John,

 

I think you and I are on the same page.  I think the FAA is under some pressure from the certified companies to enforce the current rule.  I'm sure the certified companies aren't happy about the sales being lost to the experimental market.  The only real argument the certified companies can make is the whole "amateur built for education and recreation" angle.  I agree this has little to do with safety, and everything to do with the FAA trying to keep the amateur built market, amateur built, for whatever reason.  Maybe this is pure FAA rattling its saber to enforce the rule as it was intended, nothing more.

 

What I'm hoping doesn't happen is the FAA making it more complicated to manufacture kits, and more complicated to build and document the build process, just to curtail commercial assistance.  It probably wouldn't work anyway, as I said in my first post, it would just make things worse for Joe Bartels and the guys out there trying to build their own airplanes.

 

If you haven't read Dick VanGrunsven's article "Pokin' the Bear", you should.  It lays out much of what I've been trying to communicate.

 

 

Mike Easley

Colorado Springs