Anderson Ed wrote:

Thanks Marv,
        Yes, I have read about that incident involving AVEMCO with great
interest since my bird is insured by AVEMCO.  I guess trying to look at
it from both the pilot and insurance company view point, I can see both
sides. The insurance company has to set some bounds to control its
risks, however, in this case their was apparently no difference between
the orginal airworthiness condition under which AVEMCO insured the plane
and the end condition when it crashed.  Implying that if the guy had not
made the mods but still crashed, AVEMCO would have covered his loss.  I
did contact AVEMCO as I was concerned about AVEMCO's interpretation of
"Certified".  The short response was that as long as the aircraft was in
the configuration approved by the FAA for airworthiness certificate then
it was "Certified" even with a Mazda Rotary.

 Now, in this incident the pilot had apparently made severa mods to his
fuel feed system before putting it back in its orginal condition at
inspection.  However, AVEMCO's argument (which the court upheld) was
that the aircraft had underwent a Major system modification without
being recertified for airworthiness by the FAA.  So even if the fuel
system was back in the orginal configuration, the pilot/manufacture had
violate the terms of his airworthiness certificate and had therefore
voided a condition of insurability.

So the question is do my modifications to the airducts/plenums and air
intakes for my oil cooler constitute major modifications.  My
interpretation is that they do not - as they do not directly effect the
controllability, airframe structure worthiness, or powerplant
(directly).  However, I strongly suspect that my interpretation would be
tested in court by my insurance company.

Thanks Marv, but considering that it took me three months to finally get
my bird inspected and I only have 5 more months before I have to move, I
just don't see waiting a month or two for each mod to my air
plenum/duct/intake.  Fortunately, this last mod (snorkel nozzel) looks
like the last one I will have to make.  Might be worthwhile to get it
reinspected after all such mods just to be on the legalistically correct
side of the track.

Ed

 
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