Have You Seen Your Oplims?

“I can’t answer that question until I see your operating limitations.”

“My what?”

I looked at Roger with a look of puzzlement. “Operating Limitations. They should be behind your airworthiness certificate.” 

It was Roger’s turn to look puzzled. “But I didn’t build the airplane.”

“Precisely. Every EAB has OpLims. They are legally part of your airworthiness certificate. They will tell you whether you—YOU—can sign off the inspection or not.” You didn’t build the airplane and obtain the repairman certificate, correct?

“Correct.”

“Hold on.” I put my steaming cup of coffee down on the workbench and walked over to the RV cockpit. I reached for the plastic-encased airworthiness certificate, lifted it out of the side pocket, and looked inside. “Well, the airworthiness certificate is here at least.” I looked back at the side pocket. Reaching down and in, I felt around to see if anything else was hiding there, as things tend to do. Sure enough, my hand felt paper. I pulled the folded letter out and opened it. “Operating Limitations.”

“Well, darn, I had no idea,” remarked Roger, smiling sheepishly.

I opened the folded document and looked at the dates and wording. “Just confirming, the answer is no, you can’t do the condition inspection,” I said, seeing that these were the original OpLims from the 1990s.

“But I have the LSRI. I got it three years ago, though. Does it expire?”

“No, this is much simpler. You have an EAB—Experimental Amateur Built airplane—not an LSA. Back when the OpLims were assigned to the original builder, the FAA didn’t know they were going to pass the MOSIAC rules. Back then, you needed an A&P or have applied for, and received, the repairman certificate for an airplane that you built. All you have to do now is get these OpLims updated. Or, find an A&P. Do you know if the person you bought this from has the repairman certificate? They can do the condition inspection sign off.”

Roger nodded. “Ah, this airplane is third hand. I understand what you’re telling me now.”

I know EAB owners who didn’t know they needed to update the OpLims and went ahead and did their condition inspections with their 16-hour LSA certificate. If you fall into this category, I recommend that you take a good read through your OpLims and determine if they need updating. Each set of operating limitations is specific to that aircraft. 

To update your OpLims after getting your LSRI, you’ll need to complete the FAA’s electronic application Form 8130-6 for an updated airworthiness certificate. You will be asked to provide your current/original operating limitations and a letter stating the changes you’re requesting.

The downside is that this process is paperwork-intense and time consuming. 

The FAA, knowing this was a snag for EAB LSA certificate-holding owners, put up a special website to explain the issues and tell you what to do. In a nutshell, most OpLims that predated January 30th, 2026 are the old ones and carry that snag.

The official wording from the FAA can be found at https://www.faa.gov/repairmen. What follows is from the website.