAA and knowledgeable people was surprisingly vague. "Get a few signatures from an EAA Technical Counselor, or a DAR, in the log, over the course of your build," was generally what I understood. That's just weird. The FAA is all about rules. I'm not allowed to fly my Champ one minute past legal sunset, because it doesn't have a blinky light on it. Hard rules and firm lines and clear expectations are the order of the day. If I exceed the expiration date of my medical by one day, I am 100% not allowed to pilot an airplane.
So, it was always frustrating to me that this idea of "Who checks to make sure you're not building a death trap" was so poorly defined, so hazy and shrouded in mystery. After a tragicomic run-in with the Aeromedical division early in my flying career, I was keen to follow every rule I could find to the strictest letter of the law.
It turns out that I had the wrong idea. The FAA, with the Experimental - Amateur Built category (which my Charger will fall into when it's registered) explicitly doesn't worry about whether your death trap will fly or not. It's experimental. It might indeed not fly, but that's not really their problem. It's your problem. You, the builder (and presumptive pilot) need to make sure it's safe and airworthy.
If you think it's built well enough, that's good enough. If you want to get some external folks in to look it over and make sure you're not committing any blunders, that's probably good, but the FAA doesn't require it. They put up a framework around the category, called the testing phase, which sets out limits designed to avoid killing anyone but the pilot, if the builder's estimation of airworthiness was wrong: for some number of hours, you have to fly in a specific area, doing specific things, and that area is always away from people and things that might go foom if your engine dies, or the wings fall off.
And the FAA definitely cares about seeing your logs, your paperwork. They want to make sure you're not violating the rule that says, in order to qualify as Amateur Built, it had to be built by an amateur, for at least 51% of the work. So you can't hire in a crew of experienced aircraft builders to make your fancy execjet, and circumvent the certificated rules. If a commercial operation makes the plane, it has to go through the right set of rules, and the bar for that is much, much higher.
With all that in mind, I was much more easy-going about my recent Technical Counselor visit.
Shay, from my local EAA chapter, is a newly minted Technical Counselor, and I was actually his first TC project visit. He's an experienced Airframe and Powerplant mechanic, and teaches A&P students, although he's not an expert on wood wings or rag-and-tube construction like the Charger uses. Nevertheless, he'd have a decent idea of things that look wrong, so it was excellent to have him over to check out my in-progress wing.
Shay and Tom discussing a point of wing assembly difference
between Charger and Starduster
The visit itself was convivial, and along with Tom (who's building a Starduster Too, nearing the point of rigging everything up), we looked over the wing. It was mostly show-and-tell for me, as I got to point out all the cool stuff about the build so far, show off the special tools I've made, and generally brag about what I've done to people who understand everything I'm saying (I love to show it all off to non-aviation friends as well, but explaining the details of wing construction gets esoteric pretty quickly).
Thanks to over-enthusiastic requests on my part, I've actually got a second TC showing up this weekend, and I'm excited to see what he discovers on the wing, and what suggestions he may have for me. Shay gave me good advice about safety-wiring, which was very welcome, and provided a welcome sounding-board for things I'd been pondering.
In summary and in conclusion, the only person who legally cares about the actual airworthiness of your experimental plane is you. Get a second set of eyes on it, whether the FAA requires it or not. Someone else is always going to see things in a different way from you, and that can only benefit the quality of your build.
Posted at 01:49 permanent link category: /charger
Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater