I'm confused about the maintenance and annuals on an experimental I purchase.

[Marc Zeitlin]

Here is what I found in Order 8130-2F, see below. In three places it says condition inspections must be recorded.

Yep. And if I finish a CI and am ready to sign the airplane off as safe, then I record it in the logbook. I don't regard the CI as being complete until the plane is safe to fly, so I don't record it if it isn't.

What if someone asks me to take a look at their plane and I see something I regard as unsafe? Do I hunt down their logbook and put an entry in it? No... I don't regard the fact that they've asked me to do a CI as being different - there's no clock running, or setpoint created at that time. To me, the recording is required at the END of the CI, and in my interpretation, that only occurs when the plane is safe to fly and documented to be so.

It also says "similarly worded", which gives the A&P some authority to change the wording, I think.

It does, but I always write exactly what that aircraft's Op-Limits specify the wording to be - I haven't found any reason to change it yet.

So I am asking what is common practice for the A&P that finds unairworthy items on a condition inspection?

I can't tell you what everyone does, but I can tell you what _I_ do. I give the owner a list of discrepancies that I think make the plane unsafe. I never use the word "unairworthy", because it doesn't mean anything in the context of an E/AB aircraft, as we've discussed. I tell the owner that I wouldn't fly the plane if <X> and <Y> aren't addressed, ask if they want me to address them and tell them what it will cost to do so. So far, everyone has had me do the work, but if they didn't, I'm not going to hold either the aircraft or the logbook hostage. They can pay me for my time and take the plane.

Since the pilot is responsible for the aircraft being ready to fly (meaning safe and legal), and the owner is responsible for maintenance, all I can do is give them the information required for them to be safe. What they do with that information is up to them. And since there are differences of opinions as to what's safe (given some of the stuff I've seen that's been signed off before I get to the plane, there's a WIDE range of opinion), I cannot say with absolute certainty that I'm correct - there is no Type Certificate to which the aircraft must conform - just my opinion of safety, based on aeronautical knowledge and AC43-13, etc.

My $0.02. I'm sure you'll find A&P's with different interpretations of the rules and of what makes aircraft safe to fly.