and so begins the long paper trail.....

After a couple of weeks pouring over my new plans and discussing them with my friend Ron, tonight I begin the never ending trail of paperwork that needs to be filed with Transport Canada.

It all starts with a CO1B "Letter of Intent" that gets submitted to the MDRA inspection agency.  MDRA stands for Minister's Delegates - Recreational Aviation.  Essentially the federal transportation Ministry decided a number of years ago that they didn't have the resources (or knowledge) to efficiently manage the inspection/inspector process for homebuilt recreational aircraft so they created another level of bureaucracy (i.e. fees) for those who wish to build and fly their own aircraft.  The one good thing about this government mess is that MDRA inspectors come from the homebuilt community and should understand what most builders are attempting to do.
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So, first form done and submitted (don't forget to include the $80+tax filing fee, ouch). Now to wait and get confirmation that MDRA has started a "file" on my project..... then I can start my build.