Quote Originally Posted by Dana View Post
My op limitations are worded a bit differently: "Any major change to this aircraft, as defined by FAR21.93, invalidates the Special Airworthiness Certificate issued for this aircraft."
Uggghhh. Yeah, those were an earlier version of OL's - there are 3-5 different versions, depending upon when they were written. Those are obviously the worst, and clearly the incentive with them is to never log ANYTHING, because _IF_ anything is interpreted as a "major change", you need to get a new AC.

If I were you, I'd work with the local FSDO to get a new set of OL's for the plane - IIRC, the latest version requires notification of the local FSDO and approval of your test plan, but doesn't invalidate the AC.

Quote Originally Posted by Dana View Post
Basically, the original trailing edge strips... It could be considered a "major repair", but not a "major change"; adding the new gussets isn't much different, as I see it, from putting doubler plates on a cracked spar repair, unless you consider it an "appreciable change to structural strength" since it wasn't strong enough when it was broken...
I could probably be convinced that this is not a "Major Change" per 21.93. But I'd still recommend getting new OL's.

I also agree with you, as you point out to Bill Berson, unless the signoff explicitly states "in a condition for safe operation", it's not in CI and not legal to fly. I believe that 1600vw is incorrect, no matter what he heard in a webinar. The OL's are very clear as to what language needs to be used, and what wording has to be in the logbook in order for the plane to be legal. Unless the owner has the Repairman's Certificate (in which case, he wouldn't be asking an A&P for the inspection), he can't sign the aircraft off as being "in a condition for safe operation". So him fixing the discrepancies after Bill's suggested wording is a good thing, but doesn't make the plane legal.

When I do a CI and find safety discrepancies, I give the owner a list of things to fix. After they're fixed and I've verified that they are fixed (or I've fixed them), I then sign off the logs with the appropriate wording. If they're not fixed, I don't sign the plane off as "in a condition for safe operation". Simple as that.