Registering a Warbird with the FAA (Experimental Operating Limitations)

It looks like I'm about to become the owner of a warbird which will
require setting up Experimental Operating Limitations with the FAA. I'm
planning on calling the FAA and the EAA on Monday, but is there anyone
out there who has gone through this before?

I have a copy of the letter the current owner has on file and I'm
assuming I need to develop a similar letter with my local FSDO, with a
map of my 300nm operating radius, along with the listing of planned
exhibition events.

I know what the final results of getting these operating limitations
set up looks like because I have the current ones. However, I'm a
little unclear on the process of how to get these set up in the first
place and on file officially.

Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Eric

I thought warbirds operated in the "LIMITED" category, not
"EXPERIMENTAL"?

It looks like I'm about to become the owner of a warbird which will
require setting up Experimental Operating Limitations with the FAA. I'm
planning on calling the FAA and the EAA on Monday, but is there anyone
out there who has gone through this before?

I know that many Warbirds (including this one) are under the
Experimental category as "Racing and Exhibition" aircraft. FAA order
8130.27 spells out the limitations for 4 groups of aircraft that
encompass just about any type of warbird that I can think of (except
ones that are certified as standard category planes).

What I'm still not entirely clear on is how I get the letter from the
FAA that is based on 8130.27, spelling out the limitations. I'm
assuming this is much easier on a plane that has already been operated
in the US by 2 prior owners (the flight test requirements should be
already met I assume).

I'm still reading through all of the documentation I can find, but if
someone has gone through this recently and can spell out the steps they
took to ensure that they were legal, I'd appreciate it. I'll be calling
the local FSDO on Monday morning but I'd like to have some idea what
I'm talking to them about.

Thanks,
Eric

I know that many Warbirds (including this one) are under the
Experimental category as "Racing and Exhibition" aircraft. FAA order
8130.27 spells out the limitations for 4 groups of aircraft that
encompass just about any type of warbird that I can think of (except
ones that are certified as standard category planes).

What I'm still not entirely clear on is how I get the letter from the
FAA that is based on 8130.27, spelling out the limitations. I'm
assuming this is much easier on a plane that has already been operated
in the US by 2 prior owners (the flight test requirements should be
already met I assume).

I'm still reading through all of the documentation I can find, but if
someone has gone through this recently and can spell out the steps they
took to ensure that they were legal, I'd appreciate it. I'll be calling
the local FSDO on Monday morning but I'd like to have some idea what
I'm talking to them about.

Thanks,
Eric

You should only have to apply for a change to the operating limitations if
the old ones specify an airport from which you have to operate. If that's
the case, all you should have to do is contact your local FSDO and request
amended operating limitations to reflect new base airport, radius and
whatever aspects apply locally. I am assuming that you already meet the
requirements to fly the a/c, which vary quite a bit depending on the
aircraft.

The categories are I through IV and they apply to all experimental
exhibition aircraft, not just warbirds. Category IV is the most restrictive.

Juan

wrote in message
ps.com...
It looks like I'm about to become the owner of a warbird which will
require setting up Experimental Operating Limitations with the FAA. I'm
planning on calling the FAA and the EAA on Monday, but is there anyone
out there who has gone through this before?

I have a copy of the letter the current owner has on file and I'm
assuming I need to develop a similar letter with my local FSDO, with a
map of my 300nm operating radius, along with the listing of planned
exhibition events.

I know what the final results of getting these operating limitations
set up looks like because I have the current ones. However, I'm a
little unclear on the process of how to get these set up in the first
place and on file officially.

Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Eric

Juan Jimenez wrote:
You should only have to apply for a change to the operating limitations if
the old ones specify an airport from which you have to operate. If that's
the case, all you should have to do is contact your local FSDO and request
amended operating limitations to reflect new base airport, radius and
whatever aspects apply locally. I am assuming that you already meet the
requirements to fly the a/c, which vary quite a bit depending on the
aircraft.

The categories are I through IV and they apply to all experimental
exhibition aircraft, not just warbirds. Category IV is the most restrictive.

Not all warbirds are Experimental Exhibition either. I take it you are
buying a vodka rocket?

Actually its a Pilatus P-3, Lycoming piston engined trainer. It is the
Swiss equivalent of a T-34, but it was never certified in the US, hence
the Experimental Exhibition categorization. Its built a lot heavier
that a T-34 and they all have a lot less total time than the T-34s do
(they all seem to be between 3000 and 4000 hours TT vs. 10,000 hours on
a lot of theT-34s).

This is the great-grandfather of the current USAF T-6A Texan II. It
evolved from the P-3 to the PC-7 with the addition of the PT-6 engine
and some airframe mods, then to the PC-9 with ejection seats and a
larger turbine, and then to the T-6A with even more power &
modifications for the USAF.

Eric

"Bret Ludwig" wrote in message
oups.com...

Juan Jimenez wrote:
You should only have to apply for a change to the operating limitations
if
the old ones specify an airport from which you have to operate. If that's
the case, all you should have to do is contact your local FSDO and
request
amended operating limitations to reflect new base airport, radius and
whatever aspects apply locally. I am assuming that you already meet the
requirements to fly the a/c, which vary quite a bit depending on the
aircraft.

The categories are I through IV and they apply to all experimental
exhibition aircraft, not just warbirds. Category IV is the most
restrictive.

Not all warbirds are Experimental Exhibition either. I take it you are
buying a vodka rocket?

I suppose that needs to be pointed out, of course. Few people know, for
example, that some P-51's operate under standard airworthiness certificates,
for example.

I'm not buying anything, I'm trying to get my BD-5J's airworthiness
certificate issued. FAA is not exactly very cooperative, and there are no
DAR's here. I'm getting it sorted out, plane's been ready for the final
condition inspection for weeks now, but lack of a place where I can take it
to get it inspected, and lack of cooperation from the weather, keeps putting
things off.

I've seen this one, nice aircraft. There's 19 of those in the US registry,
shouldn't be a problem getting the operating limitations amended. The key to
this is always developing a good working relationship with the local FSDO.
Makes things run much smoother. Just go talk to them and ask (call first and
make an appointment). Emphasize you have not yet bought the aircraft, but
want to do your homework first and ask for their advice. You'll find that,
with some exceptions, the vast majority of the FSDO people want to help out
and will give you all the info you need.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Actually its a Pilatus P-3, Lycoming piston engined trainer. It is the
Swiss equivalent of a T-34, but it was never certified in the US, hence
the Experimental Exhibition categorization. Its built a lot heavier
that a T-34 and they all have a lot less total time than the T-34s do
(they all seem to be between 3000 and 4000 hours TT vs. 10,000 hours on
a lot of theT-34s).

This is the great-grandfather of the current USAF T-6A Texan II. It
evolved from the P-3 to the PC-7 with the addition of the PT-6 engine
and some airframe mods, then to the PC-9 with ejection seats and a
larger turbine, and then to the T-6A with even more power &
modifications for the USAF.

Eric

Thanks for all the help. I'll be talking to the FSDO tomorrow morning
so it sounds like ammending the operating limitations shouldn't be an
issue.

Eric