evanflys wrote:
Saw a Grumman Super Goose
Evan, where and when did you see N640?
I've posted the details of this aircraft several times. The owner has it registered as a McKinnon G-21G with serial number 1201 - except that it is neither. When he bought that airframe (it had no engines at the time) it was Grumman G-21A serial B-123 and had several McKinnon STC's installed, including the turbine engine conversion (even though the actual engines had been removed.)
Somehow, after several years of restoration, it emerged as a McKinnon G-21G - it actually now carries a data tag identifying it as a McKinnon G-21C (s/n 1201) and an additional placard that claims the owner upgraded it to G-21G configuration. It's all BS and I don't know how he gets away with it.
The Grumman and the McKinnon versions of the Goose are covered by two entirely separate Type Certificates (654 vs. 4A24). Every McKinnon Goose "built" under TC 4A24 originated as a Grumman product under 654, but in the process of being rebuilt under TC 4A24, they emerged as "zero-time" new products. This differentiated a select few true McKinnon Gooses, like N77AQ and N70AL, from the many Grumman Gooses, like N640 and N642, that received McKinnon STC's applicable to or under TC 654.
First off, the real McKinnon G-21C s/n 1201 ceased to exist in 1960; it was converted by McKinnon from a 4-engine (Lycoming GSO-480's) model G-21C into a G-21D and issued a new serial number, 1251, that year. Several years later, that same aircraft, actually registered as N150M, was converted to PT6A-20 engines (4 Lycomings were removed and 2 turbines installed.) That happened a year or two before N640 (an entirely different airframe, Grumman G-21A s/n B-123) was converted to turbines in 1967.
Teufel bought N640 (according to the official Bill of Sale, still a Grumman G-21A s/n B-123) from the Alaska Dept. of Public Safety in 1996. On May 8, 2001, he wrote a letter to the FAA in which he declared that it had been "disassembled and scrapped" and he asked that it be de-registered. On the same day, he wrote a separate letter to the FAA asking that the registration of "N640" be assigned to "the aircraft assembled as Grumman/Mckinnon G21G serial number 1201" - except that there is not and has never been such an aircraft.
On July 10, 2001, Teufel filed a 14 CFR Part 47.33(d) affidavit claiming that he had built an aircraft out of spare parts "to conform to an approved design" (i.e. a McKinnon G-21G), but instead of properly listing himself as the "builder" and assigning the aircraft a serial number that cannot be confused with an original manufacturer's serial number per the associated requirements (ref. for example AC 45-2a), he claimed that the aircraft was built by McKinnon and he chose to use a previously issued but "retired" serial number (1201) - except that 14 CFR 47.33 only applies to aircraft "not previously registered anywhere" and therefore did not apply to N640 in the first place because that airframe HAD BEEN previously registered - as N640, Grumman G-21A s/n B-123.
The "parts" out of which the new N640 was built were not unused "spare" parts, they were nominally the "scrapped" parts of the original N640. However, I have also heard it directly from someone involved that the airframe was not even disassembled to any significant degree. In reality, the aircraft should have retained its identity as a Grumman G-21A (s/n B-123) with the McKinnon turbine engine STC's installed.
In case you can't tell, this subject gets me worked up and it has become a pet peeve - one that I don't have to take to the vet or feed other than by means of forums like this.
All the best,
Rajay
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