Just my two cents worth ... I have been working with the Chicago office for the last 15 years as a manufacturer with FAA approvals. Besides all of the DER, DAR a,d DMIR (like myself) people that they have to continually monitor, they are also overseeing about 250 manufacturers having FAA approved products that they monitor. All of this is done with only two people. FAA staffing has been cut to the bone so the responsibility of certification of homebuilts has been handed off to designees. It isn't that the FAA offices are not interested, they really are. They just don't have the manpower to do it any more.
Bob Lasecki Chicago
