Homebuilt aircraft
[1][2] In the United States, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, homebuilt aircraft may be licensed Experimental under FAA or similar local regulations.
[1][2] Alberto Santos-Dumont was the first to offer for free construction plans, publishing drawings of his Demoiselle in the June 1910 edition of Popular Mechanics.
These races required aircraft with useful loads of 150 lb (68 kg) and engines of 80 cubic inches or less and as a consequence of the class limitations most were amateur-built.
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.
[1][2] A combination of cost and litigation, especially in the mid-1980s era, discouraged general aviation manufacturers from introducing new designs and led to homebuilts outselling factory built aircraft by five to one.
Even if the Wright brothers, Clément Ader, and their successors had commercial objectives in mind, the first aircraft were constructed by passionate enthusiasts whose goal was to fly.
Many U.S. aircraft designed and registered in the 1920s onward were considered "experimental" by the (then) CAA, the same registration under which modern homebuilts are issued Special Airworthiness Certificates.
The term "homebuilding" became popular in the mid-1950s when EAA founder Paul Poberezny wrote a series of articles for the magazine Mechanix Illustrated where he explained how a person could buy a set of plans and build their own aircraft at home.
In 1955, Poberezny co-founded, with Robert D. Blacker, EAA's first youth outreach program, Project Schoolflight, which brought "homebuilding" into high school industrial arts classes throughout the US.
[1][2] Litigation during the 1970s and 1980s caused stagnation in the small aircraft market, forcing the surviving companies to retain older, proven designs.
In recent years, the less restrictive regulations for homebuilts allowed a number of manufacturers to develop new and innovative designs; many can outperform certified production aircraft in their class.
The most powerful is the Lancair Propjet, a four-place kit with cabin pressurization and a turboprop engine, cruising at 24,000 feet (7,300 m) and 370 knots (425 mph, 685 km/h).
[citation needed] One of the terms applied to this concept is commonly referred to as "The 51% Rule", which requires that builders perform the majority of the fabrication and assembly to be issued a Certificate of Airworthiness as an Amateur Built aircraft.
Emerging markets such as China and India could also boost demand for our products, but entire infrastructures will need to be formed before small players like us could benefit.
The advantage of this type of construction is that it does not require complex tools and equipment, instead employing commonplace items such as saw, planer, file, sandpaper, and clamps.
[1][2] Examples of amateur craft made of composite materials include: The safety record of homebuilts is not as good as certified general aviation aircraft.
[15] 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.
The study also identified that powerplant failures and loss of control in-flight accidents were much higher than the same rates for certified aircraft.
