Good day,
I'm a Canadian who is currently looking to purchase my first plane and I've noticed a lot of homebuilt are not equipped for night flight.
I was wondering if it was possible to purchase the aforementioned aircraft and add the required equipment needed for night flight (landing light etc.) + attitude indicator (personal preference).
How challenging would it be to complete this task and would it be legal?
On a separate note, I have a question about the safety record of this aircraft after scanning a few records. There are a few records that mention eye witnesses hearing a loud bang similar to the sound of an engine failure followed by a strong roll and a dive. An engine failure in a C172 cruising would simply result in pitching to best glide and finding a field with normal flight controls. I would like to be sure that in the event of an engine failure, I would expect normal flight characteristics and not for example, the plane having a strong yaw tendency or hard to control.
Finally, I am a bit concerned with the quality of build. I was speaking to a gentleman selling his Zenith who described that his was 1 out of 4 built by the same builder. He went on to explain that 2 were inspected and issues were found with build quality and corrected. The 3rd unfortunately crashed from what is presumed is this bad build quality and they are looking to track down the 4th. Is it fair for me to believe that a very good AME and pre-buy would uncover bad build quality?
I appreciate any feedback or advice.
I'm a Canadian who is currently looking to purchase my first plane and I've noticed a lot of homebuilt are not equipped for night flight.
I was wondering if it was possible to purchase the aforementioned aircraft and add the required equipment needed for night flight (landing light etc.) + attitude indicator (personal preference).
How challenging would it be to complete this task and would it be legal?
On a separate note, I have a question about the safety record of this aircraft after scanning a few records. There are a few records that mention eye witnesses hearing a loud bang similar to the sound of an engine failure followed by a strong roll and a dive. An engine failure in a C172 cruising would simply result in pitching to best glide and finding a field with normal flight controls. I would like to be sure that in the event of an engine failure, I would expect normal flight characteristics and not for example, the plane having a strong yaw tendency or hard to control.
Finally, I am a bit concerned with the quality of build. I was speaking to a gentleman selling his Zenith who described that his was 1 out of 4 built by the same builder. He went on to explain that 2 were inspected and issues were found with build quality and corrected. The 3rd unfortunately crashed from what is presumed is this bad build quality and they are looking to track down the 4th. Is it fair for me to believe that a very good AME and pre-buy would uncover bad build quality?
I appreciate any feedback or advice.