Pietenpol-List: Maybe a little help
Posted: Tue May 08, 2001 2:13 pm
Original Posted By: "Gary Meadows"
Subject: Pietenpol-List: Maybe a little helpPietenpolers,I had a little problem resolved today and the experience surrounding it may be worth telling and worth your time reading. If you are one of those few who know it ALL please use your delete key NOW.Last spring after buying my plans from Don and ordering my 2 X 6s for lumber I contacted the FAA office in Baton Rouge for their procedures of checks and inspections as I presumed they were different from those I had used when building a Mini Plane in the late 50s. They informed me that they no longer scheduled inspections the old way and that I would need to contact a DAR for that service. I contacted the nearest DAR by phone and was advised he would be in touch. Several months after NO TOUCH I went to his place of business, met him, discussed my Piet,which he had never heard of, and of course his prices for his sacrifices of inspections. Needless to say I was IMPRESSED but not the way he intended it to be. Around the second week of Sept as I was writing a check to our uncle for a tax estimate it hit me. WHY should I pay someone outside for services I pay taxes for within the FAA system. I called Baton Rouge and talked with Lisa. She could not have been nicer, even was familiar with a Pietenpol. I told her my thinking and she put me through to a field man. He said he would be glad to inspect my bird, just give him about a month lead time. Boy I felt good. Things have been relaxed along that line until I talked with several builders recently on the subject of a builders log. I never heard of such a thing but as one builder suggested we had better begin some creative writing. Today I decided to call my man in Baton Rouge and feel him out on the subject. Yes, as you can guess, he is gone. I was refered to another agent who listened patiently and seemed somewhat sympathetic. He told me he would ask his supervisor if he could be assigned to my project and that I would here from him in the near future. I felt good again. One hour later my bride called me to the phone from the yard. It was Jim at the FAA office in Baton Rouge. His supervisor had assigned to my plane. The inspector in Sep had told me that he only wanted to see it when it was ready for flight with cowl off and inspection plates removed. I asked Jim about this and he wants to see it naked before covering but complete and again before flight. He is not familiar with the Piet so I promised him a set of plans and pictures for him to read and see. Boy, I'm happy again.These experiences show that the FAA has no standard procedure of inspections. Each inspector seems to set his own procedures. Gary, he does want a chronological log. Can be tied in with photos. He was particularly positive that I prove the 51% rule. This may have wasted a lot of your time for having read it but it might help several of you who may have been in the FAA dark as I was and am. Sooooo take it and go.Corky in happyland.________________________________________________________________________________
Subject: Pietenpol-List: Maybe a little helpPietenpolers,I had a little problem resolved today and the experience surrounding it may be worth telling and worth your time reading. If you are one of those few who know it ALL please use your delete key NOW.Last spring after buying my plans from Don and ordering my 2 X 6s for lumber I contacted the FAA office in Baton Rouge for their procedures of checks and inspections as I presumed they were different from those I had used when building a Mini Plane in the late 50s. They informed me that they no longer scheduled inspections the old way and that I would need to contact a DAR for that service. I contacted the nearest DAR by phone and was advised he would be in touch. Several months after NO TOUCH I went to his place of business, met him, discussed my Piet,which he had never heard of, and of course his prices for his sacrifices of inspections. Needless to say I was IMPRESSED but not the way he intended it to be. Around the second week of Sept as I was writing a check to our uncle for a tax estimate it hit me. WHY should I pay someone outside for services I pay taxes for within the FAA system. I called Baton Rouge and talked with Lisa. She could not have been nicer, even was familiar with a Pietenpol. I told her my thinking and she put me through to a field man. He said he would be glad to inspect my bird, just give him about a month lead time. Boy I felt good. Things have been relaxed along that line until I talked with several builders recently on the subject of a builders log. I never heard of such a thing but as one builder suggested we had better begin some creative writing. Today I decided to call my man in Baton Rouge and feel him out on the subject. Yes, as you can guess, he is gone. I was refered to another agent who listened patiently and seemed somewhat sympathetic. He told me he would ask his supervisor if he could be assigned to my project and that I would here from him in the near future. I felt good again. One hour later my bride called me to the phone from the yard. It was Jim at the FAA office in Baton Rouge. His supervisor had assigned to my plane. The inspector in Sep had told me that he only wanted to see it when it was ready for flight with cowl off and inspection plates removed. I asked Jim about this and he wants to see it naked before covering but complete and again before flight. He is not familiar with the Piet so I promised him a set of plans and pictures for him to read and see. Boy, I'm happy again.These experiences show that the FAA has no standard procedure of inspections. Each inspector seems to set his own procedures. Gary, he does want a chronological log. Can be tied in with photos. He was particularly positive that I prove the 51% rule. This may have wasted a lot of your time for having read it but it might help several of you who may have been in the FAA dark as I was and am. Sooooo take it and go.Corky in happyland.________________________________________________________________________________
.I know it's a pain, but I'm a scientist, I have to document EVERYTHING.Cheers!Kip Gardner________________________________________________________________________________