Hello Derek Most of the people who purchase home built aircraft get extremely familiar with the craft that they buy. In fact, a lot of them begin to modify and improve them upon as soon as they get them home. As an A&P with and Inspection Authorization, I have been asked to inspect lots of homebuilt aircraft that were purchased by a person not the builder. For the most part it is by duty to inspect what I see to determine if it is airworthy. In almost 100 percent of the cases, the owner is with me all the time. The owner usually pulls things apart, makes the required repairs and reassembles the aircraft when the inspection is complete. As far as the inspection goes, I have to do that on my own. My owners always seemed impressed when I find something that they did not want to tell me about, for fear of me grounding the aircraft. Owners must remember that I must make a judgment call as to whether I think that a part is airworthy and, that if the part were to be used continuously for the next year without service, will the part last. After lots of years of aircraft experience your local A&P mechanic can usually find things that owners don't realize are worn out or things that the owner has convinced himself to live with for a while longer. Most of the people that I hang out with at the airport are either Inspectors like myself with 10's of years of experience or senior pilots with far more experience then I. They always look over my KR and occasionally find things that I have not serviced or just neglected. Having an experienced inspector is always a good Idea even for Builders that have Show winners.
Orma Southfield, MI N110LR celebrating 20 years Flying, flying and more flying http://www.kr-2.aviation-mechanics.com/
