On Thursday, April 10, 2014 9:36:15 AM UTC-6, Paul Villinski wrote:
Let me tell you a funny seat belt story. I owned an 78 model ASW20 and the webbing looked like it was due so I took it to a Master Rigger buddy of mine who is Certificated by the FAA to make repairs to seat belts. He let me pick the color and strength rating (Which ended up being twice the original for the same weight) and we reused the hardware. When it was all done he signed the log book and I had a very nice set of belts that matched the interior of my ship. Then it hit the fan! I told some people what I did and posted my experience on an owners group (Plus the fact that this cost only 90 bucks) and you would would have thought I was a major criminal by the negative response I received. The big issue most pilots had was that there is no TSO tag. One local wiener got up in my face on the grid about this but he could not explain why my belts are illegal. So I called the FAA and worked my way up the ladder till I got THE person who is responsible for compliance of imported aircraft for the NW Region. I was assured in no uncertain terms (The rep sounded like she was tired of answering this question) that any experimental regardless of exhibition & racing, amateur built, etc, does NOT need to use approved parts.
I think part of the problem is that these gliders at Certificated to JAR or EASA standards but they are maintained to Part 43 standards. Two different standards with room for grey areas.