Experimental FAA Cetification

Bought a built experimental powered glider and All I have is a bill of
sale from an individual who is not the builder and does not know who
he was. No data plate, plans or other documentation with kit number.
Is there anyway to satisfy the FAA's chain of ownership requirements ?
It only needs a sprucing up and some minor repairs to be flyable.

On Mon, 14 Jun 2004 17:34:06 -0400, fred D wrote:

Bought a built experimental powered glider and All I have is a bill of
sale from an individual who is not the builder and does not know who
he was. No data plate, plans or other documentation with kit number.
Is there anyway to satisfy the FAA's chain of ownership requirements ?
It only needs a sprucing up and some minor repairs to be flyable.

Not sure what you're looking for, here. AFAIK, the FAA has no "chain of
ownership" requirement. If the previous possessor was the registered
owner, then you should just be able to submit the Bill of Sale and the
appropriate registration form.

If the airplane had never been registered, and has no airworthiness
certificate, you need to submit an affidavit stating that the airplane has
been built for education or recreation. Was your comment about "chain of
ownership" referring to having no information about the previous builders
of the aircraft, and thus you lack proof that the plane was built for these
reasons?

If so, your ability to get it licensed as an Experimental Amateur-Built
depends on whether the airplane would have been likely to have been a
pro-built project. The odds that an unknown-heritage Volksplane project
might have previously been a for-hire effort is low, while the FAA guy
might be more suspicious of a Lancair. If your aircraft is a one-of
project, I can't see there being much worry about it.

Best bet would be to call the FAA, now. Discuss the situation with them,
and see if they'll accept whether it's unlikely that the plane had pro
builders in its past. They're the folks you're going to have to convince,
anyway, so you might as well bring them into the problem early.

Ron Wanttaja

fred D wrote in message . ..
Bought a built experimental powered glider and All I have is a bill of
sale from an individual who is not the builder and does not know who
he was. No data plate, plans or other documentation with kit number.
Is there anyway to satisfy the FAA's chain of ownership requirements ?
It only needs a sprucing up and some minor repairs to be flyable.

If you have no data plate and no "N" number you might have better luck
forgetting about the chain of ownership and just figure out how to
prove that it was "amateur built" and get the thing registered from
scratch as a "plans built" plane.

If It does have an "N" number check the FAA data base and try to track
down it's history from the original listed builder. If you can't find
him go back to the the guy you bought it from and get a notorized
affidavid from him about it's history. I know of one case where a Q-2
that lost the chain of ownership (the original builder wouldn't sign
anything becasuse he was scared of the liabality) managed to get
straight with the FAA (with the AOPA's help) so it can be done.

If you go this new "N" number route, if it were me, I'd make sure the
thing got registeres as a glider. You might get away with less hours
for the test period and you'll never need a medical.............
================
Leon McAtee
Duster N7852R - Thinking about adding power