What are the rules behind an owner rebuilding wings out of certified parts? Let's say I wanted to keep flying my plane with the current wings on them and purchase all new certified parts separately to build a couple of wings from scratch for a certified aircraft. Once the wings are finished and recovered, I'd just swap them out with the old ones. From a maintenance stand point, is there anything wrong with this? I'm a bit confused on what's allowed on certified versus not certified aircraft when it comes to this. Would I just need an inspector to sign-off on the logbooks for the work that I did on the new set of wings and have a mechanic install them?

Would I, as a non-A&P, be allowed to assemble and cover the parts?

All of this red tape is making me want to go experimental.

Thanks

You could do any or all of that, while “supervised by” a qualified and certificated maintenance professional. The term “supervised by” is somewhat up to the certificated person signing off the work. Does it mean that person has to personally observe everything you do? Not necessarily….that’s between you and that person.

Parts and materials would all have to be tso’d, pma’d or otherwise approved for use on that plane.

Find a mechanic who’s willing to work with you, develop and earn their trust, and it should work.

MTV

CompSciAndFly wrote:....All of this red tape is making me want to go experimental.

Welcome to aviation.

Using the appropriate parts, you can do anything if the appropriate people sign it off. You’d need an A&P friend who trusts your work or really likes your money. Check out my maule thread, I am not an A&P but my good friend is and is overseeing the work as I go. I’m basically doing the same thing but with the fuse rather than wings.

I can’t imagine having a certified plane and paying someone to do every bit of work, so a friend to oversee and sign off is a friend indeed.

With the supervision of an A&P you could build/recover/paint the wings, as long as you made no changes to the current wing. If you want to make any changes, flaps, extended square tips, extended aileron, wingtip change. Then you need a IA to sign off the changes. Building a wing is not overly hard but is is certainly not simple especially if you have not done any fabric work. You will need a decent work space, and paint booth. Good flying is only a few weeds away so I would not start the project until next fall unless you wings are falling off now. DENNY

Still looking for one of these elusive A&Ps that don't charge a miniature fortune in Anchorage. Pratt Aviation $95/hour bahaha, jacks around jabbering while on the clock. Charged 35 hours to install a Tanis preheater and tighten a couple of tail brace wires, took a month and a half to complete. Hit me up with any recommendations =P

100 bucks an hour is average. Check your PM
DENNY

The hourly rate wasn't as shocking as the amount of time he supposedly spent on it. I'm no A&P, but that shouldn't have taken but a few hours max. Not much I could do, was pretty much along for the ride after he brought the plane into the hangar.

I’ve always been sympathetic to mechanics. Those folks have all sorts of overhead…..hangar, tools, recurrent training/certification, shipping, and PAPERWORK!! Not to mention the essentially constant threat of loss of their certificates because they missed something.

Check with your local auto dealership (pick a brand) and see what their hourly rate is…..it will almost certainly be as high or higher than that A/P at the airport.

But, here’s the big difference: Go to your car dealer and ask to talk to the mechanic…..probably won’t happen…..you’ll wind up talking to a “Service Advisor”, not the guy with a wrench.

Now go to your airplane fix it shop…..who answers the phone? The A/P and IA, with wrench in hand. There’s a constant stream of aircraft owners drifting in to ask questions (no offer to pay for answers of course), and to BS. Again, no pay. This is in small shops, of course, big shops (which are few) manage this better by placing a “firewall” between the working folks and the “drop ins” and “call-ins”. But free advice is still expected.

You bring your plane in to a small shop, and during a four hour job winds up taking six because of interruptions, bathroom breaks, etc, etc.

That, BTW, is in no way intended to defend heaping a 35 hour charge to install a Tanis system, BUT, did he also find “other things” while installing that system? Bear in mind, if he sees airworthiness items, he’s obligated to point them out. But, that should result in a “discussion” with the owner….Ca—Ching!

Not casting stones at you. Go to the mechanic and ASK him why it took that much billed time to install a Tanis system. If you don’t act as your own advocate, we can’t help you. If he cant logically defend that bill, walk, no….RUN away.

But first, give him the opportunity to explain that bill.

You may be surprised….

MTV