On Feb 13, 9:10*pm, Bob Martin wrote:
There really ought to be an "owner-maintained" system where you can do your own
maintenance and annuals, but the airplane is then subject to experimental regs (like
flying for hire etc) and the manufacturer is released from liability for things other than
inherent design faults.

There is - in Canada. Interesting bit of trivia - any Canadian
aircraft could get FAA permission to fly in the US including
homebuilt, ultralight, and even advanced ultralight (about equivalent
to our LSA - long before we had LSA). There is only one exception -
owner maintained. The FAA won't allow them to fly here. They know
the truth - if this was possible, we would all do it - and the
mechanics and repair stations would fold left and right. And then the
FAA wouldn't need all those maintenance inspectors.

Michael