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What a crazy story. Would be interesting to read a more in-depth article on underground helicopter manufacturing. I wonder how that would work in the US? I don
by burger_moon 6y ago
What a crazy story. Would be interesting to read a more in-depth article on underground helicopter manufacturing.
I wonder how that would work in the US? I don't think there's anything illegal about building your own aircraft. That's basically what the EAA is all about I think.
https://www.eaa.org/eaa https://www.eaa.org/eaa
- tlb 6y agoYou can build your own aircraft to fly yourself. You can't sell finished aircraft without certification. * complete rules are extremely complex.
- jacquesm 6y agoCan you give it away? What about when you die and one of your kids inherits it?
- kgilpin 6y agoYou can build and sell experimental aircraft. Here’s a marketplace of them: https://www.barnstormers.com/category-18671-Experimental.html https://www.barnstormers.com/category-18671-Experimental.htm... However, there are many commercial uses which experimental aircraft are not approved for. This mostly limits their practical utility to personal use (aka “fun”).
- alasdair_ 6y agoThat site is fantastic. Second ad on the list: “... please check with your wife first last guy didn’t $2700”
- nl 6y agoAnd this one: Was stalled on downwind turn, fell through electric wires, hung by last wire, communication cable, airplane came to full stop approx 10' off ground, rolled over on its back and dropped upside down on a clump of small scrub oak trees. No prop strike and no injury to pilot.
- cortesoft 6y agoSounds like the issues were around permits and regulations.... which would be a factor in the United States, too.
- cat199 6y agoin terms of legal basis yes it sounds like the realpolitik in this particular case probably goes deeper "Most of the people suspected of being involved in the production and assembly process, including the organisers and heads of the illegal operation, are residents of Moldova’s breakaway Transnistrian region."
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- celticninja 6y agoAs others have said, it's the export that's the issue.
- ogre_codes 6y agoYou can build you own, manufacturing and selling them requires all kinds of hoops and certification. I believe if you build you have to do 51% of the work or it's not considered experimental.
- cat199 6y ago1st i've heard of this as well (though i'm not in the loop on these kinds of things) that said, you might enjoy the topic of 'narco subs' which are illicit submarines manufactured to smuggle drugs (mostly from latin america to the US as I understand it)
- rumanator 6y agoPerhaps the story isn't so crazy if the operation is performed by bootsrtappy aerospace and mechanical engineers with experience building real Kamov helicopters but who simply don't have the authorization to do so. I mean, it's not the first time where resourceful engineers from former soviet republics show their skills to earn a living.
- Someone 6y agoIndeed. Reading the article and comments here, this, to me, looks like it could ‘just’ be a case of gray imports (on steroids). They could get original parts (but through unofficial channels), have qualified personnel use official tools to assemble a helicopter, test it and sell it as real, but don’t get external confirmation that they used good parts and followed correct procedures. Of course, without the external checks, it becomes easier to increase margins by getting second-hand parts, use unqualified personnel, don’t use official tools and do less quality testing.
- Someone 6y agoI think they also claimed it was the original. That’s like building your own aircraft, putting a Boeing sticker on it, and selling it as one.