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Has anyone used RV building experience to obtain an A&P Certificate

Bellhemen

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Requirements to become an A&P Mechanic the FAA says:

1. You must be
at least 18 years old;
able to read, write, speak, and understand English.

2. You must get 18 months of practical experience with either power plants or airframes, or 30 months of practical experience working on both at the same time. As an alternative to this experience requirement, you can graduate from an FAA-Approved Aviation Maintenance Technician School.

3. You must pass three types of tests;
a written examination
an oral test
a practical test

Under the experience requirements it goes on to say:
"You can work an FAA Repair Station or FBO under the supervision of a certified mechanic for 18 months for each certificate, or 30 months for both. You must document your experience with pay receipts, a log book signed by your supervising mechanic, a notarized statement from your employer, or other proof you worked the required time."

However the EAA Builders Log says in part:
"you may still wish to track the time spent building, as this experience can later be applied toward the field experience required for an A&P mechanic certificate. Any commercial assistance you pay for should be documented in your builder’s log and made available to the FAA inspector upon request."

Has anyone done this or have knowledge about it? Is this an added bonus to building your own Aircraft, that you can also receive an A&P cert after just a couple of tests?
 
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Going to take more than assembling a kit. And work needs to be supervised by qualified person as in a shop or overhaul facility.
Getting a A&P is not as easy as you seem to think, just taking a couple of tests. I’m sort of insulted.
Those 30 months are 40 hour work weeks, not a few hours here and there. School is in excess of 2000 hours required.
The test is going to cover more than how to buck a rivet.
 
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Yes. I?ve gotten my endorsement from my local FSDO to take my written and practical tests for my A&P based on construction of two RV?s (3 now). So did two of my friends at my airport, and they?ve gotten their certificates. I plan on going to Baker this winter to obtain mine.
 
A&P support

If you?re building and have an A&P or IA friend who will check your work and initial your build log, it will satisfy a large piece of the FSDO requirements for sign off. Plus any military service with a technical/mechanic focus supported by your DD214.
 
My experimental building and 3 repairman certificates were useful to getting the FSDO to sign my paperwork to test - but it was forty years of working on airplanes under the supervision of an IA and various A&P’s, plus lots of engine work (including engine schools) that were the bread and butter of my experience to satisfy the requirements. Work on a Homebuilt is absolutely allowed, but that really will only get you the “A” part - you need to build some engines and do a lot fo maintenance work to get teh “P”.

I have a thread here somewhere about getting mine....
 
Why not start an AMT log?

The nature of building an airplane at the airport and helping friends does help build a good bit of time that could be useful in the future. During my build time I helped friends build an F1 Rocket (A&P/IA on site), build an RV-9A (A&P/IA owned), remove/overhaul/replace an engine in a Bonanza (A&P/IA owned) and built my own RV-7A. I also had time from my previous ownership of a C150 assisting an A&P/IA on more serious issues as well as annual inspections. 8 years and 1500 hours of flying/maintaining my RV-7A adds to the time as well.

It's likely not enough time to get the complete sign off but a heck of a good start.

My suggestion would be to buy an AMT log to track your time and get A&P/IA supervision/signatures on your work when possible. The cost of the log is less than $20 plus your time to keep it up to date. Then you have the data if/when you need it down the road.

Andy
 
FSDO dependent

Which FSDO you are working with determines if it will count. I was not successful in getting my build time to count towards the experience requirements for my A&P. So I went to a 147 school to meet the requirements.

I was working initially with the Oakland FSDO and then the Sacramento FSDO. Neither were interested in accepting my build experience. Obviously some folks have been successful with other FSDOs.
 
Like Scott says, It has a whole lot to do with the FSDO you are working with. Back when I got mine in the early '70s, only work on certified aircraft counted.

Their reasoning was that amateur-built aircraft don't have to meet any standards and certificated aircraft mechanics must be able to perform maintenance to some kind of Standard.

Things have changed a lot now days and many FSDOs accept building EAB to count towards the experience requirements.
 
Yes, I suspect like a lot of things, there is a lot of variation between FSDO?s. I worked with the Albany, NY FSDO. They took into account my RV build as well as several airplane restorations I had done under supervision. I think it also served me well that I had a cordial and long standing relationship with the FSDO on both the operations and maintenance sides of the office. I had invited FSDO folks to periodically inspect my work during the build, and they did the airworthiness inspection for me. It pays to develop good relationships.

Your original post suggests that you may be underestimateing the requirements for the written and practical test. Suggest gou get the study materials from one of the education vendors and evaluate the effort required.
 
Like Scott says, It has a whole lot to do with the FSDO you are working with. Back when I got mine in the early '70s, only work on certified aircraft counted.

Their reasoning was that amateur-built aircraft don't have to meet any standards and certificated aircraft mechanics must be able to perform maintenance to some kind of Standard.

Things have changed a lot now days and many FSDOs accept building EAB to count towards the experience requirements.

Two things helped me -

1. Several reference letters from A&P's, IA's and repair shops who had direct knowledge of my work.

2. The wording in the application letter to take the written test.

Read the A&P requirements and phrase your experience appropriately. As an example "priming your RV" should be listed as "corrosion control techniques". Use the same words they use in their requirements.

But, working on gliders and RVs only got me an "A" - not enough hours for a "P".
 
Like Scott says, It has a whole lot to do with the FSDO you are working with. Back when I got mine in the early '70s, only work on certified aircraft counted.

Their reasoning was that amateur-built aircraft don't have to meet any standards and certificated aircraft mechanics must be able to perform maintenance to some kind of Standard.

Things have changed a lot now days and many FSDOs accept building EAB to count towards the experience requirements.

WHat Mel says is true - it depends a lot on your FSDO. However....they are not without guidance. Teh document they use to determine what they can and cannot do specifically says that work on experimental/homebuilt aircraft is allowed to count - it doens?t count for al, but it must be considered. So....you can point them at their own guidance document for....uh...guidance.

I wrote an Editorial on this awhile back in KP (and cited the chapter and verse) - but can?t tell you now which month.
 
A&P

This, as I am finishing up two years of A&P school, full-time, 8 hours a day with no summers off and studying a couple of hours a day. Studied more than I ever did in college or in Air Force UPT. I have three written tests and two oral/practicals to look forward to in December but it's going to be worth it in the end as after years of flying and managing jet aircraft, I am going to be completing a high-priority bucket list item. I have lived airplanes all of my life, both personally and professionally, but there's no way I could have received the breadth of knowledge that I have learned without tackling the full-blown 147 school. If you just want the ticket and your FSDO will go along then, go for it. For me, I really wanted to have a deep knowledge of how these machines work and what are the safe and effective means to maintain them. It's going to be very difficult to duplicate the knowledge these schools offer without putting out similar effort. I see benefits everyday with our RV-7.
 
I got my A&P letter based on experience building EAB?s, but I got letters from a few A&P?s who were aware of and had seen my work in progress. The letters totaled over 36 months. The rules do say ?based on a 40 hour work week?, so it really is about 5000 hours of experience required, hardly done in any one EAB. The hardest part, based on the actual rules, is the power plant part, because the power plant work on RV?s is mainly bolting it on and running lines.

As others have said, it?s largly based on not only the FSDO, but the person at the FSDO, and what they had for breakfast that morning.
 
The oral and practical portion of the test changed a couple of years ago. The DME use to be able to decide what subjects were covered during the practical and what questions to ask.

Now the DME enters the applicant's information into an online system and the FAA generates a unique test for that applicant. It contains the projects to be completed and the questions the DME is allowed to ask. And the projects / questions come from the breadth of the material. So you really need to be able to answer questions or perform maintenance on turbine engines as well as inspect fabric or determine the number of rivers and spacing required for a sheet metal repair.

I do understand to certain degree the FSDO's reluctance to accept my build experience. Other than a few pictures of me holding a tool appearing to work on something there is nothing in the build log that proves I did all the work. Having an A&P / IA sign off work and time completed would certainly help.
 
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