The US Federal Aviation Administration has begun the process of qualifying the first student pilots seeking to fly a new class of regulated recreational vehicles called light sport aircraft (LSA).
LSAs emerged as a new certificated aircraft category on 1 September, at least four months before the FAA was ready to assert its regulatory authorities. As prospective student pilots submit applications, the agency is training the sport pilot examiners, who will do the evaluations, and the designated airworthiness representatives (DARs), who will inspect the aircraft.
The goal is to have enough examiners and DARs fully trained by 15 January to issue certificates for the first sport pilots and factory- and home-built LSAs, says the FAA's Sue Gardner, who managed the implementation of the LSA rule. Gardner adds, however, that the deadline is likely to slip by up to two weeks.
Meanwhile, the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) is working in parallel to establish the first manufacturing standards for an aircraft category agreed by a voluntary consensus body. Several LSA-type standards have already been approved by the ASTM committee. The FAA is expected to publish the standards in late January or early February, providing manufacturers with safety guidelines to serve the new market of light sport pilots.
Gardner estimates the agency will need another year to create the basic infrastructure for regulating the nationwide LSA fleet, which could be boosted, the FAA predicts, by around 12,000 new aircraft within 10 years.
The FAA's consensus standards-making approach has been observed by civil aviation authorities in Australia and Canada, which have each established sport pilot certification procedures in recent years, says Gardner.
Source: Flight International
