Well, this was an area that I had apprehension about, but not all that scary once you get into it. 90 Days out Register the aircraft. This took about 20 days to get back from the FAA. Make sure to print your name next to your signature, as they will reject if if you don't... guess how I found out.... First you need to call Van's and ask for a Bill of Sale. They will get you one in about 10 days. They only do them on one day of the week, so 10 days is the worst case. Don't do it too early, as this usually triggers the tax man, as the states get notified. At least in Georgia, that means 6% is Due... Ouch. At this point it would be good to contact a DAR that you would like to use and start a dialog with him.
30 Days Out
In my case at least Atlanta FSDO, I e-mailed the paperwork to the FAA (Gil), and the next day he sent an email back saying Vic could inspect it. I had not done the W&B, or the Condition Inspection that is requested at that time, as the plane was not yet at the airport or together. They were fine with that. I also e-mailed all these to Vic (my DAR). Before Inspection 1. Perform a Condition Inspection. 2. Purchase a Airframe logbook. Sign your inspection off in it. 3. Make copies (2 + original) of all documents e-mailed or faxed to FAA above. 4. Make sure to have ORIGINAL Registration card. (Not the form requesting it) 5. 3-view drawing to identify aircraft (from Vans website or manual) 6. Weight & Balance document based on your W&B Inspection This may be different depending on the DAR, but Vic was fine with the side panels being on, and the wing tips being on, but wanted the tail fairing, wing root fairings, Tunnel cover and baggage back wall off. I still had some squawks of some lights not working, and a few other minor non-flight critical items outstanding. Vic found 2 "Flight Critical" items that needed corrected before he could issue the certificate. First was the right aileron was hitting the autopilot stop before it was hitting the aileron stop in the up direction (by about 1/8 of an inch). A quick adjustment of 3 turns on the autopilot servo arm corrected that. The other was both jam nuts in the tailcone for the elevator trim were not tight, not even finger tight. The other ends were tightened, so it probably would not have let the trim slowly work its way loose, but good find, and was able to be fixed in about 30 seconds. Inspection took about 2 hrs or so. Mainly focused on the engine installation and control system. This make sense as that is what will kill you quickly. Before Flight 1. Transponder / Pitot/ Static Test if in or near class-B. This cost me $350 at the local FBO :( 2. Put it all back together. I had a few more squawks and unfinished items then I thought when I got the inspection, and ran into a few problems that have taken me more time than expected. I moved to the airport on 3/15/2014, and put in about 50-60 hours in one week to get it ready for inspection, including testing and calibrating fuel guages, first engine run, assembling and adjusting the flight controls, bending the sticks so as to not hit the dash, fixing a landing light that was mis-wired. I also had several helpers. Thanks a lot Gordon, Brian Michael, and Daniel that probably put in another 10-20 hours that week. Since inspection I have put in another 15-20 hours putting things back together and configuring/calibrating the EFIS. Also spending a lot of time trying to correct the wiring of a AeroLed wingtip strobe, that ended up being the strobe went bad. After calibrating my EFIS I noticed that my alternator is working, that is my last item before first flight. I expect to have my first flight on Sunday (3/30) 8 days after my inspection. Would be Friday or Saturday, but the weather is predicted to be bad. |
Firewall Forward >