Brodhead Pietenpol Association

There is a gentleman selling (locally) a complete welded steel fuselage (uncovered) for a GN-1,a completed (covered, etc...) Pietenpol wing, and complete GN-1 plans. (As irony would have it...all my wing ribs are completed.) He is not the original wing builder or fuselage builder. I am not sure I want to change direction and build a GN-1 for a variety of reasons, but the temptation of having an already completed fuselage and wing is very strong. The million-dollar question is: Should I trust someone else's (once-removed) workmanship on such a critical thing as a wing? (Almost certainly not.) The inability to easily see what's inside is the obvious problem. Additionally, there is no builder's log. Also, it's not like I could remove the fabric before deciding whether to buy.

Options I am considering is to 1) go ahead and buy the project, remove the wing fabric, inspect, and recover. or 2) Cut into the fabric, inspect, and do a fabric patch repair. Any work I do here removes some of the time-savings...

Another question: Is there as much support or as many current builders for GN-1 vs. Pietenpol? It seems not, looking at this forum anyways.

You would most likely feel more confident and proud in a plane you built completely from scratch. It sounds like several issues make you uneasy, and rightfully so. The fabric would need to be removed to examine the entire wing structure just for your own piece of mind. As far as the fuselage, you somehow have to determine if the welds are good, and I believe that can not be determined by simply looking at them (without cutting through). Will the lack of a builders log cause a problem when trying to obtain FAA certification?

John C

Gn-1 fuselage and pietenpol wing? Can they mate together or be modified to fit?

You could probably get them to work, but the two mounting systems are completely different.