One of the most innovative areas within aviation continues to be the experimental arena, particularly the experimental "amateur-built" ("EAB") category. As of mid May, there are currently 28,521 valid registered amateur-built aircraft in the United States, with many more coming down the "pike" as builders complete their kits (source: FAA Aircraft registry). This is about 9.5% of the entire N-registry. Note: to be eligible for an amateur-built certificate, "amateurs" need complete at least 51% of the tasks needed to make the aircraft airworthy.

We've got a lot of experimental aircraft in our system - more than we we thought. As these EAB aircraft get passed around and sold to new owners, in some cases owners will need an A&P to do the annual condition inspection. Also, as kit makers push SLSA options, these maintenance manuals define certain maintenance activities beyond Light Sport Repairman certificates where again, an A&P may be needed.

We're curious on how we might be able to serve the general aviation / experimental community with our software. Would it be useful to pre-load service bulletin / service directives from kitmakers similar to ADs when you create an aircraft profile? Do experimental builders even look for ADs / SBs related to appliances / engines on their aircraft? We'd love to get your feedback and see if there's anything we can add to support this community.

We've been big fans of Ron Wanttaja's EAB counts at year end (summarized here). Here's a quick summary of Ron's data for 2024 for the Top 12 (the "Dirty Dozen") in EAB:

We also took it upon ourselves to do a mid-year count (as of May 15th FAA data) to check and see how things are faring, while also adding a few new models like Sling, Wag-Aero, Quicksilver, Titan T-51, Sparrowhawk, Aircam, and the Aventura (if you'd like us to add one, please let us know). We added in Service Bulletin information and websites (unless defunct) for easy access as well.

One thing worth noting is that our Vans counts are all down from Dec 2024, leading us to ask: "has Van's peaked?" It would seem that more aircraft are being de-registered than are being registered at this point, given some of the turbulence they saw last year in the bankruptcy, kit delays, and recalls regarding the laser cut parts / corrosion issues.

We've also noticed a lot of kits losing ground while a smaller cohort of leaders seems to be emerging. That being said, innovative aircraft such as the Sonex and Velocity are still going strong, while alternatives to cirrus, cessna, and pipers (like the Lancair, Vans, Sling, and Glastar) seem to also have a vibrant and strong community of builders.

We've noticed builder communities take maintenance (whether you have to legally do it or not) very seriously. Thorps builder community forum went as far to state:

"Although there is no such thing as an official FAA Airworthiness Directive for a homebuilt, the SDR's should be considered as such. Besides killing yourself, you could ruin a perfectly good airplane and give the rest of us and the T-18 bad publicity, and we just really don't need that. So check your airplane and comply with the mandatory SDR's."

If any of this is relevant or applies to you as a builder or maintainer, please let us know how we can help by contacting us here.

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