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Letter of Recommendation for a Repairman Certificate?

Rick_A

Rick_A

Well Known Member
I'm getting to ready to apply for my Repairman Certificate. FAA form 8610-2 has a block to check for "Letter of Recommendation for Repairman".

I did not get a Letter from my DAR when he did the airworthiness inspection. Do I need one?

I talked to someone at the FSDO earlier today and he mentioned writing a letter myself stating the I built the plane. I had never heard of this before. I was just planning on bringing my builder log, my laptop (which has all the pictures I took while building) and my aircraft log book with me to the FSDO.

Any words of wisdom from those that have already done this?
 
I took my laptop with a flash drive. Terry went through the pics on the lap top, then took all my paperwork. Yes, he wanted a letter of recommendation, and Mel provided me with a letter with my paid DAR inspection.
 
No letter required. You have it covered. I would print out a few of those pictures. The SA FSDO guys were fine when I went. Very nice experience. Mine took all of about 10-15 minutes. I set everything out on the counter, they copied some stuff. They only flipped through my build log for 5 seconds. Done, out the door.
 
Like Scott said, a letter is not required. It just makes the FSDO guys feel better if they have one.
 
My experience was different from Scott's. I showed up at my appointment on time -- was seen 1.5 hours later. Took two hours for the guy to figure out what was going on. "I'm a transport guy", he said. "I don't know much about general aviation". Which of course made me wonder...why in the h eee double hockey sticks did the FAA disallow DARs from doing the Repairman Certificate themselves? My DAR (Vic Syracuse) would surely know more about my contributions to this project than the transport guy, right? The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that there was no other reason for me to go down there than to give that guy some work to do.

The saga doesn't end there. After 6-7 months I still had no repairman certificate. I called the gentleman back up. "Oh, there was an error in your paperwork. You need to correct it and send it back in". The paperwork arrive a few days later and I filled it out and sent it back.

Two more months go by and I hear nothing. I called them back up and they said there was ANOTHER error and that I needed to fill it out again, this time on a different form. They sent me the new paperwork in the mail, I submitted it and about 3-4 months later I finally had my repairman's certificate.
 
Jamie said:
My experience was different from Scott's. I showed up at my appointment on time -- was seen 1.5 hours later. Took two hours for the guy to figure out what was going on. "I'm a transport guy", he said. "I don't know much about general aviation". Which of course made me wonder...why in the h eee double hockey sticks did the FAA disallow DARs from doing the Repairman Certificate themselves? My DAR (Vic Syracuse) would surely know more about my contributions to this project than the transport guy, right? The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that there was no other reason for me to go down there than to give that guy some work to do.

The saga doesn't end there. After 6-7 months I still had no repairman certificate. I called the gentleman back up. "Oh, there was an error in your paperwork. You need to correct it and send it back in". The paperwork arrive a few days later and I filled it out and sent it back.

Two more months go by and I hear nothing. I called them back up and they said there was ANOTHER error and that I needed to fill it out again, this time on a different form. They sent me the new paperwork in the mail, I submitted it and about 3-4 months later I finally had my repairman's certificate.
Click to expand...

Jamie, I think we got the same guy at Atlanta FSDO,,and my story is almost exactly the same as yours . The transport guy was super nice and interested in the build but the lost form's and lost again forms were a frustration .
 
My interview was similiar to Scott.
Except, they never looked at my log. I asked if she'd like to see it, but she refused. She just said "good luck & fly safe". No interview at all.

She did make me correct the name to reflect my middle name instead of my middle initial.
 
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Repairman's Certificate

My awesome bride created a hard-bound book of the building process as my proof. It is interesting/depressing to see my little girl in diapers on day one and then to see that she is almost as tall as me at the end...
The book shows clearly how the airplane has woven itself into our lives over the nine year build.
When the FAA came for the inspection, I printed out my Excel spreadsheet showing the running total of each day's work and I handed him the book of photos...he opened it up, smiled and said that I just made things easy on both of us.
She used the Creative Memories software to put the book together and made three copies.
One for me
One for my number one rivet bucker (Dad)
One for the buyer of the plane in case I ever want to sell her
 
Only one repairman per aircraft.

burgundyja said:
is it possible to put to people on one aircraft so they both can be repairmen?
Click to expand...

Sorry, any number of people may participate in the building process, but you must choose one person to receive the repairman certificate.
Keep in mind that any one can perform maintenance, but only the repairman may sign off the condition inspection.
 
Is the repairman certificate good for aircraft #2

Mel,
When I get my repairman certificate for the 6A I am building, would it also allow me to perform condition inspection on a 2nd 6A that I would purchase and own?
 
Negative

WenEng said:
Mel,
When I get my repairman certificate for the 6A I am building, would it also allow me to perform condition inspection on a 2nd 6A that I would purchase and own?
Click to expand...

The repairman certificate is only good for one person for one particular airplane. It is not transferable.
 
I'm not Mel, but I already know the answer, and it is "no". There is ONE repairman's certificate issued per airframe, and it goes to the person who did the majority of building. It is good for ONE airplane only (no matter how qualified you might be by having an identical airplane - unless you are an A&P), the second one you bought would have to be inspected by it's builder (assuming he got the certificate) or an A&P.

Paul
 
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What Don & Paul said.

One repairman certificate per aircraft.
If you BUILD another one, you can have it added to your current certificate, but not one you purchased.
 
Heads Up!

I got my Repairman Certificate in July 09 for my RV-4FB. The FSDO was very friendly and accomodating BUT...asked detailed questions about my build, very detailed. Like he would look at the emphanage picture in my picture log and say, "So how did you build that piece?" After we were through I asked him why he was asking such direct questions. His respone was they (the FAA) have a new directive to INSURE that the prospective Repairman is indeed the REAL builder and not someone who had a project built but now wants the benefit of the Repairman Certificate. So be forewarned and prepared: Know your plane!

Tailwainds,
 
I did mine at the same time as the a/c inspection

My RV6 was inspected by the Albany NY FSDO and the inspector handled the Repairman Certificate at the same time as the aircraft sign off. I sent the form with the aircraft paperwork and everything was ready for signature when he came to look at the aircraft. He asked pertinent questions about the build during the inspection. One of the benefits of having a friendly FSDO near by.

Jim Sharkey
RV6 phase 1
 
Jetj01 said:
I got my Repairman Certificate in July 09 for my RV-4FB. The FSDO was very friendly and accomodating BUT...asked detailed questions about my build, very detailed. Like he would look at the emphanage picture in my picture log and say, "So how did you build that piece?" After we were through I asked him why he was asking such direct questions. His respone was they (the FAA) have a new directive to INSURE that the prospective Repairman is indeed the REAL builder and not someone who had a project built but now wants the benefit of the Repairman Certificate. So be forewarned and prepared: Know your plane!

Tailwainds,
Click to expand...

Here's a concern: I finished my empennage about a year ago at one of Ron Alexander's workshops. It was pretty fast paced (read: I didn't take the time for many notes or pictures). A year later, I'm not sure I remember all that much about that process. Also, the A&P's running the show pretty much told us the order of things to do, when to assemble what, etc. We did the work, but there was not much head scratching and fingering things out.

Can anyone see an issue with this?
 
Should not be a problem.

Ty,
That should not be an issue. Myself and many others started off at ATC. As long as you have at least a few entiries in your builders log about the work you did there, it should suffice. All in all, the tail section is a pretty small part of the entire project.

Back to my original question that started this thread.
I went to the SAT FSDO yesterday and got my repairman's certificate. The FAA inspector was very easy to work worth but he was pretty thorough. He did look through my builders log which was nothing fancy. He wanted to see a few of the pic's that I had on my computer but he was mostly interested in getting the paper work done correctly. Also, because I had flown into KSAT,he quizzed me on my Op Lim's.

However, contrary to the responses in the thread he still thought a "Letter" was required (he said it's in 8900-1). He pulled up a copy of my 8130-12 an put that in as the Letter.
 
Rick_A said:
However, contrary to the responses in the thread he still thought a "Letter" was required (he said it's in 8900-1). He pulled up a copy of my 8130-12 an put that in as the Letter.
Click to expand...

A signed and notarized 8130-12 IS required!
I just went back and read 8900.1. I found no mention of a letter of recommendation.
 
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Jamie and Allen,
I assume you had to go to the FSDO and show your logs and paperwork? I have to get mine ASAP, well by Dec 2, and wondering if you know who you spoke with and had any hints. To make matters worse they are moving offices this week!
 
My DAR did all the paper work at the time of my inspection all I did was sign and in about two weeks my repairman certificate came in the mail.
 
Good experience with Atlanta fsdo

My dar signed the repairman cert application at the time of inspection.

Months later, I went down to the atlanta fsdo with the application and the notarized 8130-12 form. I didn't have any letter. I had a very friendly conversation with the FAA guy and was on my way home with the repairman cert. with not much delay. I didn't get grilled for details about the build, just normal questions that anyone would ask a nut who built an airplane.

One tip: make sure the dar puts his inspector id/number on the repairman form.
 
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