Originally Posted by
FH1100 Pilot
you'd know that for eons, probably dating back to the VS-300, helicopters have had their data plates swapped from one airframe to another. [...] It was not necessarily dangerous or illegal.
Don't know where you keep getting your info, but while you may think it was previously okay to swap data plates it never has been legal for eons as well. You can rant all you want but it doesn't change the facts:
CAR 1.2321 (1938): (a) The identification plate and other identifying information required under the pertinent airworthiness requirements of Parts 04, 05, 06 or 07, as the case may be.
CAR 1.50 (1955): (a) Each product manufactured under the terms of a type or production certificate shall display permanently such data as may be required to show its identity.
FAR Part 45.13(e): No person may install an identification plate removed in accordance with paragraph (d)(2) of this section on any aircraft, aircraft engine, propeller, propeller blade, or propeller hub other than the one from which it was removed.
The only thing not done on a regular basis by the CAA/FAA was enforce that rule. The funny thing is that the reason for all the FAA attention to this matter over the past 15 years, to include the recent Order issued in 2018 on salvage/destroyed aircraft, is due to those with your attitude that it's always been okay to swap plates when in fact it never was. Is there a legal way to swap data plates, sure. But it requires FAA approval and in some cases an LOA from the current TC holder. Just as it always has been. Been there and done that a number of times. And yes, for the record, have been in the aviation mx business for a long time and have parleyed the topic of data plates on many different levels over the years. Whether you want to believe or not is of no matter, it is what it is.