Report on Recommendations for increasing the safety of small GA airplanes

[WLIU]

I will offer the suggestion that you will not really be able to use less expensive components and have an A&P sign off your annual inspection. The mechanics that I work with have regular horror stories of redo-ing work that an uneducated owner did with Radio Shack wire or the wrong hardware. A conscientious mechanic who values their certificate is going to insist that Cessna's be repaired with Cessna parts and hardware and parts that meets the current definitions of aircraft grade. That's the booby trap. At the annual inspection, any work that is not as good as your mechanic would have done, will get re-done at your expense. And that is completely understandable since no mechanic wants to sign off work that was done to a lower standard than he or she would have done, and then get called because you crashed.

What that means in practical terms is that today you can do all of the things that have been listed in the previous post so long as you know your mechanic, work under his or her supervision, to the mechanic's standards, and probably using whatever tools you do not own but he or she does. I have done all of the tasks listed in the previous post and my mechanics provide guidance, quality control, and the apprpriate log book entries after I fork over some $$ and maybe beer. So I gain nothing with the implementation of this proposal. Your hands and my hands can already do all of these tasks so long as we have a good relationship with our local mechanics and respect their role, their accumulated knowledge, and the value they bring to working on your and my airplanes.

Now if I put LSA avionics in, my ship's resale value takes a hit because a prospective buyer may have to take it all out and put in certified avionics for what they want to do. So I will suggest that most folks will stick with the more expensive stuff.

It is good to see a proposal, but it would be even better to see a proposal that does not suffer the fate of the Recreational Pilot Certificate where the number of folks who thought it was worth earning one is vanishingly small.

Best of luck,

Wes
N78PS