Yes, you are liable if there is a fault with the aircraft. The same is with the certified aircraft “owner manufactured parts”, liability is with the owner.
You guys do have vivid imagination, I’ll give you that.
Ten minutes or so ago two Long Ezes flew over in formation making their funny pusher prop noises. Earlier it was an RV-7 and before that it was (I think) an RV-4 way up high. That was all the homebuilts from my back garden this morning, otherwise it was just a highly modified Experimental Cub used for banner towing (he’s based where I am) and the usual stream Cherokees and Cessnas doing their training. Also some kind of very fast low wing with a six cylinder engine just after dawn… I forgot that one, maybe a Lancair IV. He must’ve been up early!
I think their guys are too busy flying to sue anybody, wish it was me. It’s a gardening day for me, but I can still look at the sky 
And? Where is the connection to the liability question?
The connection is the that nobody building planes in the US actually cares much about the issue and as a result lots of homebuilts are built and flying.
This came up in some comms I had with another pilot.
There seems to be a fair bit out there about people being worried about it – example – but I have not yet seen any evidence of actual litigation. The guy in the link here seems to have smashed his plane up partly to make a point about US liability politics. He could have easily parted it out and sold the bits on US Ebay, just like a lot of people are doing all the time.
Can anyone find a link to an actual real lawsuit?
Also you will never find a lawyer who says “there is NO liability here” 
This is a good one
13 defendants are being sued
Alpi Pioneer 400.
The AAIB report for G-CGVO is worth a read. I guess it illustrates a scenario where the builder of a homebuilt could get sued.
This bit is in the G-CGVO is interesting:
“In the absence of evidence of a technical fault, it is likely that the pilot set the transponder to standby. This could have been because he had encountered worse weather conditions than anticipated and did not wish to be distracted by ATC while trying to fly and navigate the aircraft clear of cloud.”
I find this action a bit odd. If there’s any time I really, really want the transponder to be in its most capable mode, is when the weather isn’t very good. If I’m difficult to see visually, I want all the electronic aids to conspicuity squawking as loudly as they can.
A very careful choice of words there
They could not have written
“This could have been because he had encountered worse weather conditions than anticipated and did not wish to get busted by the CAA for flying in controlled airspace while trying to avoid the weather”
because (a) nobody, I mean nobody, especially nobody in the UK, turns off their txp for this reason and (b) some lawyers would have been onto them.
I thought the report said he wasn’t in radio contact, anyway…
What surprised me is that you can basically destroy the Rotax engine by an ECU fault which keeps the turbo wastegate shut, for too long.
What is also interesting is whether merely selling on a homebuilt carries a liability. I can see a builder (of the plane or, as mentioned further above, of a part on a certified plane manufactured under the FAA owner manufactured parts concession) is liable, but just a reseller? If you resell a certified plane (which you have not modded personally) you are no more liable than if you resell a car (specific personal warranties excluded, as usual).
I suppose the litigation avenue is via the pilot maintenance route. This would apply to both homebuilt and certified, except that the former is very likely to have had the owner doing everything (not much point in owning a homebuilt otherwise) whereas the latter would have been only the 50hr checks at most. So if you resell a homebuilt on which have been working, and signing off the work, the buyer has got you…
Peter wrote:
“This could have been because he had encountered worse weather conditions than anticipated and did not wish to get busted by the CAA for flying in controlled airspace while trying to avoid the weather”It is probable you are correct, and now the pilot is dead. At some point, just declare an emergency and to hell with the CAA.
