"There is tremendous
admiration within the FAA for the homebuilt movement," FAA
Administrator Marion Blakey told members of EAA’s Homebuilt Aircraft
Council (HAC) on Wednesday afternoon at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh—admiration
"for what you and your members do, for what is truly an educational
pursuit."
Nick Sabatini, FAA
associate administrator for aviation safety, told the group, "As
far as we’re concerned, the 51% Rule will continue."
Issued by the FAA in
September 1952, the 51% Rule made amateur-built aircraft legal. It
allowed ordinary people to design, build, and fly aircraft for their own
recreation and education. It authorized the certification of
amateur-built aircraft, defined as an aircraft for which 51 percent of
the construction was performed by the owner/builder, for their own
recreation and education.
Over the years the
homebuilt community has done a very good job of educating its members,
setting and maintaining safe standards and practices, and keeping the
majority of homebuilts in compliance with the 51% Rule. EAA has been a
major force with its safety and education programs, Technical Counselors
and Flight Advisors, SportAir Workshops and other resources for amateur
builders.
Unfortunately, a growing
number of people have not been complying with the rules in recent
decades. Part of the problem is the growth in the kit-plane market and
the difficulty of determining—or agreeing on—what constitutes 51% of
the tasks for building an airplane. Part of Wednesday’s discussion
focused on improving the accounting of work hours on amateur-built
aircraft and creating more consistency in how individual tasks are
weighted.
More worrisome is the
proliferation of backyard builders who, under the guise of
"commercial builder-assistance," are building aircraft for
other "amateur builders" whose only participation in the
building process is to write checks. Both EAA and the FAA object to this
practice, since it violates the letter and the spirit of the 51% Rule.
Many of today’s
high-end, IFR-capable homebuilts were never envisioned when the rule was
written. "There is a generation of younger pilots who want to fly
faster and higher, in complex IFR aircraft, and who have the money to
hire someone to build a custom aircraft for them," said HAC
Chairman Doug Kelly. One possibility, he said, would be to create a
Special Airworthiness Certificate for custom-built aircraft. "We
know that idea is rife with difficulties," he told Blakey.
FAA Deputy Director John
Hickey responded: "It’s not about drawing a line [in the 51%
Rule] based on complexity. It’s all about someone building his own
aircraft. ‘Custom-built’ would be a whole new approach, not an
extension of the homebuilt rule."
Better enforcement of the
existing rule is part of the solution, said HAC Member Joe Gauthier,
adding, "We want to do everything we can to police ourselves and
maintain our safety record. We want to preserve the 51% Rule so we can
continue to build airplanes from scratch."
Kelly suggested
strengthening the eligibility requirement for kit-built aircraft.
"That’s on the table," said Hickey. "I want a better
rule. I want to clean up the builder-assistance problem. We [EAA and
FAA] can do that."
Blakey emphasized that
the homebuilt community must be an active part of the solution. In the
coming decades, general aviation will grow far faster than FAA
resources, she said. "We’re going to have to be creative and
stretch our resources over more and more responsibilities."
Hickey added: "We
want keep the 51% Rule. We need to solve some problems but [working
cooperatively with EAA and HAC] is the perfect way to do it." He
added, "One of the things I love about [this process] is that we
get to hear your opinions and ideas."
