Light Sport's new mission statement?

[vacantstance]

This youtube clip and it's comments raises a couple of serious questions about the state of Light Sport aviation and the Sports Pilot's certificate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hjiAHVh5dY

Is light sport aviation's mission driven by manufacturers or end-users? What's better for the designation?

[Jack Tyler]

An interesting video, especially since the producer/narrator films all of Dan Johnson's LSA videos and Mr. Johnson, all by himself, is a good example of how the self-interests are influencing the direction of light sport aviation. He's made a business out of becoming Mr. LSA, he's now serving as President of LAMA, and yet you'll never hear Mr. Johnson address the troubling conclusions of the FAA about the build quality of S-LSA a/c nor will you ever see/hear him talking about an LSA a/c that isn't just great. (Visit his site and read what a great story it is that Zenith 601 a/c, built from kits and in factories in both Europe & the USA fell out of the sky with many killed. It's all about the redesign and nothing about the failure of the system or the designer).

Similarly and for some interesting reading, review the vita of LAMA's Board (http://www.lama.bz/board1.htm). I'm sure many LSA mfgrs. feel that LAMA is simply a power-grab, whereby a few well-established LSA interests want to install a monitoring and compliance system which 'they' (e.g. the LAMA Board Members) created & support. There's a contrary argument here, to wit LAMA is doing this on behalf of the overall reputation of light sport aviation...but the impression I'm left with is that the fox wants to guard the hen house. LAMA has been very unsuccessful to date, as evidenced by their very few members, newsletters and other public announcements, and that's not because it's lacked promoting.

About the video: Lots of hyperbole there, tho' also an interesting historical perspective. Many of those a/c being flown in that video are entirely legal to be designed, built and flown today (since they are small and light enough) whereas some others now fit into the light sport designation. And as I understand it, all existing ultralights that were to fall into the light sport category were invited to be grandfathered in. So the valid portion of the gripe seems to be those folks who want to design & build an a/c that now falls above the weight/speed/etc. Part 103 Ultralight guidelines...and all those a/c can be built today as E-AB a/c. So it's not the designing & building activity that's being throttled down, as the same owner-built a/c is just registered differently now. And seminars now offered by the EAA, Rotax and private vendors make it easy, inexpensive and legal to be able to service E-LSA & E-AB a/c. As best I can tell, his argument boils down to the one link in the the economic formula he's postulating: Restrictions on how today's sport pilot must be trained builds in cost, which reduces the pilot population that in turn feeds the whole system.

The cost is driven in large measure by the fact S-LSA a/c must be used (outside the Part 103 Ultralight category) for the training. Still, there are many 2-place relatively inexpensive S-LSA a/c being offered for sale...so to a significant degree, the cost is being driven by what the student wants to train in and what the instructor wants to instruct in - which in our economic system, is called 'market driven'. It's also fair to point out that the airspace today, in many parts of our country, is not nearly as simple or unregulated as when most of those film clips were taken. We'd all like to picture a small grass field with tie-downs for experimentals and ultralights that's just 5-10 miles from our home...but most of the USA's population doesn't have access to that setting. Which is no doubt one reason why instructor's choose more complicated, expensive a/c to instruct in - they are a safer and also more realistic training tool for sport pilots who want to fly in today's air space.

This is a complicated subject. We've got some instructors on this forum that can no doubt do a better job than I can, as a relatively new observer to the LSA 'movement', in commenting on the video. But there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the end user (aka: pilot) is not the primary focus of LAMA, LSA importers, LSA distributors and LSA manufacturers. They are all businesses and we can't expect them to behave differently than businesses in any other field. In the absence of much regulatory attention (e.g. from the FAA) what's missing IMO is objective, responsible journalism. E.g. the aviation press is doing a lousy job. In that regard, this video serves a useful purpose. I just wish I knew the 'back story' of the video, as the fellow who made it has been flogging LSA's and the 'Light Sport Movement' alongside Mr. Johnson for some years now. Ironic.

[rsteele]

Loved seeing all the planes.
The message is a confused mess.
Nothing about SP/LSA rules affect EAB in the least. The folks that took the hit are the two place trainers for Ultralight. This is arguably just stupid on the FAA's part. As I understand it, it's about impossible to get 2 place ultralight training these days (never tried myself). The EAA fought long and hard trying to get a rule that was reasonable, the final one was much better than that originally proposed.

Jack, what's your beef with DJ and LAMA? It appears to me he's just trying to get an industry group together for LSA, similar to GAMA for part 23. The guy's been in ultralight from the time they strapped engines onto hang gliders. I admit he hasn't been really successful. The stated goal is to help LSA manufacturers understand and properly implement the S-LSA rule and ASTM standards. Seems like a good idea to me, given the irregularities in the FAA's audit.

Ron

[roger lee]

Who ever this guy is he's full of it. You can still go fly all the Part 103 Ultralights that you want. You can build or Mfg your own plane. There are still plenty out there. Yes it had its hay day, but like anything else it settled out to where it is today. Everyone wanted a piece of the Ultralight pie years ago, but the real Mfg's and the economy has settled and weeded out some.
If you fly Part 103 it is you that gets hurt in case of an incident.
Part of the thinking behind the two seat conversions and LSA was to make sure people couldn't take a passenger and hurt them unknowingly and to make sure 2 seat operators had some type standard training since they were encroaching more on populated areas, there was more of them and they are using airports more often now than back then.
There is absolutely nothing that says you have to buy a $100K SLSA and it gives the GA guy somewhere to go if he wants to step down for what ever reason. Many SLSA's are better than some of the smaller GA aircraft. It is just another way to fly and doesn't in way jeopardize the Ultralight group. I flew Ultralights since 1980 and many of them. I now have an SLSA and no one forced me to buy it. Once you have so many of something and have enough incidents you will make someone stand up and notice. I like the fact that some of these people that fly have to have a little knowledge because I have to share the sky with them and in many times close proximity.

[AZPilot]

@Jack Tyler

You sir, have hit the nail on the proverbial head.

Well played.

[roger lee]

There are so many ways we can choose to fly it's almost uncountable and it's up to each person to pick the way he or she would like to fly. Buy a used Ultralight for very little, build your own or buy a $4 million Lear Jet and anything in between . It is up to each of us to decide what we want and how we want to get there. No one has told anyone that you have just one way to do things or what to purchase. The one thing that has happened is there are more people enjoying the airways today than anytime in history. With that in mind it's nice to know that we should all be getting at least the basics (training) on how to share those airways. Education and training never hurt anyone, but it could keep you from being dead or worse yet, taking someone with you to the grave.

I apologize for the rant, but this some how just made me jump on my soapbox this morning.

I had to get educated just like the last guy.