Backcountry Pilot

[Roger S offline]

I've been kicking around the idea of converting my Pa22/20 into a Producer/Bushmaster experimental. When all is said and done, would I still hold my old N # and registration to my certified Pacer or is that released to the FAA to never be seen again?

Roger

[WWhunter offline]

Roger,
This is just conjecture but I would probably wait a bit and see what happens with the FAA in there decision on homebuilts. Check the EAA site but from what I am understanding the idea of taking a certified aircraft and changing it into the experimental catagory might be getting harder. What I am telling you is just my guess so do some more research before taking that step.
They are debating the 51% issue and I'm not sure if what you are wanting to do will be affected or not.
Good Luck.
WW

[hotrod180 offline]

I'd drop in & talk to Steve's Aircraft over at White City, they do alot of shortwing Piper work and have also been involved with Producer style airplanes. They posted something a while back on sc.org about a friend of theirs who built a stretched Pacer with big Cessna style Fowler flaps, it looked pretty cool. Lotsa Producer/Bushmaster info on the sc.org site, BTW.
If you;re gonna go the STC/field approval route you can keep the n number, etc. If you're gonna register as an amateur-built experimental, lose the n number, airworthiness cert, etc. Maybe you can sell them. FAA is really starting to frown upon builing a homebuilt from a factory airplane. You might wanna talk to the FAA inspector and/or DER who you would be working with to register the thing, and get their imput before you get too far along.
You can get more performance out of a Pacer just by making it as light as possible, and adding VG's, tips, flat prop, fat tires, etc-- all STC'd or (somewhat) easily field-approved. Eddie Trimmer up in Alaska does a lot of trick Pacer work.

Eric

[mtv offline]

I would be very surprised if you could "convert" a Pacer to an experimental (homebuilt) category aircraft nowadays. It's been done, of course, but I doubt you'd get it done again, and as noted, the FAA is leaning hard on this right now.

You may be able to "dissapear" the airplane entirely, and then "construct" a new one from pieces and fabricated parts, but I'd definitely talk this over with the FAA before I started cutting, cause in the end, they're going to have to sign it off, even as a homebuilt.

MTV

[RB Propwash offline]

Hi gang this is my first post. Looking forward to meeting you guys and gals and enjoy reading this site.
Now for my thoughts on this subject, take them for what their worth. I am building this style aircraft now. When I talked to other people who have done the same thing, they all seemed to have different opinions. So I called my local feds. They told me that if you used certified parts it won't work. For example, you can't take a Cub wing, pull the fabric, clean it up, recover it and call it experimental. They call it a repair. But if you can show that you have built 51% of the wing from scratch, it will qualify.
If you are going to do this -be very careful. I recommend you go to the EAA sight and buy a packet with the paperwork to help you through the process.
I shoud have my plane finished in about four months, and will let you guys know how it goes. Good luck.

[Zzz]

Recent discussion:

http://www.backcountrypilot.org/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1615

[Roger S offline]

Thanks for all the input. I really would like to have a Producer of sorts, but would probably be better off starting from scratch rather than taking a good certified airplane and hacking it up. I do think I can come up with the 51%, although you never know how it will be received by the FAA.

Zero.one.victor, Steve from Steve's Aircraft is probably the main culprit for me wanting to do this conversion. Heck it's Steve's super Pacer that I have trouble keeping up with now.

Back to what I was asking before, I get the impression that if a person was to convert to experimental, that they wouldn't have to surrender their existing N# and registration to the FAA. ????

Roger

[RB Propwash offline]

Roger

I haven't heard of anyone in my area having to surrender their N #.
But I was told not to have any PA-20 or 22 paperwork in my name.
I'm not sure why.

Rick

[Roger S offline]

Rick, I along with probably others here would really like to see and hear about your project. If I was to attempt this kind of project, I thought the Taylorcraft airfoil with flaps would be one of my top choices. Are you using the SC airfoil?

Roger

[RB Propwash offline]

Roger


I'm using SC spars, Dakota ribs, squared tips, moving ailerons outboard, extended flaps, 24 gal tanks, no lighting. Just starting wings now. Trying to keep things light and simple.

My wife is nice, she is letting me take the next four months off to do this project.

Rick

[hotrod180 offline]

Roger, instead of cutting into your Pacer, you might wanna buy a new/used fuselage & use it. That way you'd have something to fly in the meantime. There was some Pacer parts (fuselage,wings, struts,etc) for sale in the Olympia area advertised on the sc.org site recently. look on the bottom of the page for "classifieds" link. A frined of mine who has a Pacer recently bought a tripacer fuselage cheap, had a lot of splices but he figgered it'd be a good start for a project. They're out there if you hunt hard enough.

Eric

[maules.com offline]

Roger, if the N# is what you want to keep, you can change registration on your present plane and reserve your present N# to put on another when finished if it is a registerable airplane.
Jeremy