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UK LAA homebuilts - the procedure for buying (possibly importing) an already built one, and modification approvals

What are the acceptance criteria?

I heard that they don’t like it when you buy one from the USA. They apparently need to verify that it was built to the drawings, but surely that can be verified visually / by measurement. And anybody who knows the type can see right away (within 5 minutes) if it was bodged – even I could. It appears to be that in the USA a project gets inspected (by who?) only when completed while in the LAA system it gets inspected in stages, and they don’t like it when a plane just “appears” on the scene already built. But still I hear that a number of N-reg ones have been successfully imported, so what is the procedure?

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Peter wrote:

What are the acceptance criteria?

Pretty much: is it built to conform to spec, and if not you have to apply for mods to justify all changes.

Peter wrote:

They apparently need to verify that it was built to the drawings, but surely that can be verified visually / by measurement.

The issues are not so much that it might not have been built to exact dimensions, more that someone might have made a small mod which can’t be properly inspected once everything is closed up – for instance, how do you look inside a closed fiberglass wing, how do you inspect an HS without drilling extra holes, and so on…

Peter wrote:

in the USA a project gets inspected (by who?)

By a DAR or the FAA.

Peter wrote:

so what is the procedure?

Get an LAA inspector to inspect everything they would have inspected during a new build, then get mods approved for any deviations from the standard. See here (I think the limits on page 2 are out of date since the LAA got its A8-26 approval).

EGEO

What are you thinking of buying, Peter?

Just asking But if I was buying (which I am not) I think I know what it would be.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Peter wrote:

I heard that they don’t like it when you buy one from the USA. They apparently need to verify that it was built to the drawings, but surely that can be verified visually / by measurement. And anybody who knows the type can see right away (within 5 minutes) if it was bodged – even I could.

The FAA/DAR inspection of a homebuilt is concerned primarily with workmanship, not design, because the design is by definition Experimental. Homebuilders under FAA rules can design, build and fly whatever aircraft configuration or kit modification they may individually conceive, with or without drawings. Therefore the design of any FAA E-AB plane is not correlated to the approved type in the UK and can only be correlated by inspection, with reference to whatever design configuration the UK LAA has approved.

As a simple example, you will not likely find any RV in my area that has same engine, engine controls and engine installation details as another RV. They are each creations of an individual. The key issue would be to what degree the LAA defines the minutiae of the aircraft design in their approved package, and therefore what you can ‘get away with’ when importing a plane built without compliance to any approved design package.

Last Edited by Silvaire at 06 Jan 17:22

The sort of type I was thinking of would be say an RV10. It already seems clear, from enquiries, that getting something substantially “better” is just not going to work unless a lot of money and effort is thrown at it (and it would be a CAA permit, not an LAA one).

More importantly, I know that lots of people are interesting in knowing about this topic, hence my original post

Neither myself nor most other prospects would be remotely interested in spending some huge number of hours building the plane. Justine and I are not married so I cannot get divorced but at 60+ I don’t want to spend the rest of my life on my own, either

It would be really interesting to hear from anyone who has been up the LAA approval path before.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

One advantage you might have with an RV-10 is that the builders (even moreso than with other well developed kits) tend to build them to Vans recommendations. However, if in some area the LAA defines the design even more than Vans, there is very little chance of any FAA registered RV-10 meeting the LAA spec… So the devil is in the details of the LAA design definition of the specific type.

Last Edited by Silvaire at 06 Jan 17:28

I have spent a bit of time looking into importing a kit-built aircraft. What @jwoolard says is correct but without the big gotcha – the time it could take. The LAA has to ensure that it was built to a good standard. They do this in the UK by carrying out inspections at various hold-points throughout the build. Regimes vary around the world and the LAA have to go over the plane very carefully since they didn’t see it being built and standards and accepted practices differ. As stated already, this can get tricky for closed in sections on some types. I suspect an RV would be easier in this regard.

For any deviation from the build manual the LAA must approve the mod. Once a mod is approved then others can use the same mod very easily. However to get a mod approved in the first place can take several years due to the waiting list. If your prospective purchase had a number of mods/deviations then not only would you have to go through a thorough inspection, you’d also have to wait to get ALL the mods approved individually. You might decide it was easier and cheaper to revert the plane to original spec, however this might not be possible for all mods.

Below is a response to an enquiry I made from an LAA inspector…

Yes it is possible to import an aircraft and get it certified under the LAA umbrella but as you say there could be costly problems. Everything being equal ( not always the case) your prospective purchase should have been competently built to the build manual. If it has, then provided also that it has had all mandatory checks and mods incorporated and has not had any unauthorised mods carried out on it, then all that the LAA would need would be a very thorough inspection carried out to verify the above. This could involve a fair amount of time and effort. OK if no problems found then you would be in business. If there were problems or omissions then these could be very expensive to fix. IF I were to consider such a purchase then I would at least suggest a competent LAA inspector ( familiar with the type) viewed it prior to you parting with money.

S57
EGBJ, United Kingdom

When I built the RV10 there were a couple of mandatory mods the LAA required, which were designed by the first builder. One I remember is the rear seat back mod. In the Vans design the rear seats fold down to make an “estate car” huge luggage area. LAA didnt like the crashworthiness of that, so mandate that they are hard fixed.

When I was reading the build blogs of typical USA builders, the trend is for them to go crazy and mod them significantly. Common is lots of trims, overhead vents and switches, air con, and other bling.

The final one would be corrosion proofing. Vans official empty weights assume no priming of internals. British builders tend to prime everything, for good reasons!!

If one was to import an RV your best resource in pre purchase Inspection would be a builder rather than an inspector as they know it rivet by rivet and would spot mods.

EGKL, United Kingdom

I’ve been through the import process with the LAA 3 times (well first time was with the PFA in 1989).

It can be a drawn out procedure, but basically as Carl describes.

Assuming it is an already approved design, then it is mostly about checking conformance to the TADS.
That’s analogous to the TCDS of a certified aircraft which is nominally checked by performing the ‘export CofA’.

There have been cases of imported aircraft from the US being un-approvable, but with knowledge of the type and requirements, it shouldn’t be a problem finding and importing a suitable example.

I’m building in the US at the moment and may take it back to the UK in the future.

Like a lot of builders, I get other builders and mechanics to double check my work periodically. The DAR inspection prior to certification is relatively cursory. Often they are more interested in correct paperwork than minutely inspecting the aircraft. It must have had a full condition inspection logged prior to the DAR inspection, though that may be signed off by the builder himself. I intend to ask a friend who is an A&P/IA to do mine.
KHWD- Hayward California; EGTN Enstone Oxfordshire, United States
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