wrote:
Needing some high-strength 7/16ths bolts, over the holidays I visited
one of the unofficial RV assembly plants here in San Diego county.
Located in an industrial park adjacent to the airport, the fellow has
set-up permanent fixtures just like a real aircraft factory, allowing
him to assemble an RV with perfect accuracy in remarkably little time.
RV's use NAS bolts to hold the wings on and I'd come a'begging.

He had a new helper, a guy about my age. He was over at the
leading-edge fixture, struggling to install a cleco. From his body
language I guessed the thing was bent. I would have tossed it but he
kept wrestling with it, finally got it in and went on to the next. But
damned if he didn't do the same thing.

I found my friend in his cubby hole, told him what I was after, showed
him what I had to trade. He poked around in his cabinets, found what I
needed and gave me four. Looking past me he saw the fellow working on
the leading edge. Heaved a big sigh and shook his head. The guy was
struggling with yet another cleco.

"Somebody bend all your clecos?" I asked.

My friend gave a bark of laughter. "There's nothing wrong with the
clecos," he said shaking his head. We both watched the guy. He
finally got it in, flexed his hand and started doing an other in the
same awkward manner. We watched him put in three then the fellow must
of sensed he was being watched because he looked up.

"He doesn't know how to cleco," I said in surprise.

"Yeah," my friend agreed. He told me how the fellow was
ex-military, had his ticket and a zillion years experience. "But
nobody ever showed him how to set a cleco," he sighed.

I tucked my bolts in my pocket and got the hell outta there, not
wanting to be around when my friend, who was never in the military and
isn't an A&P, tried to explain to a card-carrying sixty year old A&P
that he doesn't know how to cleco.

Sounds like an aircraft factory to me. The products of that factory
are not "homebuilts" and the FAA is failing to do its job by allowing
said aircraft to be certificated as Experimental Amateur-Built.

Dick van Grunsven knows this is going on. He knows it isn't really
right. but I don't blame Dick even though he is becoming a
multimillionaire from this scam. I blame the FAA.

Homebuilts should be that, built in one's domicile or in a
single-ooccupant wholly owned area with the builder a _nonprofessional_
aircraft constructor. An A&P should not be allowed to touch a homebuilt
unless he is also a pilot and can testify under oath it is for his
personal use and will not be sold, at least for some period of time.

If you want to be in the business of building aircraft, you should be
building a type-certificated aircraft. Else, why have such a thing at
all? Get rid of type certification entirely.

Either type certification is good or it is bad. Let's poop or get out
of the outhouse instead of allowing a kitchen business of foolish old
farts to mess with progress. Especially since they are not interested
in educating anyone else, expanding aviation, or developing the
technology.