By Lisa Turner, EAA Lifetime 509911
This piece originally ran in Lisa’s Airworthy column in the February 2024 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine.
“I can’t believe it,” Ed said, striding across the hangar to where Mike was working on his Kitfox. “I wish I had a Kitfox; I could do the annual myself.”
“Not unless you built it and got the repairman certificate,” Mike replied. “And it’s a condition inspection, not an annual. What’s up with your 152?”
“The mechanic who was doing my inspections left the area,” Ed said. “I found a new shop, and what they found blew me away. All sorts of discrepancies. Not all ADs researched and complied with, and logs and maintenance records a mess.”
Mike shook his head.
“I won’t say what I am thinking, but I’m glad you found a good shop,” Mike said. “If that much was missing, you’ll need to bite the bullet and be glad you didn’t have a major problem over the years. It’s a tribute to the airplane’s ruggedness.”
“I know you’re right. But I’m mad at myself for not paying more attention.”
* * *
Are you the owner of a certified aircraft, a light-sport aircraft, or an experimental amateur-built aircraft (E-AB)? Unless it’s been less than a year, you’ve had some kind of major inspection on your airplane in order to stay flying. Even if you’re an old hand at yearly inspections, the following tips may be useful.
When my husband and I bought our airplane, we knew that owning an aircraft would be exhilarating; that it would both save us money and cause us to spend money for that enjoyment. I remember the day I realized I couldn’t afford to rent an airplane any longer; there were just too many places I wanted to go. But I didn’t fully realize what that first airplane would cost to keep it legal and safe. We know it’s a trade we’re happy to make, but we also don’t want to overspend or introduce more complexity than we need.
Because the legal requirements for maintaining your aircraft (certificated, experimental light-sport aircraft, special light-sport aircraft, or E-AB) intersect with your certificates (sport pilot, private pilot, etc.) and training (A&P, repairman, LSRI, etc.), it can be confusing.
I’d rather talk tips here than dive into all the regulations and taxi off into the weeds.
Should You or Shouldn’t You?
Annuals on certified aircraft are straightforward. Unless you are an A&P/IA mechanic, you cannot perform the inspection and sign it off in the logbooks (14 CFR 91.409(a)(1)). But you can do preventive maintenance leading up to the annual, which may reduce the complexity of the annual itself (14 CFR Part 43).
Is this work you want to do? Although the regs say that anyone can do the maintenance on your E-AB, how excited are you about it? What is your experience level? Remember the saying, “You don’t know what you don’t know.” Make sure you match your confidence with competence. Unless you’re an A&P who is clearly in love with aircraft mechanics, this is something to think about. This is especially true if you bought a secondhand homebuilt.
As a technical counselor, I meet with builders who admit they are only building the airplane because they want to get in the air for less money. They say they are embarrassed to tell anyone, assuming that they are supposed to “love” the building and the maintenance. I tell them that rather than a fault, this acknowledgement is an important level of personal awareness that can keep them out of trouble.
There are several ways to find out whether you will enjoy working on your airplane. The first is to be honest with yourself about how much you enjoy hands-on maintenance and detailed attention to instructions and checklists. You likely already have the answer to this question. If you love building projects and already have a lot of tools, you have your answer.
If you’re not sure about the complexity level, the best thing to do is attend a hands-on EAA workshop, or find the local EAA chapter and hang out with builders.
If you love maintenance and you have a certified aircraft, find an A&P/IA who is willing to work with you on your annual. In the lead up to the inspection, there are plenty of preventive maintenance tasks the FAA says you (the owner) can do per FAR 43, Appendix A.
If you take your certified airplane to the shop on the field, you may be rejected as a helper. Reasons range from insurance rules to the shop just not wanting to take the time to work with you. You won’t lose anything by asking. If you have the time to look around, you may find someone willing to work with you.
Tips for Your Annual Inspection (Certified Aircraft)
Even if there’s a maintenance shop on your home field, I’d research at least three others within a reasonable distance. Here are some tips to save time, anxiety, and money.
Do your homework. All the shops are busy and having trouble finding qualified personnel. You’ll find this is the case nearly everywhere. Persevere. Check with your type club, on-the-field club, and fellow pilots. Recommendations from customers are invaluable. Don’t just listen to the people the shop refers you to; find others who might have a different story. If they all check out, you might have found a great facility.
Be thoughtful and thorough on your visit. Ask to see the work areas. The vibes you get from seeing the inner workings and talking to the mechanics will give you an idea of fit and quality.
Get a detailed written estimate before giving a shop your airplane. More annual inspection horror stories arise from this area than any other. Realize that there are some things the shop can’t determine until its mechanics dig into the work. If they find problems, the shop will let you know and ballpark the cost before starting. The same goes for schedule. The shop should have a reasonable estimate, but it will tell you that surprises will add up to more time.
If you haven’t made backup copies or digitized your logbooks yet, it’s a smart time to do that. Don’t leave your original logs with the shop. This is the second area with horror stories. Your mechanic will give you stickers to put in your logbooks of services performed.
The third area for horror stories is flight testing. Ask the manager or mechanic how they double-check that everything has been reassembled correctly. When you get the airplane back, plan on your own thorough inspection and preflight. First flights after an annual should be short. Stay near the airport in case there’s a problem. Address issues you find immediately with the shop or the mechanic.
If you have to change mechanics or shops and you find that a lot more discrepancies are flagged, the Pollyanna view is the best. Be glad. It’s unfortunate that your previous mechanic overlooked items that clearly should have been done, and possibly reckless in terms of safety. But I’ve never seen a situation like this where any good came out of a vindictive reaction. And sometimes things are overlooked in good faith.
Condition Inspections (E-ABs, LSA)
What’s the difference between an annual inspection for a certified aircraft and a condition inspection for an experimental aircraft? Nothing. It’s named differently to differentiate the category the airplane falls into. Certificated airplanes must be in compliance with their type certificates. Experimentals do not have type certificates; they are licensed according to consensus standards that say they must be found to be in a “condition for safe operation.” The inspection items are largely the same.
Outsourcing Your Condition Inspection
You can do all the maintenance on your E-AB aircraft, but you’ll need an A&P for inspection and signoff in the logbook unless you took the 16-hour inspection course (LSRI) or the longer maintenance course (LSRM) for your E-LSA, or you qualified for the repairman certificate for your homebuilt.
S-LSA must be maintained by FAA-certified mechanics, except for some preventive maintenance. This preventive maintenance can be done by the owner/operator and is specifically defined by the manufacturer in the aircraft’s maintenance and inspection procedures manual, which is provided with each S-LSA.
It can be confusing. And with the Modernization of Special Airworthiness Certification (MOSAIC) rules to be finalized right around the corner, it may become more complex. Or less.
Can you take your E-AB or LSA to the same shop where your neighbor takes their Cessna 152? Over the last decade it’s become easier, but aircraft maintenance shops generally hesitate to inspect or work on anything that they are not familiar with, and they can be wary of experimentals.
One way to overcome this reluctance is to ask the shop to at least look at your aircraft. Show it your maintenance manuals and checklists, and then ask if it will do the maintenance and inspections. Once the shop realizes that it’s a quite normal aircraft, and it sees the information you have so well organized, it may be amenable.
Another alternative is to locate an A&P willing to inspect and sign off your aircraft. Twenty years ago, it was nearly impossible to find an A&P willing to conduct a pre-buy on a homebuilt, much less a condition inspection, but that has changed for the better in the last decade. Most A&Ps now have been exposed to experimental and light-sport aircraft, and love what they see.
Conduct the same due diligence finding a qualified mechanic to work on your airplane as you would in locating a shop. Get references and visit their workspace.
Want to do the work? Short of becoming an A&P, there are classes you can take that will qualify you with the FAA to inspect and sign off on your LSA. If it’s an E-LSA, a 16-hour class (LSRI) is all you need.
Have an S-LSA or want to work on LSA commercially? The maintenance (LSRM) rating allows you to maintain, repair, and perform the annual condition inspection on S-LSA and E-LSA — for yourself or for hire — within the class of aircraft shown on your certificate.
Tips for E-AB and LSA Condition Inspections
Pay attention to service bulletins and airworthiness directives. Since you are about to make a logbook entry that says your airplane (and the stuff bolted into it) is in a condition for safe operation, don’t bypass any alerts from the manufacturer or FAA, whether experimental or not.
Every airplane, even certificated ones, will have some idiosyncrasies. Homebuilts especially have differences because of variations in the build. There’s nothing wrong with this, but keep good notes on problems you find and trends that you see. Most failures aren’t out of the blue; the aircraft will give progressive signals. Take these notes into the inspection at the end of the year to evaluate condition.
With a new homebuilt or LSA, taking notes at each preflight and postflight will help you build your checklist faster, developing a more powerful inspection tool. Along with idiosyncrasies, these bits of information will shorten your paperwork at the yearly inspection and service.
Be rigorous in assembling the logbooks. Have a checklist for your own ongoing responsibilities, and organize your maintenance and operation manuals. For E-LSA and S-LSA especially, manufacturer instructions for maintenance are critical.
The safety and reliability of your airplane rests on regular inspections by qualified people. This includes you. And since FAR 91.403 makes you ultimately responsible for maintenance, it is you who is ultimately responsible for everyone else doing their jobs correctly.
Lisa Turner, EAA Lifetime 509911, is a manufacturing engineer, A&P mechanic, EAA technical counselor and flight advisor, and former designated airworthiness representative. She built and flew a Pulsar XP and Kolb Mark III, and is researching her next homebuilt project. Lisa’s third book, Dream Take Flight, details her Pulsar flying adventures and life lessons. Contact Lisa at Lisa@DreamTakeFlight.com and learn more at DreamTakeFlight.com.