I’ll go out on a limb: I believe (but not enough to say “I expect”) the STC for IFR operation to be issued by the end of July. Here’s why:
The Flight Test Pilot DER, with the support of the Flight Analyst DER, submitted to the FAA West Certification Branch (to which I will hereafter refer as the Cert Branch) FAA Form 8110-3, “DETERMINATION OF COMPLIANCE WITH AIRWORTHINESS STANDARDS” earlier this week. This 8110-3 refers to the ground and flight test report, which is the ground and flight test plan annotated with test results. It also refers to the submitted proposed Airplane Flight Manual Supplement. The project lead confirmed he’s received this 8110-3, the plan/report, and AFMS and is seeking an STC number (required not just to issue the STC but for the AFMS).
The Avionics DER plans to complete his 8110-3, which will include a System and Equipment Compliance Document, by the middle of next week (aka: 8 July). This Document is a re-formatted and annotated compliance checklist. He’d prepared it as an Appendix to the Project Specific Certification Plan (PSCP) but the Flight Analyst DER persuaded him to reformat it as the Compliance Document for submission with an 8110-3. He’s also revising the PSCP.
Expecting to receive the Avionics 8110-3, Compliance Document, and revised PSCP on 8 July, I plan to submit the PSCP and a Statement of Compliance comprising evidence for the Part 23 requirements assigned to Analysis or Design compliance methods no later than 10 July.
I coordinated the above with the Cert Branch project lead. He offered his guess that the STC could be approved a week after they start working on it. I’m carefully not saying “a week after they receive it” because they are scrambling to complete tasks in time to meet Airventure-imposed deadline.
If the STC is approved in time, I’ll fly N26BY to the IAC 67 “Apple Turnover” regional contest in Ephrata, WA, on 17 August on an IFR clearance (regardless of weather). Visibility degraded by wildfire smoke is the most likely “less than VFR” condition for which an IFR clearance would be needed. The 2025 Apple Turnover contest was shut down by wildfire smoke; many are expecting a bad summer because of a dry winter. Even if the weather is “severe clear” I’ll fly under IFR if the STC is approved. Alert the media.
On returning from Apple Turnover I intend to wrap my arms around all relevant posts and messages (with some help of AI and carbon-based sentient bipeds) to create a narrative of this adventure. My objective is to provide a road map for others interested in pursuing a “One Only” Decathlon IFR STC. I’m hoping that some of you may decide it would make sense to band together to pursue, under the leadership of someone with experience, a multiple STC. I’ll probably abstract the narrative into an article that I’ll submit to content-starved Sport Aerobatics. It might get a respectful reading in a late fall/early winter issue. Two of you are now flying Extras…but maybe you’d like them to be IFR capable.
I’ve spent almost $10K on DER fees and expect to slightly top that number by the end of July. If five Decathlon owners are interested in an STC, it might be more affordable to pool your resources into a quest of a multiple. A multiple STC owned by an LLC (or a company sponsor) could sell the STC, which might make pursuing the multiple STC even more affordable. I speak under correction (I’m talking to you, Jonathan).
The expense and effort of this project offends me. An FAA Part 145 repair station that is also a Garmin dealer installed avionics required for IFR flight into an airplane in compliance with an American Champion technical drawing that states installing those avionics into an airplane on the same Type Certificate make that airplane (the Scout) approved for IFR. Yet I had to spend 15 months and what may end up costing an additional $12K for DERs? This in microcosm is why General Aviation is dying. I could rant about this extensively (there’s a good YouTube video explaining why certification is stifling new affordable GA airplane innovation and development). The FAA is irrational about this. They want pilots to get IFR rated, but make upgrading VFR-only planes for IFR unaffordable.
I was asked yesterday if I would have done this if I’d known in May, 2025 how much it would cost and how long it would take. The immediate response to that question is: compared to what? One answer is that for the money I’ve spent I could have “up-engined” the SuperD to an AEIO-390 (I believe there is an STC for that), an upgrade that might have improved performance on every flight. OTOH, weather made flying to camp and our Apple Cup contest a challenge in May and June 2026. I’m looking forward to confidently flying in an IFR SuperD to contests that I wouldn’t attempt in October and even early November.
OK, I’m done for now.
Have an enjoyable and glorious Semiquincentennial celebration!
