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Airworthiness Categories

Asked by: 2431 views FAA Regulations, General Aviation

As I look over Trade a Plane with the intention of buying my own entry level aircraft, I came across a 172 that has a Restricted airworthiness cert for Aerial Surveying.  I am unclear as to what that means exactly.  Does that mean the aircraft can only be flown for that purpose, or can it be flown like any typical GA aircraft under part 91?  If you want to look it up, the N number is 8884B

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4 Answers



  1. Kris Kortokrax on Jun 10, 2016

    See 91.313(a)

    It may only be flown for the purpose for which is is certificated.

    It is quite likely that you can pay a mechanic to perform the work necessary to return it to standard category, but that means that you will be laying out more money that just the purchase price to have an airplane you can use.

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  2. RickS on Jun 10, 2016

    Thanks, that answers my question completely! I am an A&P, so as long as it’s nothing major, I could probably do the work myself. Looks like most likely there was a hole cut into the cabin floor and aircraft outer skin. Whether any control cables were rerouted might be a bigger issue!

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  3. Kris Kortokrax on Jun 10, 2016

    You can order a copy of the aircraft records from Oklahoma City.
    They should contain any 337s for the work done to put it in restricted category.

    Undo that and check with a maintenance inspector at your local FSDO.
    He should be able to issue you the Standard Airworthiness Certiicate.

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  4. RickS on Jun 11, 2016

    Just talked with the owner, and he said it isn’t restricted. May be an error on the FAA’s part, or is it possible to have an A/W cert in 2 classifications? The data that comes up for N8884B says “STANDARD-RESTRICTED” for classification, and “Aerial Surveying” for category.

    http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=8884B

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