426 rivets start soft but harden substantially when driven, let’s not forget the aircraft is not airworthy no matter how many experimental mechanics tell us so. It does not meet design spec period. There is no way around that. There is also the fact that if it has N numbers, the FAA has failed. This is one of my big issues with the FAA giving repair cents to builders after a build, yes they know how to pound rivits and that deserves great respect but almost none knows the hows or whys something is built the way it is or how to diagnose, troubleshoot, or properly repair their aircraft or even has a basic understanding of the systems involved. The same hold true for all the DER’s and DAR,s I’ve dealt with in the last 30 something years, great respect for their function, but none I’ve met could carry out the repairs or modifications they designed.
Off my soap box now...
Holy snappin' duckpoo, you mean my RV-9
IS NOT AIRWORTHY?!? Guess I better stop flying it then.
Never mind the fact that the research I did, and the data I hold demonstrates that the materials I used are suitable for their intended purpose.
MY RV-9A IS NOT AIRWORTHY BECAUSE YOU SAY SO.
Give me a break.....
The entire concept of Experimental is that you
can build something that does not have a type certificate to your own design. There is nothing in the regulations, except the ooooooolllllddd ANR's in Australia (and probably a few other countries) that
required you to build an 'Experimental' aircraft to a recognised design, but those days (here at least) are long gone. You can bolt a rocket to a barn door and the CASA AP
must issue you a Certificate of Airworthiness (if the paperwork & admin side of things are in order). Though where they get you, if you are fool enough to force them to with a patently unsafe design, is the assignment of your flight test area.
The above being said, there is nothing wrong with building an entire RV out of blind rivets, if you can demonstrate with data, that those rivets are functionally equivalent to solid rivets. That's the magic of the Experimental category.
Where
titanhawk may struggle with this RV-4, is determining the type of rivets, and from that, assessing whether they are in fact a suitable replacement.