Production Certification costs tens of millions of dollars, most of which is administrative, regulatory, and recurring non-engineering costs. The roughly 1 million dollar cost differential between your Evolution and a (not even) equivalent certified aircraft exists because you are not paying for a factory and all that that entails. Most important is lower cost, then the ability to focus on engineering without compromise, and also freedom to customize.

Why Experimental rather than Type Certified? There are three primary reasons.

One of these requirements is the “51% rule” requiring the owner/builder of such a kit to “assist or complete” more than 51% of the established 131 or so tasks of manufacturing, fabricating, and installing the components of an aircraft. The idea of a “kit” soon followed and the new FAA (1958) formulated a series of requirements for such kits. Not much happened during WWII in this regard but after the war, in 1947, the CAB took another look and created a structure for citizens to build their own aircraft “for education and recreation”. At that time the CAA (later to become the CAB, and finally the FAA) felt the need to regulate this “homebuilder” experimentation and created the category. The Experimental designation arose when in the 1930’s there was a great deal of experimentation and innovation going on. The name is unfortunate in that there is nothing untried, untested, or unsafe about the Evolution design. Instead they are governed by “Special Category” regulations of which “Experimental- Amateur Built” or E-AB is one of several. In the case of a General Aviation aircraft like the Evolution, that would be Part 23. It is an FAA category of aircraft that are so named because they do not possess a Type Certificate issued by the FAA that certifies that a particular design meets all of the requirements set forth under one of the FAA’s Standard Categories. General Experimental – What does that really mean? It does not mean that your airplane is an experiment.

Instaling Engine Evolution 2023