6 ms·

General Aviation airplanes require an annual inspection (from an IA A&P mechanic -- that's airframe & powerplant with inspection authorization). My understandi

General Aviation airplanes require an annual inspection (from an IA A&P mechanic -- that's airframe & powerplant with inspection authorization). My understanding is that the plane was out of annual (ie, bought as parts) and he fixed it up enough to fly. There are strict limits on what repairs you can do yourself without involving a licensed A&P mechanic. FAA actually does ramp checks on occasion to verify that your bug smasher has up to date registration and annual inspection. Regardless of how the flight ended, the flight shouldn't have happened in the first place and his PPL could be revoked for that alone.

lovecg 3y ago
Edit: this is wrong as pointed out below. FAA doesn’t mess around with the maintenance regulations. If I remember correctly the A&P knowledge test requirement was to answer 99% of questions correctly, compared to something like 75% for a PPL (I might be way off but there was a large difference).
- civilitty 3y ago
  You're way off. Comically so. A&P passing grade is more like 70%. It's not a comparable figure to PPL ground school.
  - lovecg 3y ago
    You’re right, but I’m wondering where my confusion comes from. I’m absolutely positive something required a much higher %. Maybe a different license or regs changed in the last decade or so?
    - ultrarunner 3y ago
      I thought I remembered something like this— maybe it's a higher question count or lower time limit for e.g. commercial? The FAA testing matrix seems to suggest all are 70% as of now[0] [0] https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/2022-09/testing_matrix_2.pdf https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/2022-09/testing_matr...
      - lovecg 3y ago
        Getting strong Mandela Effect vibes now… can’t find anything other than 70%, now or a decade ago. But I’m virtually certain I didn’t make something like this up :)
    - cjrp 3y ago
      Are you thinking of ATPL (ATP in America I believe)?
dannyw 3y ago
Yes, he’ll certainly face punishment. But I don’t think he’ll go to prison (or perhaps a suspended sentence) if he cooperated.
throwaway2037 3y ago
Nice reply. For other readers, I needed to Google these terms: IA: Inspection Authorized A&P: Airframe & Powerplant
jacurtis 3y ago
> There are strict limits on what repairs you can do yourself without involving a licensed A&P mechanic. Sure, you're right that this plane was clearly violating a myriad of maintenance violations. But maintenance violations aren't going to get you thrown in jail. They might get your license taken away and would definitely yield some fines, but not thrown in jail. I am assuming of course this is on a personal GA plane (like the youtuber was using to fly himself). Skipping maintenance and/or doing it himself would have gotten him a few relatively small fines. He probably wouldn't have lost his license and certainly wouldn't have been thrown in jail for these. Of course the rules would change significantly if this was a charter plane like Part 135, then things are more serious. He would have lost his license then, and maybe gotten some jailtime. Skipping or fraudulent maintenance on a part 121 (scheduled commercial airlines like United or Delta) would certainly yield jailtime.

lovecg 3y ago

Edit: this is wrong as pointed out below. FAA doesn’t mess around with the maintenance regulations. If I remember correctly the A&P knowledge test requirement was to answer 99% of questions correctly, compared to something like 75% for a PPL (I might be way off but there was a large difference).

civilitty 3y ago
You're way off. Comically so. A&P passing grade is more like 70%. It's not a comparable figure to PPL ground school.
- lovecg 3y ago
  You’re right, but I’m wondering where my confusion comes from. I’m absolutely positive something required a much higher %. Maybe a different license or regs changed in the last decade or so?
  - ultrarunner 3y ago
    I thought I remembered something like this— maybe it's a higher question count or lower time limit for e.g. commercial? The FAA testing matrix seems to suggest all are 70% as of now[0] [0] https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/2022-09/testing_matrix_2.pdf https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/2022-09/testing_matr...
    - lovecg 3y ago
      Getting strong Mandela Effect vibes now… can’t find anything other than 70%, now or a decade ago. But I’m virtually certain I didn’t make something like this up :)
  - cjrp 3y ago
    Are you thinking of ATPL (ATP in America I believe)?

dannyw 3y ago

Yes, he’ll certainly face punishment. But I don’t think he’ll go to prison (or perhaps a suspended sentence) if he cooperated.

throwaway2037 3y ago

Nice reply. For other readers, I needed to Google these terms: IA: Inspection Authorized A&P: Airframe & Powerplant

jacurtis 3y ago

> There are strict limits on what repairs you can do yourself without involving a licensed A&P mechanic. Sure, you're right that this plane was clearly violating a myriad of maintenance violations. But maintenance violations aren't going to get you thrown in jail. They might get your license taken away and would definitely yield some fines, but not thrown in jail. I am assuming of course this is on a personal GA plane (like the youtuber was using to fly himself). Skipping maintenance and/or doing it himself would have gotten him a few relatively small fines. He probably wouldn't have lost his license and certainly wouldn't have been thrown in jail for these. Of course the rules would change significantly if this was a charter plane like Part 135, then things are more serious. He would have lost his license then, and maybe gotten some jailtime. Skipping or fraudulent maintenance on a part 121 (scheduled commercial airlines like United or Delta) would certainly yield jailtime.