Building and flying our own aircraft . . .

These privileges are at the very heart of EAA. Will a new FAA policy threaten them?

Everyone who participates in aviation benefits from the efforts of the amateur-building community. Learn more and make your voice heard to protect these valuable activities.

A Rallying Call for EAA Members
The FAA is concerned that some modern-day practices, involving prefabrication of aircraft kit components and commercial builder assistance, leave too few construction tasks to the amateur builder. The agency says it must more strictly enforce the “51% Rule—the requirement an amateur builder or group of amateur builders must personally complete a majority, 51% or more, of the aircraft construction tasks.

The FAA will soon announce its revised policy for interpretation and enforcement of the 51% rule. As that announcement looms, EAAers are rallying to protect an activity that provides enormous recreational and educational benefits to participants, and that advances the development of all aviation.

A Core Value to All EAA Members
The Amateur-Built category and the 51% rule were created 55 years ago. In 1953, EAA Founder Paul Poberezny organized a small group of aviation enthusiasts to seize this new regulatory opportunity to build and fly their own aircraft. This small cadre of amateur aircraft builders worked from a few published plans or created designs of their own. No one then envisioned the scope of the amateur built industry in the 21st century.

Today the amateur-built marketplace offers a dizzying array of pre-built assemblies, aircraft kits, “quick-build” kits, and builder assistance services from manufacturers.

Amateur Built Aircraft are the heart of EAA and the heart of aviation!
It all started with an amateur-built aircraft and two amateur builders named Orville and Wilbur Wright. The Amateur-Built Category, created in 1952, gives amateur builders the freedom to build an aircraft on any complexity, power, or performance, from a powered parachute, to SpaceShip One. Innovations that were pioneered by amateur builders have found their way into private, commercial, and military aircraft. These include:

• Composite materials and construction
• Glass-cockpit instrumentation
• Winglets
• Ballistic recovery systems
• Epoxy adhesives in wood construction
• Vinyl-based coatings for fabric-covered aircraft
• Lightweight engines with high power-to-weight ratios
• Electronic ignition systems
• Spring steel landing gear
• Private spacecraft

The amateur-built movement also stimulated the revitalization and modernization of general aviation’s single-engine marketplace in the 1980s and 1990s — when the traditional industry was in deep decline.

Entire categories of modern recreational aviation are rooted in the amateur-building movement. These include ultralights, powered parachutes, and light-sport aircraft.

Looking ahead, amateur builders are leading the way in developing electric powerplants for general aviation aircraft. If history and the collective experience of EAA’s amateur-building community are any indication, amateur-builders will remain at the leading edge of progress in aviation.

A Developing Story . . .
At EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2006, the FAA announced its intention to reexamine its interpretation and enforcement of the 51% Rule. The agency admits that its own practices over the years have contributed to its current concerns about amateur-builders’ compliance with the 51% Rule. The FAA has also stated repeatedly that it welcomes input from the aviation community as it wrestles with this issue.

An entire industry of suppliers, designers, manufacturers, and service providers has grown up around FAA precedents. And there is a groundswell of aviation enthusiasts rushing to support this industry. EAAers are urging the FAA not to unduly restrict amateur builders as it tightens enforcement of its amateur-built regulations. We believe:

• The FAA should not change the rules that allow amateur builders to design, build, and fly aircraft of any specifications.
• The FAA should protect the spirit and the intent of the amateur-building rules, and preserve the educational and recreational benefits that so many enthusiasts are enjoying in today’s amateur-built environment.
• The amateur-building rules do not and should not prohibit the assistance of paid professionals, so long as the amateur performs the majority of construction tasks.

Action You Can Take Today
Please take a few minutes to read through the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and other information on this site about the Amateur-Built Category and the 51% Rule. Then join with the EAA community in urging the FAA to preserve the spirit, intent, and enormous innovative potential of the amateur-built regulations. The FAA will issue its proposed new policies any day now. Your input matters.

If you are or have been a participant in amateur-built activities, please write to the FAA to tell them about your experience. Tell the FAA . . .

• . . . how you value the freedom afforded by the Experimental Amateur-Built rules—to dream up design, build, and fly the aircraft of your vision, without any limits on the complexity, power, size, or performance of the aircraft;
• . . . how your experiences in building an aircraft—even a quick-build kit or with commercial builder assistance—have provided recreational and educational benefits in keeping with the spirit and intent of the amateur-building rules;

and

. . . that you encourage the FAA to preserve the amateur-built regulations and practices that have proven successful for more than 50, that have given a huge wealth of innovations and advancements to all of aviation, and that have fostered participation, learning, and enjoyment of personal aviation.

Send your comments to:

Mr. Frank Paskiewicz, Manager
Production and Airworthiness Division
Federal Aviation Administration, AIR-200
800 Independence Avenue SW
Washington, D.C. 20591