MOSAIC and Repairman Work with Experimentals (from Kid wants to fly thread)

[killbilly]

bp said:
the new MOSAIC rewrite allows EAB owners to do condition inspections on the aircraft they own after taking a repairman course. which is cool but also sort of frightening given some of the mx ive seen out there

@bp ...

I'm not sure I'd feel like a Repairman Course would be comprehensive enough to make me confident in my own CIs at least for a few years. I've seen varying degrees of thorough with various shops with respect to CIs for an Experimental and the specialists really dial in some serious details.

Then again, I haven't paid much attention to MOSAIC at all so I don't know much about it - maybe it's more comprehensive than what I understand repairman courses to be. I do know that the tutelage I got from my local (mildly deranged, but extremely competent) A&P was worth its weight in gold.

 

[bp]

frankly I’d be suspect of logs where the owner did several CIs in a row if they werent the builder. I think the 51% rule was fine, if you were smart enough to build it and not kill yourself you should be able to maintain it. But I have seen enough ‘good ideas’ for it to give me pause.
I’d like to think people would know their limitations but they don’t and want to save a buck

 

[Richman]

I strongly considered building an RV, but, yea, no. Man's gotta know his limitations.

 

[GolfChuck]

I strongly considered building an RV, but, yea, no. Man's gotta know his limitations.

I was building an RV for a while, there is a good support network for information. I had only worked on the empannage kit but I was confident in my work. The firewall forward stuff was the most intimidating but I figured by the time I got to that bridge I'd be ready to cross it.

 

[MidlifeFlyer]

frankly I’d be suspect of logs where the owner did several CIs in a row if they werent the builder. I think the 51% rule was fine, if you were smart enough to build it and not kill yourself you should be able to maintain it. But I have seen enough ‘good ideas’ for it to give me pause.
I’d like to think people would know their limitations but they don’t and want to save a buck

One would hope the instinct for self-preservation would kick in.

 

[killbilly]

frankly I’d be suspect of logs where the owner did several CIs in a row if they werent the builder. I think the 51% rule was fine, if you were smart enough to build it and not kill yourself you should be able to maintain it. But I have seen enough ‘good ideas’ for it to give me pause.
I’d like to think people would know their limitations but they don’t and want to save a buck

I strongly considered building an RV, but, yea, no. Man's gotta know his limitations.

I was building an RV for a while, there is a good support network for information. I had only worked on the empannage kit but I was confident in my work. The firewall forward stuff was the most intimidating but I figured by the time I got to that bridge I'd be ready to cross it.

I didn't build mine, but I did a LOT of work on it, and after doing a couple CIs under supervision and quite a few repairs, plus the whole panel refresh, I did learn confidence and I feel like I could build one safely, especially with frequent inspection support from the local DAR and community. It's like cooking. You follow the recipe, so to speak.

EDIT - not all kits are the same. There's no way in hell I'd attempt a plans-only-built airplane like a Long-Eze. I need a damned kit. With instructions.

I have also seen some head scratchingly weird things done in the EXP community, and some questionable wisdom out there that beggars belief. For example, the guy I bought the plane from was absolutely insistent that because the airplane was experimental, the CS prop was not subject to an A/D.

(That a/d was how I learned to install/remove my prop with an engine hoist, and a whole lot of patience. I hate few things as much as I hate safety wiring prop bolts now.)

 

[MidlifeFlyer]

EDIT - not all kits are the same. There's no way in hell I'd attempt a plans-only-built airplane like a Long-Eze. I need a damned kit. With instructions.

 

[drunkenbeagle]

I didn't build mine, but I did a LOT of work on it, and after doing a couple CIs under supervision and quite a few repairs, plus the whole panel refresh, I did learn confidence and I feel like I could build one safely, especially with frequent inspection support from the local DAR and community. It's like cooking. You follow the recipe, so to speak.

The RV-6 / RV-7 empennage is almost a rite of passage in aircraft building. If you can do that, you can do most things. Because doing that requires having the correct tools, knowing how to use them, and knowing what quality looks like.