Thanks for the reply -
I'll definitely look into Mattituck's seminar. That sounds like exactly the
kind of thing we'd like. It's kind of a relief to know other people do it.
Maybe we're not quite as crazy as everyone thinks we are....
Sounds like a reasonable baseline for insurance. When we get an idea of
exactly what we're going to build, I'll go get some quotes. It doesn't sound
prohibitive, in any case, which was the idea. Would EAA or AOPA be a good
choice for this kind of thing vs. other providers?
-Tony
Student Pilot
44.9 Hours
"Richard Riley" wrote ...
On Wed, 05 Jan 2005 05:20:39 GMT, wrote:
:Greetings, fellow aviation nuts
:
:I'm an aerospace engineering student at Cal Poly Pomona here in southern
:California (what other subject would I possibly have majored in?...).
At Cal Poly? There's Apparel Merchandising & Management, but then you
wouldn't be posting here.
: A
:friend and I, being the ever ambitious students we are, are considering a
:homebuilt project.
:
:I've got some questions though. I've searched through the FARs and looked
:elsewhere online, but I'm not finding much about engine options. The
r.a.h.
:FAQ notes that certified engines need to be equipped and maintained just
the
:same as in a certified airplane, and says that any non-certified engine
is
:subject to a 40 hour flight test program vs 25 hours. Beyond that, and
:knowing that people do auto conversions, I'm not finding much as to what
you
:can and can't do. It sounds to me like you can install practically
anything.
:Get a big enough twisted rubber band, or enough hamsters running on
exercise
:wheels, and as long as it flies you're allowed to do it.
Hamsters don't have a high enough power to weight ratio, but the
rubber band has been done
http://www.rubberbandit.org/
: Surely it can't be
:that simple - what needs to be done before an engine will be allowed to
fly?
:What can't you do? Any stories of people designing and building their own
:engines? (not that it's an option in our case of course)
Sure. In fact, if your goal is building a new engine, it's easier to
test it on an experimental-amateur built than on a standard catagory
airplane. The Delta Hawk http://www.deltahawkengines.com/ was first
flown on a Velocity.
:
:One idea we were throwing around is getting an old certified engine and
verhauling it ourselves. We're both mechanically inclined, and he's done
:quite a bit of work on engines, and I'm sure there are others we could
:recruit on campus. It would be a great learning experience. Since neither
of
:us is an A&P, we couldn't sign off on it, but it should still be a good
:engine. What does the FAA think about this kind of thing? Seems that by
now
:someone must have tried it.
You're right, it wouldn't be a certified engine at that point, but
it's been done. If you want to go that way, consider taking
Mattituck's engine assembly seminar. They sell a Lycoming clone, and
they run you through the assembly while telling you why their version
is superior to Lyc. Talk to Mahlon Russell, 1-800-624-6680 ext. 305
www.mattituck.com
:On a different note, Q317 from the FAQ asks if it's possible to insure a
:homebuilt. I hadn't really thought about "if," it always just seemed like
a
:given to me that you would do it, as for a car. Is insurance difficult to
:get, or not commonly obtained for homebuilts, or what?
Depending on the type of aircraft it is, your experience level and
history, and the kind and amount of insurance you want, it can range
from not too bad to horribly expensive to impossible. Most homebuilts
have liability insurance - a lot of airports require it if you base
there. Many don't have hull insurance, but many do. Figure hull
insurance at 1.5% of hull value per year, as an order of magnitude
WAG. For liability you're looking at a few hundred per year.