Air Plane Photos 2013: Airplane Kits

Airplane Kits

Source(www.google.com.pk)

The organization promotes the kit aircraft industry and advocates for allowing flight training in amateur built aircraft as a means of reducing accidents in that sector of aviation. It also acts as a defender of the majority portion, or 51% rule, in amateur-built aircraft regulations, ensuring that the kit owners do the majority of the construction work
AKIA was formed as a result of pressure on the kit aircraft industry from both the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board regarding the poor safety record of amateur-built aircraft. The NTSB actually recommended that the kit industry form an association, something that had already begun, as well as aircraft type transition training for amateur-builts.
The organization was formed though a series of telephone conversations held in the spring of 2012 between kit aircraft manufacturers. They agreed that there were problems with industry stagnation, issues between the manufacturers, the FAA and the Experimental Aircraft Association and saw the need to pool their resources to address these problems. In particular they needed a single voice to address potential regulatory changes that might be brought forward to address safety.
Speaking for the organization at AirVenture 2012, President Dick VanGrunsven stated on the subject of the kit aircraft accident record: "it's time we make our presence known and become proactive in addressing safety issues...more attention should be paid to the first pre-flight." He also singled out transition training for pilots buying kit aircraft and flight testing accidents. He concluded, "collectively, we have the knowledge and experience to make a difference in the culture.

In an interview in December 2012 VanGrunsven said "We see AKIA as being the key source of information and counsel for our industry and for the broader ﬁeld of E-AB aircraft construction and operation. We have already established very positive contacts with EAA, FAA, NTSB, AOPA, SETP, GAMA and LAMA. We have common interests with all non-government groups, and with government agencies as well, because of our shared interests in aviation safety. We do not see ourselves as a threat to any because success within our industry only increases the aviation activity on which member organizations such as EAA and AOPA thrive
In the United States, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand, homebuilt aircraft may be licensed Experimental under FAA or similar local regulations. With some limitations, the builder(s) of the aircraft must have done it for their own education and recreation[3] rather than for profit. In the US, the primary builder can also apply for a repairman's certificate for that airframe.[4] The repairman's certificate allows the holder to perform and sign off on most of the maintenance, repairs, and inspections themselves.
Alberto Santos-Dumont was the first to offer for free construction plans, publishing drawings of its Demoiselle in the June 1910 edition of Popular Mechanics.[citation needed] The first aircraft to be offered for sale as plans, rather than a completed airframe, was the Baby Ace in the late 1920s.[citation needed]

Canada's first homebuilt aircraft, Stitts SA-3A Playboy CF-RAD, first flown in 1955, seen in the Canada Aviation and Space Museum.
Homebuilt aircraft gained in popularity in the US in 1924 with the start of the National Air Races, held in Dayton, Ohio. These races required aircraft with useful loads of 150 lb (68 kg) and engines of 80 cubic inches or less and as a consequence of the class limitations most were amateur-built. The years after Charles Lindbergh's transatlantic flight brought a peak of interest between 1929 and 1933. During this period many aircraft designers, builders and pilots were self-taught and the high accident rate brought public condemnation and increasing regulation to amateur-building. The resulting federal standards on design, engineering, stress analysis, use of aircraft-quality hardware and testing of aircraft brought an end to amateur building except in some specialized areas, such as racing. In 1946 Goodyear restarted the National Air Races, including a class for aircraft powered by 200 cubic inch and smaller engines. The midget racer class spread nationally in the US and this led to calls for acceptable standards to allow recreational use of amateur-built aircraft. By the mid-1950s both the US and Canada once again allowed amateur-built aircraft to specified standards and limitations.
Homebuilt aircraft are generally small, one to four-seat sportsplanes which employ simple methods of construction. Fabric-covered wood or metal frames and plywood are common in the aircraft structure, but increasingly, fiberglass and other composites as well as full aluminum construction techniques are being used, first pioneered by Hugo Junkers as far back as the late World War I era. Engines are most often the same as, or similar to, the engines used in certified aircraft (such as Lycoming, Continental, Rotax, and Jabiru). A minority of homebuilts use converted automobile engines, with Volkswagen air-cooled flat-4s, Subaru-based liquid-cooled engines, Mazda Wankel and Chevrolet Corvair six-cylinder engines being common. The use of automotive engines helps to reduce costs, but many builders prefer dedicated aircraft engines, which are perceived to have better performance and reliability. Other engines that have been used include chainsaw and motorcycle engines.