Finishing Someone Else’s Project

[Slick Goodlin]

I plan on contacting the MD-RA folks over this but I’m curious if any of you have been through it. I have a mostly complete homebuilt airplane that hasn’t yet been registered but has had its various pre-cover inspections so far. The trouble is, the fellow who started it has passed away and I can’t find any inspection paperwork. To complicate it further, the inspector that’s signed everything off so far has at least retired and possibly passed away too.

She’s a little too heavy to just slam a C-I registration on so what do you figure the odds are that someone, somewhere has the paperwork on file, or will I be stuck re-covering this thing?

[John Swallow]

MD/RA should have a record. Further, any piece that was inspected prior to closure will have a sticker attached to it certifying that it was looked at and approved.

Good luck...

John

[RBK]

Further to what John said, MDRA should have a record.

However, my RV is a little older than John's ( I finished building i 2002) and at that time they weren't putting stickers on saying that it was inspected. Depending on how old your kit is, there may not be stickers.

I had three different inspectors for mine, and I did run into a little issue where one of the inspectors didn't send in the paperwork and then retired. Fortunately, the second inspector knew the first so we were able to resolve things.

Rob

[Scudrunner]

I see a few projects pop up on the various sites and often wonder if it would be worth trying to figure out someone else's mistakes. Alternatively starting from new and knowing where I screwed up.

[Slick Goodlin]

I see a few projects pop up on the various sites and often wonder if it would be worth trying to figure out someone else's mistakes. Alternatively starting from new and knowing where I screwed up.

Luckily I was around this one from the start. I even assembled the upper wings over Christmas holidays one year in high school. The work is nice, much nicer than I probably would have done.