When I was at Oshkosh, there was a "kit" plane, I believe called Envoy (one of those "E" words, like Explorer, Expedition, etc). It was between the L-IV and the Epic in size. They will build it for you in low-wing retractable, high-wing fixed gear, Walter or PT-6, whatever you want.  I talked to the company president, who told me about their program. I just order the configuration I want, give them $600K or so, and when they get started, I would show up at the factory for 2 weeks. When they are finished in 6 months they will deliver the airplane to me, panel, paint, and upholstery finished, turn-key amateur built airplane. The prez explained that the 2 weeks I spent at the factory were to "get around the regs".

So, it is clear to me that we have now a continuous spectrum of experimental aircraft building, from your-own-design-scratch-built, to plans-built, to slow-build kits, to quick-build kits, to professional builder assist programs, to factory builder assist programs, to built-at-the-factory programs, to built-entirely-by-the-factory programs.

At some point, the aircraft is no longer an amateur built, for the purpose of education, experimental. Rather it is an airplane that should be certified, purchased outright. The customer (not builder) should have the assurances that the aircraft will meet the part 23 criteria for flight characteristics, crashworthyness, etc.

We are extremely fortunate to be able to build experimental airplanes in this country of rampant bureaucracy and TSA. It is only natural, and right, that the FAA is going to draw the line at some point in the spectrum, and say "no, if you are going to manufacture the aircraft, you need to get a type certificate". It is not fair to the many manufacturers of certified aircraft to allow a few to circumvent the rules. The cost of certification is huge, and the advantage gained by not doing so is huge and unfair.

Finally, I am going to express the unpopular opinion. From the beginning, it has been clear to me that Mr. Schrameck and Dr. Cadwell intended to use the members of this list to start a letter writing campaign in their behalf, by slanting the facts about their particular problem to threaten our own building programs. I feel this has been just as disingenuous as the program they embarked on in the first place.

Sorry fellas, I like the regs they way they are.

John Huft
RV8
Mullicoupe
C-185
lancair lurker