Experimental / Amateur-Built
Should I buy an experimental airplane?
Aircraft with a valid registration in the amateur-built experimental category.
Performance a certificated airplane cannot touch for the money, maintenance freedom nothing else offers, and a set of trade-offs that are entirely real. The fastest-growing corner of the fleet.
The amateur-built fleet is large, growing, and routinely underestimated by buyers shopping certificated airplanes. An RV will cruise at 170 knots on eight gallons an hour for a third of what a certificated airplane of similar performance costs. A Lancair goes faster than that.
Two things make this category genuinely different, and both cut in more than one direction.
Maintenance freedom
The person who built an amateur-built aircraft can apply for a repairman certificate for that specific airframe, letting them perform the annual condition inspection themselves. That is a large ongoing saving and a large part of the appeal.
But it does not transfer. Buy someone else’s homebuilt and the repairman certificate stays with the builder. You will need an A&P for the condition inspection — though you may still do far more of the routine maintenance yourself than you could on a certificated aircraft, which is worth real money.
The operating limitations are real
Every experimental aircraft carries operating limitations issued with its airworthiness certificate, and they are part of the aircraft. They typically prohibit carrying persons or property for compensation or hire, and may restrict flight over densely populated areas or in certain airspace. Read the actual limitations for the actual aircraft before you buy — they are not identical between airframes.
Insurance is also its own conversation. Some underwriters will not write experimental at all; others want time in type and a checkout. As always, get quoted before you fall for an airplane.