Homebuilt aircraft

thumb|upright=1.14|A [[Rutan Long-EZ homebuilt in 1984 in England]]

Homebuilt aircraft, also known as amateur-built aircraft or kit planes, are constructed by persons for whom this is not a professional activity. These aircraft may be constructed from "scratch", from plans, or from assembly kits.

Overview

In the United States, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, homebuilt aircraft may be licensed Experimental under FAA or similar local regulations. With some limitations, the builder(s) of the aircraft must have done it for their own education and recreation rather than for profit. In the U.S., the primary builder can also apply for a repairman's certificate for that airframe. The repairman's certificate allows the holder to perform and sign off on most of the maintenance, repairs, and inspections themselves. The first aircraft to be offered for sale as plans, rather than a completed airframe, was the Baby Ace in the late 1920s.

thumb|right|Canada's first homebuilt aircraft, [[Stitts SA-3A Playboy CF-RAD, first flown in 1955, seen in the Canada Aviation and Space Museum.]]

Homebuilt aircraft gained in popularity in the U.S. in 1924 with the start of the National Air Races, held in Dayton, Ohio. These races required aircraft with useful loads of and engines of 80 cubic inches or less and as a consequence of the class limitations most were amateur-built. The years after Charles Lindbergh's transatlantic flight brought a peak of interest between 1929 and 1933. During this period many aircraft designers, builders and pilots were self-taught and the high accident rate brought public condemnation and increasing regulation to amateur building. The resulting federal standards on design, engineering, stress analysis, use of aircraft-quality hardware and testing of aircraft brought an end to amateur building except in some specialized areas, such as racing. In 1946 Goodyear restarted the National Air Races, including a class for aircraft powered by 200 cubic inch and smaller engines. The midget racer class spread nationally in the U.S. and this led to calls for acceptable standards to allow recreational use of amateur-built aircraft. By the mid-1950s both the U.S. and Canada once again allowed amateur-built aircraft to specified standards and limitations.

Technology and innovation

thumb|right|The [[Questair Venture set new standards for speed in kit-built aircraft design]]

Until the late 1950s, builders had mainly kept to wood-and-cloth and steel tube-and-cloth design. Without the regulatory restrictions faced by production aircraft manufacturers, homebuilders introduced innovative designs and construction techniques. Burt Rutan introduced the canard design to the homebuilding world and pioneered the use of composite construction. Metal construction in kitplanes was taken to a new level by Richard VanGrunsven in his RV series. As the sophistication of the kits improved, components such as autopilots and more advanced navigation instruments became common.

thumb|[[Swearingen SX-300]]

A small number of jet kitplanes have been built since the 1970s, including the tiny Bede Aircraft BD-5J.

Building materials

Homebuilt aircraft can be constructed out of any material that is light and strong enough for flight. Several common construction methods are detailed below.

Wood and fabric

thumb|right|A typical wood and fabric construction amateur-built, the [[Bowers Fly Baby.]]

thumb|right|A [[Pietenpol Air Camper under construction, showing the wooden frame structure that will be covered with aircraft fabric.]]

This is the oldest construction, seen in the first aircraft and hence the best known. For that reason, amateur-built aircraft associations will have more specialists for this type of craft than other kinds.

The accident rate for homebuilt aircraft in the U.S. has long been a concern to the Federal Aviation Administration. At Sun 'n Fun 2010, FAA administrator Randy Babbitt said that homebuilts "account for 10 percent of the GA fleet, but 27 percent of accidents. It's not the builders [getting into accidents], but the second owners. We need better transition training." In the US, flight instruction, including primary flight training, can be received in the owner's homebuilt aircraft from any instructor willing to provide such training.

A study released in 2012 by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board concluded that homebuilt aircraft in the U.S. have an accident rate 3–4 times higher than the rest of the general aviation fleet. Almost 10% of accidents involving homebuilt aircraft occurred on the craft's first flight. A further 9% of accidents occurred on their first flight after being sold, due to the new owner's unfamiliarity with the craft. The study also identified that powerplant failures and loss of control in-flight accidents were much higher than the same rates for certified aircraft.

Most nations' aviation regulations require amateur-built aircraft to be physically marked as such (for example in the U.K. "Occupant Warning – This aircraft ... is amateur built." must be displayed), and extra flight testing is usually required before passengers (who are not pilots themselves) can be carried.

Culture

The largest airshow in the world is the Experimental Aircraft Association's annual EAA AirVenture Oshkosh airshow in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, which takes place in late July and early August. Other annual events are the Sun N' Fun Fly-In, which occurs in the early spring in Lakeland, Florida, and the Northwest EAA Fly-In in Arlington, Washington. These events are called fly-ins as many people fly their homebuilts and other aircraft into the airport hosting the show, often camping there for the duration. Both events last a week. Takeoffs and landings at these shows typically number in the thousands.

References

External links

Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA)
Light Aircraft Association, the representative body in the United Kingdom for amateur aircraft.
FAA Advisory Circular 20-27G: Certification and Operation of Amateur-Built Aircraft