NKET Checklist
What the NKET is, and why the RV-15 doesn't have one
The National Kit Evaluation Team (NKET) is an FAA team that evaluates aircraft kits as a courtesy to determine whether a kit, as manufactured, allows an amateur builder to meet the "major portion" requirement of 14 CFR 21.191(g). Kits that pass are published on the FAA's List of Amateur-Built Aircraft Kits, and the manufacturer supplies a completed checklist in the kit information package for the builder to work from.
The RV-15 is not on that list, and Van's has stated it will not seek an evaluation. Source This does not make the aircraft ineligible for E-AB certification — AC 20-27G Table 3 states plainly that kits other than those on the list may produce an aircraft the FAA may certify as amateur-built. It does mean four things:
- The checklist is mandatory, not optional. FAA Order 8130.2 requires a Fabrication and Assembly Checklist where the aircraft was built from a kit the FAA has not evaluated. One will be completed at airworthiness inspection whether or not you bring your own.
- No prior-policy fallback. AC 20-27G Figure 2 routes a builder to "prior policy" only via an evaluated kit. Current policy governs: Order 8130.2F change 4 or later, AC 20-27G, and the current checklist revision.
- There is no Van's checklist to lean on. Your own records are the entire case.
- The "up to 9 percent" commercial assistance allowance does not apply. AC 20-27G Table 1 is headed "Use of Commercial Assistance on FAA-Evaluated Kits."
If you are certificating E-LSA instead, none of this applies to you — see E-LSA vs E-AB.
Which form
The current approved form for fixed-wing aircraft is the Amateur-Built Fabrication and Assembly Checklist (2011), Fixed Wing. There is no newer blank edition. Note that AC 20-27G reprints the older 2009 form at Appendix 8 with different row numbering — do not transcribe from the AC.
- Fabrication and Assembly Checklist (2011), Fixed Wing
- Checklist Job Aid — credit bands and worked examples
- FAA List of Amateur-Built Aircraft Kits (NKET)
How the form works
Each task is worth one point, divisible in tenths across four columns: A manufacturer, B commercial assistance, C builder assembly, D builder fabrication. Columns C + D must exceed 50% across the whole aircraft — not per section.
Credit bands from the FAA Job Aid:
| Level | Credit | Typical work |
|---|---|---|
| Minor | 0.1 – 0.2 | Deburring, a few holes drilled, edge finishing |
| Medium | 0.3 – 0.5 | Cutting, drilling, trimming, deburring plus other minor work |
| Major | 0.6 – 0.9 | Cutting tubing, trimming, sanding, bending, drilling attach points |
| Full | 1.0 | Fabricated from raw material to a drawing, or a complete assembly |
Points worth knowing before you score yourself:
- Riveting supplied detail parts into a finished component counts as fabrication, not assembly. Spar caps plus web plus doublers riveted into a spar is fabrication credit.
- "Fabrication" is defined broadly. AC 20-27G paragraph 8d includes layout, bending, countersinking, cutting, forming, trimming, drilling, deburring, surface preparation, priming and riveting.
- Uncompensated help is not commercial assistance. A friend riveting alongside you for free costs you nothing on the form — but AC 20-27G 7h(8) still requires you to document it.
- Paid instruction is limited to demonstration. If a paid instructor performs the operation on your part, that credit moves to Column B. If they demonstrate on scrap and you do the work, you keep it.
- Standard procured items score for neither party — bearings, rod ends, bolts, rivets, nutplates, fuel senders, counterweights, instruments, wheels.
- Non-checklist work carries unlimited commercial assistance under AC 20-27G 8b(2) and never touches Column B: painting, upholstery, avionics installation, and the engine, propeller, wheels and brakes themselves. Most of what builders actually want to hire out sits here.
- Commercial assistance is certified on a notarised FAA Form 8130-12, not merely recorded on the checklist.
Documentation — the part that is easy to get wrong
For each row an inspector asks two questions: what condition was the part in when it came out of the crate, and what did you do to it. The Job Aid is blunt that if original condition cannot be established, it is virtually impossible to award the credit properly.
AC 20-27G 7h adds a requirement that catches people out: documentation must show who performed the task, when, and where. A photograph of a finished part proves none of the three.
Start the photo log before you open the crate. Original-condition photographs cannot be taken retrospectively.
Which tool you keep those records in matters far less than the records themselves, but the tool has to be able to show who, when and where, and you have to be able to hand it to a DAR. Builder Log Options compares what RV-15 builders are actually using.
When you transcribe onto the form, overwrite the generic task labels with the specific work, the way the NKET does on published evaluations — "Debur horizontal stabilizer spar", "Rivet the H-Stab spars and ribs", "Roll aileron skins". A row reading "Fabricate Rudder Covering or Skin — 0.8 / 0.2" invites an argument.
Published benchmarks for other Van's kits
On a kit evaluation the NKET fills in Column A only — what the factory does. The builder columns are left blank. So these figures are what was available to the builder, not what any builder achieved.
| Kit | Builder share available (whole aircraft) |
|---|---|
| RV-14 / 14A (2011 form) | 67.5% |
| RV-12 (2009 form) | 67.3% |
| RV-12iS (2011 form) | 65.4% |
| RANS S-21 Outbound (2021 sheet) | 53.8% |
Notably, the driven-rivet RV-14 leads the pulled-rivet RV-12 by two tenths of one percent — rivet type does not drive the number.
RV-15 working estimate
A row-by-row scoring of the RV-15 against the 2011 form is in progress. Empennage and Wings are scored; Fuselage, Landing Gear, Propulsion and Cockpit Interior await plans release.
| Section | Builder share (C+D) | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Empennage (E1–E46) | 61.6% | Scored |
| Wings (W1–W51), quick-build tanks | 60.0% | Scored |
| Wings (W1–W51), slow-build tanks | 62.8% | Scored |
| Fuselage, Landing Gear, Propulsion, Cockpit | TBD | Awaiting plans |
| Sections scored so far | 60.7% | Two of six sections |
Do not quote these as a major-portion determination. The 50% test is computed across the whole aircraft. Fuselage and Cockpit typically favour the builder; Propulsion typically does not. The number will move.
These values are deliberately conservative. The RV-15 is a matched-hole kit with holes supplied full size — there are essentially no match-drill or final-drill steps — so builder fabrication credit is held at the low end of the Job Aid's range throughout, and several rows sit below the published RV-14 values. Sitting under the Van's precedents is the right place for a kit whose main spar arrives complete, and it means the sheet can be defended as under-claiming.
Downloadable worksheet
RV-15 FAA 51pct Example (.xlsx) — a completed row-by-row worksheet for the RV-15, with the rule and published precedent behind each value, the plans reference, and the evidence to keep.
See also
- Builder Log Options — tools for keeping the log this checklist depends on
- E-LSA vs E-AB — which certification path requires this checklist
Sources
- AC 20-27G, Certification and Operation of Amateur-Built Aircraft
- FAA Order 8130.2 — major portion determination
- FAA List of Amateur-Built Aircraft Kits
- VAF — Van's will not seek NKET evaluation (OSH 2026)
Maintained by builders, not by the FAA. Confirm anything that affects your certification with your FSDO, MIDO or DAR.