mamontb
Well-known member
I received on 12 August 2026 a "One Only" STC to operate N26BY, our SuperD, under IFR. Many lessons were learned during this adventure. The application was submitted 14 Dec 2025, so the process took about 8 months.
A group of Decathlon owners asked me to keep them posted on the process and progress; some of you may have seen my posts to the group comprising extracts of the more detailed reports I provided to those owners.
I can't sell the "One Only" STC, but I believed (a leap of faith) that the lessons and information would be useful if a group of Decathlon owners banded together to pursue a "multiples" STC that could be sold. A handful of owners could pool resources (mostly dollars) to pay DERs and other experts whose support would be required; selling the STC would offset the investment of the owners. The objective wouldn't be to make a profit, just to reduce the net cost of an STC, compared to the cost for each owner who individually sought a "One Only" STC for IFR operation.
Question to 8KCAB owners: what would you pay to purchase an STC that would authorize IFR operation?
I'll anticipate a question that you'd want to know to respond: how much did I pay beyond the cost of installing the IFR avionics and other components for our "One Only" STC?
I paid a Flight Test Pilot DER and a Flight Analyst DER about $10K. I was charged a substantially greater amount for the effort of a Part 23 Avionics DER that I don't consider representative of what an Avionics DER would charge to support a "multiples" STC. I'll *guess* and say an Avionics DER shouldn't cost more than $5-8K.
So: would you pay $5K for an IFR STC for your SuperD? More? Less?
A group of Decathlon owners asked me to keep them posted on the process and progress; some of you may have seen my posts to the group comprising extracts of the more detailed reports I provided to those owners.
I can't sell the "One Only" STC, but I believed (a leap of faith) that the lessons and information would be useful if a group of Decathlon owners banded together to pursue a "multiples" STC that could be sold. A handful of owners could pool resources (mostly dollars) to pay DERs and other experts whose support would be required; selling the STC would offset the investment of the owners. The objective wouldn't be to make a profit, just to reduce the net cost of an STC, compared to the cost for each owner who individually sought a "One Only" STC for IFR operation.
Question to 8KCAB owners: what would you pay to purchase an STC that would authorize IFR operation?
I'll anticipate a question that you'd want to know to respond: how much did I pay beyond the cost of installing the IFR avionics and other components for our "One Only" STC?
I paid a Flight Test Pilot DER and a Flight Analyst DER about $10K. I was charged a substantially greater amount for the effort of a Part 23 Avionics DER that I don't consider representative of what an Avionics DER would charge to support a "multiples" STC. I'll *guess* and say an Avionics DER shouldn't cost more than $5-8K.
So: would you pay $5K for an IFR STC for your SuperD? More? Less?
