REFLECTOR: Velocity MEL (Minimum Equipment List)

[Patrick Sieders]

-----Original Message-----
From: John Abraham <john at velocityaircraft.com>
Sent: January 12, 2013 18:54
To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list <reflector at tvbf.org>
Cc: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list <reflector at tvbf.org>
Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: Velocity MEL (Minimum Equipment List)

91.205 is your answer for this since you don't have a MEL (which the FAA has to approve). And your POH doesn't have equipment listed. 

As far as ramp checks. Private aircraft are different than 121 or 135. You don't have to let the FAA in your aircraft. Technically you can't lock the door and walk away and they can do the inspection from the outside.  Your license on the other hand and medical can be subject but you don't have to let them look in your aircraft for anything they can't see through the windows. 

John. 

On Jan 12, 2013, at 7:32 PM, David Rene Dugas <renedugas at gmail.com> wrote:

Factory may can help too.  
I would think that someone asked the question how did he get home and after that they just need to answer the question.  The second electrical power supply would be my answer too.  I doubt they can leave it open ended.  I was at rough River this year and after a friendly chatting up by a man and a woman about the Legend it suddenly turned serious when I was asked for my papers and informed it was a ramp check and they were FAA.  Uneventful for me but a surprise and I felt conned.  some others were not so lucky.  This is mentioned this only to say some paranoia is healthy.

Rene'


On Jan 12, 2013, at 1:42 PM, "Bob Jackson \(Jax Tech\)" <bobj at jaxtechllc.com> wrote:
I lost an alternator on takeoff returning from KCHS at night, so I cancelled my IFR clearance and returned to KCHS for the night.  As the Repairman certificate holder, I inspected and determined on the ground that the plane was safe for flight (since we have two buses that can be cross-fed, two batteries and two alternators, each with adequate capacity for all electrical equipment operation) and flew home from KCHS the next morning on an IFR flight plan.
 
A week later I got a call from the FAA in South Carolina asking if we had a minimum equipment list, and if not, how I got the plane back from Charleston to Florida without first obtaining ferry permission from the local FSDO.  He also asked that I send him a statement explaining what happened along with my license and Repairman’s certificate numbers, which I did (a two sentence statement).  Apparently, the KCHS tower (or ATC) ‘turned me in’ when I cancelled my IFR clearance.
 
Two weeks later I just received a new voicemail from the Charlotte FAA office – which I haven’t been able to return yet, but that I suspect is over the same issue.
 
My questions are:
Do any other small planes, Velocity’s, or Experimental planes in general ever have MELs?  Do MELs apply to Experimentals?
If not, wouldn’t the equipment list included in FAR 91.205(d) (‘Instrument and Equipment Requirements’) serve essentially as a MEL – which says for IFR flight you are required to have ‘a generator or alternator of adequate capacity’?
Since we included considerable redundancy (including dual alternators) in our build, should we have created, or should we create now, a Minimum Equipment List (MEL) for our plane to cover this type of situation?
 
The Velocity POH that we carry in our plane includes a top level electrical schematic showing a single alternator.  The original Weight & Balance sheet we also carry lists oxygen system, two batteries, two alternators, IFR panel, etc as included in the empty weight for the W&B calculation.  Does the fact that we originally listed two imply to the FAA that we must always have TWO alternators now to safely fly (since we don’t have a MEL)?
 
We included two alternators in our design just for this situation -- to give us the redundancy to fly safely with only one alternator.  But now it seems like we can’t legally utilize it without asking for a ferry permit!
 
Does anyone have any suggestions for:
Short term – how to handle Charlotte FSDO discussion?
Long term – should we create (and get approved) our own MEL to allow us to fly with less than all the equipment we originally designed in?
 
Bob Jackson
N2XF  Velocity XL/RG
750 hrs_______________________________________________
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