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Certified to Experimental?

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earthcurve

New Member
Joined
Jul 6, 2004
Messages
1
Location
Kernersville, NC
I don't have a PPL or a plane, but have been involved with skydiving for many years and have also done a number of navigation rallies where I was the navigator in a vintage aircraft with a very limited panel, so I have hung around airfields for quite some time. In five years time I'd like to be at a point where my wife and I can go camping on weekends and also fly into small strips for longer stays. Bush or rough field capabilities are important in my choice of an aircraft, as is range. If I go with a kit design, I'll probably choose the STOL 801. I feel comfortable working with metal and it's high-wing design and payload is good. I'll almost never use the back seats, but it's ideal for lugging camping gear. With aux tanks, it's range would be fine, too. However..... and here's where I actually get to the topic of my heading - is it possible to take the hull of a certified aircraft like the Cessna Skymaster, strip it, add new engines (probably rotaries), keep the undercarriage fixed, rebuild the wings for better STOL capability, redo the panel, etc. so that it complies with the 51% rule, and register it as an Experimental aircraft like an RV or a CH 801 and be able to fly it like any other experimental aircraft (in the same airspace, I mean) and do the maintenance myself like any other experimental aircraft? I like the Skymaster because of it's payload and speed and it is used a lot in Africa for bush flying, but there is no comparable high-wing, inline twin engined, experimental design out there. Or is it simply a function that because the aircraft was once a Cessna all work has to be done by an aircraft mechanic?
 
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