http://fsims.faa.gov/PICDetail.aspx?...25734F00766768 says: "FAA Flight Standards aviation safety inspectors shall not issue SFAs for Canadian Owner-Maintenance category aircraft."

The bilateral agreement doesn't cover aircraft where there is no equal category. O-M aircraft have to be placarded "SPECIAL CERTIFICATE OF AIRWORTHINESS – OWNER – MAINTENANCE THIS AIRCRAFT DOES NOT COMPLY WITH INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNIZED AIRWORTHINESS STANDARDS". Experimentals need an SFA but there are similar categories on both sides of the border. Some newer categories such a LSA's and O-M have no equals.

This means not you or anyone else is flying an O-M plane in the US.


To put a plane into O-M requires "Each engine, propeller and life-limited item installed on such an aircraft shall have an “X” permanently etched, engraved or stamped at the end of the model designation and serial number on the identification plate"

This DOES change the model and the serial number. You are no longer importing a Piper PA-22, you are importing a PA-22X which is not in the FAA database. When a brand new vintage 1945 Cub can be assembled with new parts around an old data plate, a defaced data plate is worthless. But feel free to argue with Piper about wanting a new data plate with the old number when all your paperwork agrees with the defaced plate.

Assuming we got the model and serial number straightened out, next we have traceability. Or lack thereof. This is the same as buying a plane with no logs or history in the FAA database. How can you tell if the engine, which also has a defaced data plate, is assembled with the proper, approved parts? Did the altimeter come from a wreck and the owner opened it and fixed it with a little RTV? Does the prop have some gouges that were expertly finished with bondo and paint? It's one thing for an A&P to suspect the owner might have done something, it's another for him to have documented proof an owner has messed with everything.

Once in O-M, the logs are worthless as the entries show work completed by someone who is unauthorized according to the FAA. For an A&P/IA to sign off as airworthy, he has to be able to recreate the logs. This is impossible because he cannot trace the parts without complete disassembly and inspection.