Owner produced parts...

[Andy White]

I have a strange thought and was wondering how far i can take it....

I have seen on Spruce the LED landing lights for experimental/LSA that are 3 across about 1 1/2" tall and about 3" wide. And it made me thing I could potentially solve the 2 pools of light issue with the existing landing lights.

If I sourced the high power LEDs (just the LEDs not the whole unit), created the circuit myself, then designed a housing that would be however deep to connect to the existing mounting brackets but move my designed housing up as far forward as space would allow on the clear lens on the leading edge would it be legal for me to use? I would create the housing using a 3-D printer. From how I read the owner produced parts it seems this would have a possibility of passing muster but with it being a landing light, I don't know if this would be something they would not like.

I figured if I could do this I could design the outboard light to be canted in slightly and it should be able to light up the elusive middle of the viewing area.

Andy

[Zach Grant L1011jock]

If you can get it approved in some way, field approval, one time STC, or DAR approval, then knock yourself out. You could always put your aircraft in the experimental R&D category during the development stages and make all of the changes you want. Remember however that everything must be returned to "stock" or to an approved configuration upon exiting that category and going back to normal.

This topic is under owner produced parts. There is a very specific definition in the FARs that pertains to this and just because you make something yourself doesnt mean you can just hang it on the airplane. The rulr states that one can fabricate an equivelent part (not better or not worse) than the originally certified part if that part is unavailable, and it can be approved on the basis that it is an equivelent part by your IA who must inspect it and certify it is equivelent when it is installed.

-Zach

[Andy White]

Thanks Zack,

I'm going to think about this a little bit and see what my options are on the actual logistical side before I dig into the FAA side.

Andy