LSA pilots may fly in darkness, but airspeed and airspace limitations could remain
Different views on the year-old light-sport aircraft (LSA) regulations came to the fore last week at AirVenture in Oshkosh and changes will be announced in coming months, says the US Federal Aviation Administration. “The FAA intends to make changes to allow certain LSAs to fly at night, assuming an appropriately rated pilot is on board, but we don’t anticipate any changes to airspace and airspeed operating limitations,” it says.
Pilots who train for 20h and earn their sport pilot licence may not enter crowded airspace, must stay below 10,000ft (3,000m) and can only fly their lighter, less-expensive aircraft during daytime.
Former Experimental Aviation Association (EAA) board member Buck Hilbert met FAA officials several times at the show, with a list of changes to pursue. “If a person is properly checked out, there is no reason why he can’t go into a high-density area with the aircraft. There is no reason either why he cannot fly at night,” he says.
Perhaps the highest-priority change, he says, is for pilots who lose their medical certification for larger aircraft to be allowed to fly a light-sport aircraft, which requires only a driver’s licence. The FAA cannot say whether that change will come, but Hilbert says progress was made at Oshkosh.
“It’s going to take us about another three to four months before all the comments are taken and any kind of decision is made,” says Hilbert.
Decisions are accelerated at AirVenture, he says, because the FAA “can bring in the heads of all their departments and we can get things done in three or four days that take them several months if you go to Washington.”
Aircraft with retractable landing gear should be included in the LSA category, Hilbert says. The FAA says there will be minor changes in this area, particularly for amphibious aircraft, for which retractable gear “is critical to allow an aeroplane originally intending to land on the water to reposition the gear and allow a ground landing”.
Rule clarification is needed, says Steve Nelson, a pilot and instructor from Grand Rapids, Minnesota who wants to buy an LSA. “Can I go across country? Can I go through Class B airspace? We’re hearing a couple different answers and I’d like to just get one.”
A third of the aircraft sold at AirVenture last week went to flight schools, and the market could be important for LSAs, says Ron Wagner, chapter relations director for the EAA. “Because the sport-pilot initiative takes about half the instruction and time that it takes to get a private licence, the flight schools initially were looking at it as if they wouldn’t make as much money,” he says.
“The fact is that most flight schools have an extremely high drop-out rate right after solo. People prove to themselves that they are able to safely fly an aeroplane, then look at the expense of going on and getting a private licence. We believe that, rather than dropping out, they’ll now become sport pilots with the same 20-25h.”
With 13 LSA designs now approved, there were no fewer than 35 aircraft on display at AirVenture’s new Light Sport Mall, costing between $18,000 and $80,000. Air shows like Oshkosh are the best way to reach customers, says Ken Daub, vice-president of Clear Horizons, the Rockford, Illinois-based distributor of Alpi’s Pioneer 200 LSA. Daub says he has seen a lot of casual shoppers, but not a lot of buyers yet.
“The news is slowly getting out,” says Randy Henderson of Fantasy Air USA, which sells the Allegro 2000 LSA. “A lot of people didn’t know exactly what was entailed by the light-sport category and what it meant to them,” he says. At Oshkosh, he says, sales often come after the show. “People look at the aircraft and then go home and get their finances in order.”
The varied designs that are emerging are good for competition, says EAA founder Paul Poberezny, but he predicts some will flop. “There are a lot of people out there with dreams, but most people want an aeroplane that looks like an aeroplane and is practical.”
Source: Flight International
