I agree with Mark that Lancair's decision to apply the $300 transfer fee
to a credit for parts purchases is a good move. I thank the new owner
for that! However, in my opinion the $300 was never an issue. The
following is a quote from their resale agreement:
Further, the new purchaser of a flying Lancair
aircraft or an uncompleted kit, and prior to the
aircraft being
transferred, must agree to have either flying Lancair aircraft or upon first
flight of an
uncompleted kit inspected by our insurance inspection team.
The new purchaser must also agree to
participate in any Lancair endorsed
training program.
These two requirements are, it seems to me, potentially very
expensive. An inspection by Lancair's "insurance inspection team" could
be thousands of dollars. The paragraph is awkwardly worded. It
says the buyer must agree to have the inspection, but it doesn't say the
inspection has to be completed and it doesn't say the airplane has to pass the
inspection.
One of the benefits of building my own experimental airplane is the
privilege of using materials and techniques of my own choosing, with nobody
(except the FAA, sort of) looking over my shoulder. Although I'm
confident my relatively small modifications from the official plans would
be acceptable to Lancair, there's always the possibility that some future
Lancair owner (we're now on the third since I've been building) could decide
any changes from the plans, no matter how insignificant, must be "corrected"
before allowing the new purchaser to register the airplane. I'm not
comfortable giving up that much power to Lancair. It's my airplane,
not theirs.
The resale agreement also says that the purchaser "must also agree to
participate in any Lancair endorsed training program." Holy moly, that's
a requirement limited only by the imagination of Lancair. A new owner
could also decide, for some insurance purpose perhaps, that the
"Lancair endorsed training program" would require who knows how
many hours in a Lancair, completed at Redmond.
The inspection requirement, particularly if it includes a
requirement that the inspection must be "passed," and the unbounded
training requirement, could cost a seller thousands of dollars, and
possibly tens of thousands. And I think the cost will fall on the
seller, even if the purchaser is the one who writes the check.
Dennis