Hi Mike (and others!)
You have hit the nail on the head but I'm not sure whether you are right when you claim that established glider factories would take fewer man hours to bring out a new design. Only few glider pilots do not know that the JS1 fuselage was moulded off an ASH 26. This was initially denied by Jonker but they have now agreed to pay royalties to Schleicher. Fortunately the case is settled now. But back to certification! The extremely rigerous EASA type certification process represents a huge cost burden on manufacturers who in turn have no choice but to pass these costs on to the gliding community as a whole. But the exponential increase in regulation over recent years has not only increased cost but has also considerably delayed the introduction of new models. The South African based manufacturer has circumvented this process by 'certifying' his glider in Africa. This, of course, is nowhere near as costly, time consuming and rigerous as EASA and FAA certification. Consequently it reduces the costs for putting a new aircraft on the market quite considerably. This might initially be welcome news for potential customers but it will have the same negative impact on the resale value as other owners of uncertified aircraft have experienced. It is also unclear to me how such matters as ADs or other service difficulties are promulgated and efficiently dealt with. The point I'm trying to make is that an African certification is not recognised in other parts of the world. It is my understanding that forign certifications can only be recognised by GFA and/or CASA if they are either issued by EASA and/or FAA. Therefore I'm still unsure how such aircraft can be legally operated in countries like Australia. Can anyone enlighten me, please? Kind regards to all! Bernard ----- Original Message ----- From: "Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia." @lists.internode.on.net> To:"Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia." Cc: Sent:Thu, 26 Apr 2012 12:18:59 +1000 Subject:Re: [Aus-soaring] GFA Site/accident At 11:22 PM 25/04/2012, you wrote: Gliders, in comparison to say modern airliners are relatively simple machines - just ask the boys in South Africa who developed the JS1.They are reputed to have put in over 70,000 total hours to get to official Type Approval! I'm not sure what this has to do with anything but that number of hours may be right including all R&D, setting up a production facility etc. including dealing with the bureaucrats. That's 35 to 40 people for a working year or 7 to 8 people for 5 to 6 years. Sounds about right. Last I heard they were still getting screwed by the Europeans over EASA certification. From their website http://www.jonkersailplanes.com/index.php?pageid=84 [1] Read between the lines. An established glider factory would take far fewer man hours to bring out a new design. Also there's this about certification : http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/aero-2012-slash-new-aircraft-costs-to-lure-pilots-says-gama-371036/ [2] Can't say a bureaucrat's OK is worth much to me. BORGELT INSTRUMENTS - design & manufacture of quality soaring instrumentation since 1978 www.borgeltinstruments.com tel: 07 4635 5784 overseas: int+61-7-4635 5784 mob: 042835 5784 : int+61-42835 5784 P O Box 4607, Toowoomba East, QLD 4350, Australia @lists.internode.on.net> Links: ------ [1] http://www.jonkersailplanes.com/index.php?pageid=84 [2] http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/aero-2012-slash-new-aircraft-costs-to-lure-pilots-says-gama-371036/
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