Experimental Licensing

[Roger O]

Hi Everyone,  After playing with certified aircraft and homebuilt aircraft for the better part of 38 years now, I was wondering if anyone has licensed their Mooney in the experimental category?  In our case it would be for  "research and testing of systems installed on the aircraft that are not FAA certified."

 

With parts getting more scarce and downright expensive for some items, it would stand to reason that this might be a viable option for the older Mooney.  In addition to parts, you would be able to buy a heck of a lot of very high tech avionics for much less than the STC'd stuff we're forced to buy.  

 

Unless you are flying your Mooney under part 135 or higher, experimental licensing does not effect the way you fly, only what you can do to the airplane.

 

Your comments are welcome and encouraged.

 

Happy Father's Day!

[Rwsavory]

I don't think that's going to work.

Happy Father's Day to you as well.

[Sabremech]

I will be putting my C model in the Research & Development category while I work on my cowling STC. When the STC is finished, it will go back to normal category.

David

[KSMooniac]

 

 

Unless you are flying your Mooney under part 135 or higher, experimental licensing does not effect the way you fly, only what you can do to the airplane.

 

 

 

Not correct... if you put it into an R&D category the FAA will limit you to flights to support whatever the stated purpose of the category change is...which likely means local VFR flights only, and only with required crew.  You can't just change it over to experimental and fly it normally, like an experimental homebuilt.  It sucks, but those are the rules.

[Hank]

At least until the Part 23 rewrite is finished and published, unless additional changes are made to the sneak-peek for Part 91 Non-Commercial operations.

 

But certainly not yet!

[HRM]

Waiting, waiting, waiting...

[piperpainter]

This must be a dial up connection....waiting...kkckkrrddf beeeeep....kkrr.........

[kerry]

There's a Cessna 182 on my home based field that has experimental marked on it's doors.  I've always wondered how they change it to experimental.  Maybe the owner put it on the Cessna's doors to confuse people.

[MB65E]

Experimental Exibition would be the best catagory if you really wanted to do it. Other categories have experiation dates that would apply. Market Survay, and R&D are usually granted only 6mo tickets. All of the experimantal categories have ops limits that need to be obayed. The EE catagory would require a program letter. The letter needs to list airports that are outside of the given operator area. I.e. If you had a 300nm "practice area" you'd be required to fax,mail, call, your FSDO to operate outside of the area. No response is needed from the FSDO but it's a silly process. I don't think it would be practical to do. The resale value would be cut in half, and recertifing the aircraft back into the certified catagory would cost a minimum of 3-4k.

I understand the frustration, but it's all part of the deal right now. An RV7 is a really sweet airplane!

-Matt

[WardHolbrook]

Hi Everyone,  After playing with certified aircraft and homebuilt aircraft for the better part of 38 years now, I was wondering if anyone has licensed their Mooney in the experimental category?  In our case it would be for  "research and testing of systems installed on the aircraft that are not FAA certified."

 

With parts getting more scarce and downright expensive for some items, it would stand to reason that this might be a viable option for the older Mooney.  In addition to parts, you would be able to buy a heck of a lot of very high tech avionics for much less than the STC'd stuff we're forced to buy.  

 

Unless you are flying your Mooney under part 135 or higher, experimental licensing does not effect the way you fly, only what you can do to the airplane.

 

Your comments are welcome and encouraged.

 

Happy Father's Day!

Yes, you can move your airplane into an experimental category - it's something that's done every day. However, it's typically done for short duration. For example, a few years back, we needed to get an RVSM STC approved for the bizjet that I was flying at work. This required some negotiations with our insurance company and moving our airplane into the experimental category for a day while we went flying with some flight test engineers. 

I think what you're thinking about is the Experimental - Amateur Built category. Obviously, that's not an option because your airplane wasn't built by amateurs. That leaves the Experimental - Exhibition category and you really wouldn't be happy with all of the restrictions associated with that one.