"Dave S" wrote...

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. Surely it can't
be
that simple

It is. Thats what Experimental - Amatuer Built is all about.

Heh, that's kind of what I thought. Or at least, that's what I wanted to
think. But even though it's labelled "experimental-amateur built," I wasn't
sure what all that entailed. I mean, a C-172 could be classified as
experimental if you make certain modifications to it that most people
wouldn't necessarily consider major or experimental. It's all semantics at
this level, I guess. What matters is how it meets all the requirements. The
replies so far have broadened my view of what you're allowed to do, which is
what I was hoping for. R.a.h. strikes again.



- 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)

Why not? They sell kits of some "aircraft engines", and I have the block
assembled for our auto conversion that is based on Mazda rotary engine
parts. Its not rocket science. Its about being able to follow directions
if you are fortunate enough to have people who have blazed that trail
already.


I didn't realize they had kits out like that. I've seen parts, parts, and
more parts, and made the leap that you could put the write combinations
together, but didn't know they were available as you say. As for "why not" -
I was talking about machining the thing ourselves out of stock. As second
year aero engineering students with little machining experience and no
airframe construction experience, we'll leave that one till project #2....

Is insurance difficult to
get, or not commonly obtained for homebuilts, or what? And what kind of
ballpark are you looking at for a single engine, 2 seater, without the
million dollar liability policy?

Anything is available if you want to pay enough. I have not researched
this extensively and actually intend to "go bare" with regards to hull
insurance. Heresay I have seen indicates that 1st flights or Phase 1
(flight testing) is difficult to nearly impossible to insure. Other
postings I have seen indicate that some insurers may want to inspect the
build along the way for workmanship to validate that the hull will
actually be worth what they are insuring it for (as in
repairable/sellable). No personal firsthand proof, just data points that
may or may not be valid.


Unfortunately, that's part of the problem. We're college students. We can
make ends meet on a project like this (we think), but we certainly don't
have money to burn. It's definitely something we'll investigate in more
detail before buying anything beyond info packs for kits/plans. Interesting
that insurers might want to keep up with the construction, though.


-Tony