Rules & Regs

[Posthumane]

Someone with more experience will hopefully chime in, but I believe in Canada you have to follow the 51% rule - that is, at least 51% of the plane has to be homebuilt in order to be able to be put into the homebuilt category. You can certainly use parts off of certified aircraft, but taking an existing aircraft and modifying/restoring a few parts would not qualify. You would need to do some extensive modifications in order for it to be considered homebuilt. Also, you would be subject to the same inspection process as for building an aircraft, which means you would have to get it inspected before it is covered with the skin. If it is a fabric aircraft this is not that much trouble, but if it's fiberglass then it's not worth it. With a metal plane you may be able to get away with cutting out access panels which can be covered over later.

[RenegadeAV8R]

Can a certified or better yet OM airplane be moved into the expermintal or amateur built catagory in Canada. Not looking to import an airplane the thought is to remodel and existing airframe with features from the homebuilt world to improve its performance.

Mapleflag

In Canada, the "experimental" category is not related to the "amateur-built" category.

To be an "amateur built" aircraft, 51% of the aircraft has to be homebuilt. Parts from a once certified aircraft can be used, but at the end you will have to built 51% of your aircraft by yourself.


From the CARs:

549.5 Construction

(a) Aircraft, including those supplied in kit form, will be designated as amateur-built aircraft, where the major portion of the aircraft (more than 50%) is fabricated from raw material and assembled by an individual or a group of individuals on a non-commercial, non-production basis for educational or recreational purposes

http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/r ... u-1784.htm

[Posthumane]

I think the ruling is somewhat subjective, as it would be difficult to precisely quantify 51% of the aircraft. Best bet would be to call your local MD-RA and discuss with him/her your plans for your project, as they will be the ones making the final call.

[burhead1]

So if your buddy hands you a c172 in a basket and you build it yourself, is that considered home built.?

[Pavese]

So if your buddy hands you a c172 in a basket and you build it yourself, is that considered home built.?

The verbiage is something like if you manufacture 51% of the parts from scratch then it can qualify. The engine isn't counted though, they cut you a little slack

Assembly of a C172 in a basket is still a certified basket case. Still a good deal if you have lots of time (and still some significant outlay) on your hands. 'Course you have to have someone sign it off too.

D

[AirFrame]

Can a certified or better yet OM airplane be moved into the expermintal or amateur built catagory in Canada. Not looking to import an airplane the thought is to remodel and existing airframe with features from the homebuilt world to improve its performance.

For a brief period, MD-RA was interpreting the 51% rule in such a way that allowed a disassembled certified aircraft to be re-assembled in the Amateur-Built category. There is a large checklist of items for evaluating a potential project as being 51% amateur-built, and for a while they were allowing "assembled" to qualify where it says "fabricated" on that checklist. There is a Navion here on the west coast that was constructed during that time period.

However, Transport and/or MD-RA put a stop to that quite some time ago. In general, you can no longer re-assemble a basket case and qualify it under the 51% rule. Even making use of certified parts (like wings from a 172) requires that they be opened for inspection internally. And even if you take a Cessna down to it's individual pieces of aluminum and build it up again, you don't qualify for the 51%... While you've done 99% of the riveting, you've done 0% of the work to make the individual pieces.

[robertsailor1]

yup, times have changed. as long as the homebuilt has at least 100 hrs. total time you can import it

[AirFrame]

There is a thread elsewhere in the forums about importing a kit that has raise a question for me. In years past; many years past importing a completed homebuilt as impossible, has this changed in recent times. I had a recent conversation with another "oldtimer" who said it had. If anyone has a link to Transport that shows the associated regulation that would be much appriciated.

What you need to read is the exemption to Chapter 549, that allows the import of a completed Amateur-Built Aircraft from the US. The aircraft must have 100 hours on the clock, and it must pass a final inspection by MD-RA once landed in Canada. Everything you need is on the MD-RA website (www.md-ra.com). Go to "Builder's info" and look for the "Import procedure". That outlines it pretty well.

I imported my RV-6 this way, I'd be happy to answer questions about the process if you're interested. I wrote an article on my import for the Recreational Flyer a couple of years ago... If you go to their website (http://www.raa.ca) you can look through the magazine archives for the March-April issue from 2010. The process is still the same.

You can even re-import an airplane that was originally built and inspected in Canada... But it has to go through another inspection, just as though it was built in the US. Oh, and you have to pay the PST/GST (or HST) again when it's re-imported.