Has anyone had an Email answered lalely by the LAA

[Dave Stephens]

I am just trying to find out if i am being ignored or are others in the same boat!

I am a member of both LAA and BMAA so i expect a reply in double quick time!!

i assume that if you have not had a reply within a couple of weeks your email is just lost at the bottom of a list. not good is it.

Dave

[JP Chape]

No you are not alone as I e.mailed the LAA on 11 February with what I considered some straight forward modifications for my aircraft project. I received a confirmation of my e.mail then nothing. I phoned beginning of May and was told the my e.mail would be highlighted and resubmitted to engineering. Still nothing. You can see why people in the past have done unofficial mods as 4 out of the 5 mods requested are on aircraft currently flying.
John

[Ian Melville]

Emailed Engineering in response to a request from them in the magazine on the 14th Feb, and still have had no response. Got the info from a member who got on the blower instead.
Considering they requested feedback, that is an appalling lack of response.

However we do need to consider that they may have an over aggressive spam filter.

[mikehallam]

Au Contrair !

I've e-mailed them on various engineering and admin. matters in the last couple of months. I always get an auto acknowledgement and then soon after a courteous response with the info. I needed.

Just thought that there must be others in the silent majority who are more than pleased with our LAA on several fronts.

Mike.

[ChampChump]

I'd imagine Engineering are pretty busy much of the time and the more technical the query, the longer the wait for a response.

I have no proof of this, having only had the usual fast turn around on Permit issue and the occasional 'mass' e-mail from Penny on various subjects (eg Things To Be Fought). When the Permit was held up once (my fault), a couple of phone calls to speak to Malcolm McBride sorted it out in no time.

I'd expect a speedy response regarding administrative matters such as membership issues and IIRC, have had just that in the past.

So, er, no. No complaints.

[gasax]

Yes, I have emailed and got a speedy response. Query about a major repair scheme - whether it was worth submitting. Answer 2 days later and the scheme returned approved after I submitted it about a week later. I was quite impressed!

[Dave Stephens]

All I did was request a project no. and a build book.

as this is what the LAAs primary objective is I thought it would be a reasonable request?

then, as this did not materialise I then asked for some advice on what I can do to the kit before the build book arrives, still nothing.

I understand that the project I am doing is not fully approved yet but I at least expect a reply.

Dave

[Ian Melville]

Au Contrair !

I've e-mailed them on various engineering and admin. matters in the last couple of months. I always get an auto acknowledgement and then soon after a courteous response with the info. I needed.

Just thought that there must be others in the silent majority who are more than pleased with our LAA on several fronts.

Mike.

Never had an auto response. If the address that I sent it to does have an auto response it would indicate it went into a black hole. No error messages were received.

[Dave Stephens]

i never got an automated message either, but they got the email as i phoned and spoke to a woman there and she said they had recieved it??

Dave

[Dave Stephens]

Has anyone put a permit plane together through the CAA rather than the LAA?

i have just been reading CAP 733 and it looks like you can just go through them.

If the LAA are totally overstreched Which they obviously are then in might be the way to go.

Dave

[Rod1]

Dave s,

My experience of LAA eng is that they are overall very good. I have rarely used email, but on the few occasions when I did I got a quick response. I would suggest however that the organisation is a bit “old fashioned” regarding email. If you give them a call you will probably find the issue sorted very quickly. If you email them, follow it up with a phone call checking recite and asking if any more info is required.

If you manage to get the CAA to take you on I would be very interested to know the details. I contacted them late last year to see if it was theoretically possible to move from an LAA administered permit on my MCR to a CAA administered permit and the costs. The result was no, you have to deal with LAA. This was for comparison purposes only, and was based on the fact that Brian had a habit of posting to the effect that “if you do not like it you can go CAA at huge cost”. Turns out the CAA are not keen at any price!

Rod1

[Brian Hope]

OK Rod I'll take the bait! I have not spoken with the CAA re putting an aircraft on a CAA Permit, why on earth would I when I am perfectly happy with the service I get from LAA. However, I am led to believe that a letter exists which states that it is possible to put an aircraft on a CAA Permit, but quite naturally the CAA are reticent because they recognise that LAA is better equipped to deal with such aircraft.
There is a section on the CAA website about charges for permits, and I believe they start at about £300 and go up from there. You also have to have the aircraft inspected and signed out by a licenced engineer, almost certainly more expensive that getting a LAA inspector to do it. Finally what would happen if there was an airworthiness problem or you wanted to do a mod? With the Mandatory Permit Directive that your aircraft required for the tailplane, the LAA did the donkey work for DynAero and the fix came through very quickly. I cannot imagine how long it would have taken had your aircraft been on a CAA permit. The aircraft would have been grounded by the CAA until DynAero came up with a suitable solution, it certainly wouldn't have been driven by CAA in the way it was by LAA. I wouldn't be surprised if you would still have been grounded.
Dave s, if the aircraft you are wanting to build is not currently approved then I hope you have very deep pockets if you go the CAA route. I cannot imagine how much the bill will come to at the hourly rate the CAA charge to asses things like stress reports and compliance to airworthiness codes.
By all means accuse me of scaremongering, but before you do ask some of the homebuilt helicopter guys how much they have to pay for CAA inspections, and the time and hassle it takes to get things approved - it makes LAA look like the absolute bargain and helpful association it truly is.

[Bob F]

Whenever I have e.mailed HQ I have had the auto response right away followed by a very quick reply to my inquiry. I have been quite impressed by the quickness of the service.

Bob F

[Dave Stephens]

Hi Brian and all,

Thanks for the responses, I am just asking as I don’t like monopolies and I don’t like it when you have no choices.

the money side is not rally that relevant as the kit cost me over £70k and there is loads more to buy, and the rent of a workshop at £15K per year (which I have had since 2007 as that was the expected delivery date!) so if the whole project is dormant, the cost are worse than paying the extra for the caa.

Don’t get me wrong, I want the LAA to do it as that is what there for and what there good at and Frances wealth of knowledge is second to none. My Laa inspector is also a hero and the perfect test pilot so its a dun deal, I just find it frustrating that the wheels turn so slowly!!!

Dave

[Europa Fella]

My experience with E Mail response was most impressive. Last year when all Europas were grounded the Engineering Dept were obviously beseiged with telephone calls as it was impossible to get through to them. I sent a brief E Mail to Andy Draper, who replied promptly that he was extremely busy at that time and would contact me shortly. Without any prompting or reminders true to his word he got in touch with me the next day outlining the action the LAA (then PFA) were taking. This was extremely re-assuring as I had only recently bought the Europa and was wondering what on earth I had gotten into.
Well done Andy Draper and the LAA, all I can suggest is that E Mail technology is not totally foolproof and I'm sure the guy's down there do their level best to try and please all the people most of the time.