Experience with a DAR

[Dorsal]

I am currently under the illusion that I am only a month or two away from asking for an air worthiness inspection. Not really sure what to expect, would like to hear from others on their experiences with this. What did they look for, what did they find and want fixed, how open did you have the plane (glare shield, center console, tail covers etc.) any surprises or hot buttons you would watch for? I realize each DAR is different but some general insight would be helpful.

[Dave S]

Dorsal,

From what I get, I think you are exactly right - that each DAR is different and each persons inspection/certification experience will be different.

Obviously the inspection can involve about 10,000 things - a few overarching principles to think about include:

1) Know that you did the build correctly and that the plane is safe.
2) Be thorough on your paperwork and be sure it is correct and complete.
3) Contact whatever DAR you are using well before the inspection date - find out his/her expectations, how they like to proceed with the inspection, how they want the aircraft staged. Many, many, many things will be facilitated if you find out what the DAR wants before the actual inspection date. This simple contact will answer lots of your questions.
4) A person needs to understand that DARs are really interested in avoiding embarrassment for their part - call it what you will; but, no DAR will ever want to have a situation crop up where he/she signed off on an airplane and a later crash/incident ends up being caused by a defect in the build of the aircraft they signed off on but did not catch.

A few notes about my experiences - may or may not resemble what your experience will be.

1) The DAR who did my plane was also a tech counselor from the local EAA chapter - he made the suggestion that he would like to do an EAA tech counselor build inspection well prior to the Certification inspection - that helped with my understanding of how he does his work; and, his understanding of the airplane.
2) The DAR I had also had a reputation of being thorough and a stickler on detail per the regulations - DARs will vary on this; however, I am OK with this because I wanted the airplane to be right - meaning safe.
3) The DAR wanted the plane to be staged with everything pulled apart as it would be for an annual condition inspection.
4) Item 2/ above ended up being true - the actual inspection involved a 14 hour
day in the hangar and three hours the next day for completion of the paperwork. I wondered what I was in for when I saw him pull out his caliper to measure the height of the N numbers on the fuselage; however, he pronounced that the numbers were actually 6/1000 of an inch higher than required by regulation (whew!). You do want to be sure the info on your data plate matches the registration paperwork.
5) There is no such thing as possessing too many brownie points - and I mean brownie points in a good way - that last thing you ever want to do is tick off the person who will be issuing your certificate or permit the impression that you "just want to get by". It helped that I had two other in process EAA build inspections by another EAA tech counselor; and, that I modified certain items from the design including: using all drilled bolts and castle nuts on all of the controls, replacing the nylon tubing at the brake calipers with braided sleeve aircraft hose (I know what kind of fields I drag my wheels through) using adel clamps in place of the nylon ties for anything other than a simple wire securement.

We expect to hear of your success when you get your certificate - BTW - John McBean has a "completions" sections on his website - be sure to have John add your plane to the list with some photos - we need to let the world know that Kirfoxes rule...



Dave S
KF 7 Trigear
912ULS Warp.

[cap01]

if your only a month away , your best advice is get your dar lined up as soon as you can . it is a major load off your mind to know exactly what hes interested in seeing when he arrives for the inspection . there may be several dars in your area and it might do you well to contact more than one and see how they operate and what their schedules are , also price , it can vary . i talked to my dar several times before the inspection and knew several people that he had done inspections for . make sure you know exactly what he wants to see and also the paperwork he wants to see , builders log and the like . all most of these guys want to do is convince themselves that youve produce an airworthy airplane , you did the work and the paperwork is correct . i also think most of the guys doing dar work need to have as much of a feel for your as you do for them , most can probably tell how its going to go when they walk in the hangar . 14 hours seems pretty extreme , mine took probably 4 hours max , all he wanted was the cowl removed . all he found was the gasolator wasnt saftied and i knew about that since i was going to check it again before i flew it . nothing wrong with a 14 hour inspection other than the stress it can produce , always good to have someone else to check your work and another set of eyes . ive flown in or worked on airplanes for 40 years and know a piece of crap when i see one and wont get in one and especially take the grand kids in one .
so good luck and if any other questions , just ask . let us know how you make out