Built by an owner, for owners.
Open Source GA started in Savannah, Georgia with a 1973 Piper Arrow II, one discontinued part, and a scanner. It has grown into a service, a YouTube channel, and soon a shared repository.
Where it startedAft seat bench from Jawanza's 1973 Piper Arrow II, scanned and rebuilt
Why we scan.
Most of the general aviation fleet was built before the people flying it were born. The type certificate holders moved on, the tooling was scrapped, and every year another part goes from "back-ordered" to "unavailable." Owners are left improvising, and mechanics are left signing off on improvisations.
Fleet preservation starts with data. A good scan captures a part before it's lost as an STL file, and a bit of CAD work turns that file into something a shop can build. We do both, we teach both on the channel, and we're building a place to keep the results where every owner can reach them.
Your airplane's problems are mine too.
I own and fly several old airplanes, and every one of them has sent me hunting for a part that hasn't been made in decades. So when you write in about a cracked trim piece, a worn bracket, or a manual nobody can find, there's a good chance I've stood in my own hangar with the same problem.
This is N8636M, my 1963 Bonanza P35, in the year it was first purchased. Gary, one of its previous owners, sent me the photo. It wore a different paint scheme back then, and when the airplane came to me a few years ago, it still had its original 1963 upholstery inside.
Owner after owner kept this airplane flying for more than sixty years. Now it's my turn. I'd be scanning parts and chasing down old drawings without a YouTube channel and without this website, because my own airplanes need it. The channel and the site exist so the work doesn't stop at my hangar, and so I can help you keep yours flying too. Every part I scan for you gets the same care I give my own fleet.
N8636M, 1963The year it was first purchased, in its original paint. Photo courtesy of Gary, a previous owner.
Jawanza Bassue
Founder, Open Source GA. Aerospace engineer, flight test professional, private pilot.
Jawanza is an aerospace engineer and flight test professional who owns several old airplanes, including his favorite, N8636M, a 1963 Beechcraft Bonanza P35. Keeping them flying is what led him to 3D scanning, to reverse engineering the parts nobody makes anymore, and to founding the Open Source GA YouTube channel to show the work as it happens. He runs the business from Savannah, Georgia and handles every scan and consultation personally.
Jawanza is not an FAA Designated Engineering Representative (DER), so he does not approve engineering data or parts. He may work toward that designation in the future. In the meantime, Open Source GA is in early conversations with an Organization Designation Authorization (ODA) holder and several machine shops about how they could fit into consulting projects, so a part can move from scan to approval to finished hardware with fewer handoffs. Nothing is final yet, and this page will say so when it is.
Follow along on YouTubeHow we work.
Parts shouldn't die with the tooling.
If a part exists, it can be scanned. Every scan we make is one fewer airplane grounded for a bracket.
Owners deserve the data.
Every scan we make is hosted in the repository, where any subscriber can download the STL and use it in their own project. The intellectual property in the part stays with the original manufacturer; we host the geometry so the community can keep flying. Subscriptions keep the lights on. They don't lock the door.
By the book, every time.
We give you geometry and honest guidance on the FAA pathways. We are not a DER or an ODA and don't approve data or parts. The airworthiness decision belongs to your mechanic, the regulations, and the FAA or its designees, and we say so.
Not approved data. No consultation, scan, drawing, model, or file from Open Source GA comes with FAA approval, and none of it should be read as approval from the FAA, EASA, Transport Canada Civil Aviation (TCCA), or any other civil aviation authority. It is engineering guidance and reference geometry only.
Latest from the channel.
Open Source GA on YouTube is where the work gets shown in full: scanning sessions, CAD rebuilds, test fits, and the mistakes along the way. New uploads appear here automatically.
Get in touch.
We typically answer within one business day. Clicking the address copies it, in case your browser has no mail app set up.
Where we are
Savannah, Georgia. Rentals and mail-ins ship anywhere in the continental United States, and customers pay shipping both ways.