Menu Sign In Contact FAQ
Banner
Welcome to our forums

Is the FAA 91.411 and 91.413 altimeter check required outside the USA, and mandatory stickers?

It would be good to post who these firms are so one can avoid them

Also the FAR above mentions only the altimeter as requiring a sticker. If you put too many stickers on the slide-out avionics, they won’t come out of the tray (it takes only a few stickers to do that).

I used to pay £60 per instrument i.e. £180 total (2 altimeters and 1 transponder) plus VAT, and got a logbook insert. That rose to c. £200 when I used a company which owned the hangar (very convenient). That company could not do it for a while and the £180 one (IAE) didn’t reply to my query. The new sticker regime almost doubles this, because the job takes 2x longer. In my case I did the dismantling and reassembly, and (with the guy’s help) the controls-free checks which you have to do after any behind-panel work. But without customer help it really would take a lot longer. The KAE130A which is under the KI256 is a real bastard to get to.

It is interesting why the FAA wants the sticker. It doesn’t mean anything more than a logbook insert because anybody can remove the sticker, or replace it with a photoshopped one. Any plane is full of stickers; my instruments (those that are original) are plastered with Socata stickers, none of which mean anything now.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Peter wrote:

It is interesting why the FAA wants the sticker. It doesn’t mean anything more than a logbook insert because anybody can remove the sticker, or replace it with a photoshopped one. Any plane is full of stickers; my instruments (those that are original) are plastered with Socata stickers, none of which mean anything now.

The FAA rules for maintenance records is archaïque at best.

IMO, it’s a joke, a throw-back form the 50’s that’s in serious need of a complete overhaul.

FAA A&P/IA
LFPN

Having seen both EASA and FAA maintenance systems I think the FAA one is much more pragmatic for light GA. This is no doubt a factor in why GA does so well on the N-reg – where permitted, which is mainly in the USA.

The FAA had some very good people in there, decades ago, and got it right, and has not had to change it. That is how it should be.

But some aspects of their regs are seemingly weird, hence my question. Why require a sticker on the altimeter (only)? I doubt this regulation pre-dates transponders, for example. And as I said, on some types, getting access to the altimeter is going to take time. At best, one could unscrew it and pull it out just far enough to apply the sticker, while hoping there is enough slack in the pipe.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Yep, putting “labels” on instrument is weird, to say the least, and that’s just one small example.

Consider that for FAA Part 91 records:

- No format is specified, thus a shoe-box could be used as a “log-book”;

- A maintenance log entry could be scribbled on a piece of toilet-paper ;

In today’s digital age, I would think that a simple on-line reporting system would be a vast improvement .

Last Edited by Michael at 24 Aug 08:20
FAA A&P/IA
LFPN

I wonder – how do you put a sticker on a G1000 altimeter? Surely you can’t pull the whole thing out (as it were…)

Next to the altitude band on the G1000 screen of course.

Shorrick_Mk2 wrote:

I wonder – how do you put a sticker on a G1000 altimeter? Surely you can’t pull the whole thing out (as it were…)

You put it on the ADC box, I suppose…

ESKC (Uppsala/Sundbro), Sweden

@achimha that reminds me of the blonde screen and Tipp-Ex joke :D

Michael wrote:

The FAA rules for maintenance records is archaïque at best.

IMO, it’s a joke, a throw-back form the 50’s that’s in serious need of a complete overhaul.

I am not willing to trade our FAA maintenance regulations for any other country. I do however think that the FAA is the worst, except for every other country in the world. :)

KUZA, United States

NCYankee wrote:

I am not willing to trade our FAA maintenance regulations for any other country

Please don’t get me wrong: I’m not criticizing the entire set of FARs concerning Mx, just the record keeping & reporting part.

FAA A&P/IA
LFPN
Sign in to add your message

Back to Top