Homebuilt Pilot Operating Handbook

[airdale526]

Am presently looking at an RV-3. The POH is little more than some handwritten notes. Realizing that these aircraft can be highly individualized something on the order of a POH would be very desirable. Would anyone know of a resource that would have examples of owner developed operating instructions? If I get the bird I intend to develop a handbook on the order of the Approved Flight Manual Format.

[flywithpat]

I stumbled upon this list one day, not sure if it is what you are looking for but might be a good place to start.
http://www.vansairforce.net/poh.htm

[Anymouse]

I'm doing something similar in my spare time. GAMA has a certain format that most, if not all, GA aircraft manufactures use. I'm using it as an outline.

http://www.gama.aero/files/gama_specification_1_october_1996_pdf_498ca05388.p df

Of course, in order to have complete and accurate data, you'll need to do some flight testing. For that I recommend two books. The first is by Vaughn Askue.

http://www.amazon.com/Flight-Testing-Homebuilt-Aircraft-Vaughan/dp/1560276282/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317433060&sr=1-1

The other is by Hubert Smith. It appears that this one is out of print, but a Kindle version is available. Alternatively, you can read it online.

http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Performance-Flight-Testing-Production/dp/0071376798/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317433060&sr=1-2


Both of these books compliment each other. Askue takes you from taxi tests, through first flight and up to stability testing and envelope expansion. Unfortunately, he only glosses over performance testing. Smith's book glosses over all the stuff Askue details, but gives a lot of information about performance testing. If you can get your hands on Smith's book, he has a 3 1/2 disk with Excel formulas that you can use to crunch the performance results. Otherwise, you'll need to copy the formulas manually.

Have fun and good luck!!

[Rick Galati]

....the POH is little more than some handwritten notes....a POH would be very desirable. Would anyone know of a resource that would have examples of owner developed operating instructions?......A custom POH can be as comprehensive or as spare as you like. I developed my own POH by adopting and "cherry picking" the best ideas from other builders. Among the topics you might expect a POH to include such as preflight/postflight procedures, emergency checklist, weight and balance documentation, engine performance charts, I also thought to include a detailed equipment list. That section includes the part and serial number of every instrument, avionic, and engine accessory on board the aircraft. That list has already come in handy when a technician referred to it to record the serial number of the transponder as part of its certification check. My POH was assembled with the help of a simple digital camera, computer, and a printer. I laminated every page of the POH for maximum durability and are contained within a small 3 ring binder. Here's how I described my experience creating the POH on VAF:

http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showpost.php?p=338627&postcount=1


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