Inventive design or fatal flaw? On a homebuilt airplane, one
person makes the call. - By Sarah Brown - Air & Space magazine,
January 2013 Courtesy Jon Ross Ed Schupp’s newly completed Van’s
RV-9A kitplane sat center-hangar at the Hedgesville, West
Virginia airpark, stripped down for a thorough inspection:
Cowling, panels, and plastic fairings had been removed, exposing
the levers, pulleys, and other mechanical magic that make an
airplane slave to the pilot’s command. James R. (Bobby) Thomas
was on his way there to make sure this bird would fly. As a
designated airworthiness representative (DAR) for amateur-built
aircraft, Thomas, 76, is authorized by the Federal Aviation
Administration to certify the airworthiness of what are commonly
referred to as homebuilt aircraft—the metal, tube-and-fabric, or
composite creations that take shape in basements and garages
throughout the nation. Pilots work weeks, years, or sometimes
decades to make an airplane they can take off and fly in, their
lives invested in every riv