Regulations - Aircraft Destroyed

[Sir HC]

Hey Guys, I was wondering if anybody know anything about aircraft being destroyed and whether they can be repaired after they have been listed as destroyed.

Say you start with a R44, it is destroyed and at the request of the owner the registration is cancelled due to the aircraft being destroyed. We all know that you can repair a R44 cabin, all you need is the data plate and logbook and every other item can be brought, fabricated or repaired and built around that data plate.

What happens then when you go to re-register the aircraft. It is listed as destroyed so everybody baulks at it. Where are the records for destroyed aircraft kept and who monitors it?

I'm purposefully being vague so I apologise for that in advance.

Arrgh, I hate paperwork!

[avcraft]

Everything goes in the logbooks

[NutLoose]

We had a 172R that some lowlife took an axe too, it was written off and I marked all the logbooks up accordingly, I do not think there was a single skin left intact and the prop had been done as well, so I wrote in both the Logbooks that it was written off and it had suffered a prop strike too so needed overhauling..... it had been cancelled of the register as withdrawn from use as it was written off. The hull was bought and rebuilt by another company in the UK and reregistered ( a sensible idea as we did not know the motive and if a grudge was held over this one aircraft a change of reg is a good idea )

As long as all parts are replaced or repaired in accordance with the book then i cannot see a problem, one issue that will never leave it though is its damage history and like a car that can have a significant effect on its post rebuild value. You will be pushed to sell it with no prior history before the rebuild, people will want to see or have the logbooks etc and I would have thought you would need to legally state its history otherwise it might come back to haunt you.
I believe the previous logbooks must be retained for 5 years? or 2 years after an aircraft is destroyed, so should be available and I would imagine before it is reregistered your CAA would wish to inspect it and the paperwork

[Rigga]

NutLoose did all the right things in certifying the writing-off of an aircraft.

All records for UK-based aircraft still need to be retained, by operating companies, for 2 years after the aircraft has been written-off or permanently withdrawn from service.
The Part 145 MRO is required to keep all records of its work for 2 years after closure of the workpack.

However, I have known at least one small company that bought wrecks, worldwide, had them delivered by Pallets and ISO containers, and set about refurbishing them to very high specifications and customised to buyers requests. The end results were quite nice indeed and all done in full co-operation and approval of the national authority surveyors.

I believe it was a quite lucrative business too!