Homebuilt aircraft: building your own
Rev. 60b — page content was last changed 30 October 2011
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Homebuilt aircraft: building your ownRev. 60b — page content was last changed 30 October 2011 |
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1. Build an aeroplane from 'scratch'In Australia, any RA-Aus member can design their own aeroplane, fabricate and assemble it at home (some have done it in the lounge room but most do it in a garage or shed), then fly it; all without need for either the design or the construction to meet any certification standard. Alternatively, an aeroplane — of a previously accepted design — can be fabricated and assembled utilising an RA-Aus approved and commercially-supplied set of drawings and/or a data package. Of course, for such aeroplanes to be flown, the pilot must have a valid RA-Aus pilot certificate, the aircraft must have valid RA-Aus registration and be initially confined to a designated testing location.The Civil Aviation Orders 95.10 and 95.55 paragraph 1.2(e) provide the means by which any individual, or small group (who are not required to have any aeronautical or engineering experience whatsoever) can design and/or scratchbuild (i.e. build your own design or build from commercially-supplied plans) a very low-cost airframe from basic commercial materials, whether the design is conventional or unconventional — and there aren't too many RA-Aus forms to fill in. CAO 95.10 was the original 1976 legislation which subsequently enabled the formation of the AUF/RA-Aus. CAO 95.55 was promulgated in 1990, see our history. There may be an impression that RA-Aus has been drifting away from its CAO 95.10 roots; in 1994 there were about 550 CAO 95.10 aircraft representing 47% of the register while in January 2011 there were only 234 such aircraft — just 7% of the much expanded RA-Aus aircraft register. However these bare figures don't reveal the great number of members who have taken advantage of the association's very successful campaign to introduce a new category into CAO 95.55. That category came into effect in 1998 and is, more or less, a direct extension of CAO 95.10 facilitating home-building of a heavier, but more durable, airframe for a single-engine, single-place or two-place homebuilt aeroplane; known as an 'RA-Aus amateur-built aircraft'. 2. Build an aeroplane from a factory-supplied kitAs in CAO 95.10, CAO 95.55 also allows for kit-building (i.e. building from a commercially-supplied kit of airframe parts) and in January 2011 there were 1024 such aircraft with current registration. At that time homebuilts accounted for 42% of the 3216 aircraft with valid RA-Aus registration. The 1998 changes to CAO 95.55 led to the availability of lower cost, reasonably comfortable, two-place, cruising aircraft which could be built from kits of parts supplied by aircraft manufacturers. The kits are in a form that makes the building of the aircraft reasonably foolproof and rather cheap. Kit-building relieves the amateur builder of the design work and much of the more difficult airframe fabrication phases. This aspect has been good for the Australian aviation community in general (and the AUF/RA-Aus members in particular), in that many more people have been, and are being, enticed into recreational aviation.The airframe kits must be approved by RA-Aus/CASA and CAO 95.55 paragraph 1.2(e) requires that the major portion (51% plus) of the building task is undertaken by the owner. There is no major portion requirement for a CAO 95.10 kit nor for the newer CAO 95.55 paragraph 1.2(h) category of Light Sport Aircraft. See the synopsis of the LSA category. If an intending builder prefers that their homebuilt project be overviewed by an expert from the Sports Aircraft Association of Australia the options available under CAO 95.55 paragraph 1.2(a) and 1.2(b) are available. It is probable that these 'amateur-built aircraft acceptance' [ABAA] aircraft would have a better resale value than a similar CAO95.55 para 1.2(e) aircraft. CAO 95.55 paragraph 1.2(e) also requires that the major portion of the building task is undertaken by the owner. Other reading: An overview of the legislative framework enabling sport and recreational aviation The builders guide to safe aircraft materials. 3. Some members' projectsBuilding an aircraft is not particularly difficult but does require painstaking dedication to quality management over a period of perhaps six months to several years. Some RA-Aus member projects — that illustrate both that quality management requirement plus the options for homebuilt recreational aircraft — are detailed (to varying degrees) in this section. The most detailed presentation is Lynn Jarvis's part kit-built, part plans-built Sonex.Own design projects Plans-built projects
Kit built projects
4. Informative documents associated with amateur building
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| Description | MS Word |
HTML | Datereleased (or posted) | |
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| Synopsis: the Light Sport Aircraft category |  |
5 Apr 2006 | ||
| AC 21-42(0) LSA Manufacturers' Requirements | |
14 Jan 2006 | ||
| AC 21-41(0) LSA Certificate of Airworthiness | |
14 Jan 2006 | ||
| FAR Part 23 (text file) | |
16 Apr 2009 | ||
| Amateur building information pack | |
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Oct 2001 | |
| CAO 95.55 | |
6 April 2011 | ||
| CAO 95.10 | |
6 April 2011 | ||
| CAO 95.32 | |
6 April 2011 | ||
| CAO 101.28 issue 3 | |
12 December 2004 | ||
| CAO 101.55 issue 1 amended | |
12 December 2004 | ||
| Technical Manual section 3.3.1 | |
March 1996 | ||
| RA-Aus Aircraft Registration Numbers Explained | |
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Oct 2000 |
| Building Project Administrative Sequence | |
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Oct 2000 |
| Major Portion (51%) Rule Assessment | |
28 Nov 2000 | ||
| Compendium of RA-Aus magazine articles on amateur building [January 1999 to September 2001] | |
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Sept 2001 | |
| Definition of Builder/s - Ops Bulletin 1/01 Item 2 | |
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12 May 2001 |
| Buying and Selling - Legal Issues | |
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22 Aug 2002 |
| FAA AC 90-89A Amateur Built Aircraft and Ultralight Flight Testing Handbook (800 kB) | |
19 Jan 2001 |
Web author: John Brandon [contact information]