Anyone want to go into the airplane business?

[John Baker]

This looks kind of interesting if you have a few friends with a few bucks to spend.

[FONT=arial,helvetica,geneva]Gavilan Project For Sale[/FONT]

It's kind of a tough time to be starting up an airplane business but the folks who have the intellectual property and a potentially flyable prototype of a rough-strip utility aircraft called the Gavilan are hoping there's someone interested in resurrecting the design. The Gavilan is described as the "pickup truck of airplanes" and features a cargo area capable of carrying 4x8 sheets of building materials. The type certificate has been revoked by the FAA and what's left is a slightly used prototype and all the engineering data that went into designing and certifying the aircraft.


The design and engineering material is held by General Aviation Technical Services (GATS), of Lock Haven, Pa. Spokesman John Bryerton said it cost about $7.5 million in 1998 to get the aircraft to certification and most of what went into that effort is offered for sale. He suggests it would cost far more to mount a similar effort today. GATS did not hold the type certificate. It was held by another company when it was revoked by the FAA. GATS tried to convince the FAA to reissue the TC based on the existing engineering material but the agency refused. Resolving the TC issues would be the responsibility of the new owners.

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John

 

[KennyFlys]

Just out of curiosity, why was the TC revoked?

 

[jmaynard]

Just out of curiosity, why was the TC revoked?

Looks like they didn't report problems they encountered. From the Gavilan website:

On March 7, 2008, the FAA issued an “Order of Revocation” for United States Type Certificate # A00002NY. The reason for revocation was that the TC Holder did not perform the responsibilities of a TC Holder per FAR 21.3.

Sec. 21.3 Reporting of failures, malfunctions, and defects.

(a) Except as provided in paragraph (d) of this section, the holder of a Type Certificate (including a Supplemental Type Certificate), a Parts Manufacturer Approval (PMA), or a TSO authorization, or the licensee of a Type Certificate shall report any failure, malfunction, or defect in any product, part, process, or article manufactured by it that it determines has resulted in any of the occurrences listed in paragraph (c) of this section.

The rest of the section deals with what must be reported and how.

 

[SkykingC310]

I think people would prefer the Kodiak.?.?.