Can you identify this LSA?

Talk about airplanes! At last count, there are 39 (and growing) FAA certificated S-LSA (special light sport aircraft). These are factory-built ready to fly airplanes. If you can't afford a factory-built LSA, consider buying an E-LSA kit (experimental LSA - up to 99% complete).

Moderator: drseti

User avatar
MrMorden
Posts: 2184
Joined: Fri Aug 17, 2012 7:28 am
Location: Athens, GA

Re: Can you identify this LSA?

Post by MrMorden »

dstclair wrote:
But as an example, Flight Design wanted $600 in "engineering study" fees to allow me to replace my pitot tube with an AoA version and run an additional pitot line through the wing...even though many CTSWs came that way from the factory. I'm sure the cost of a weight upgrade would be much higher than that. I think LSA authorizations are much more expensive than a lot of STCs for certified planes, based on what I have seen and heard.
I've observed the fees for modifications vary greatly between manufacturers. For instance, I've received approval for a different battery, the first install of of a Dynon AP, first install of a Garmin 795 and GDL-39 and a couple other items for the grand total of $0. I did have the distributor do the work so they made $$ on me, though. Every modification I've done has then been incorporated in the manufacturer's approved parts list.
This is no doubt true. My TruTrak autopilot MRA was only $150, essentially the "base" number FD charges just to file and store the paperwork. But it seems capricious...some "big" changes are cheap, and some "trivial" changes are expensive with Flight Design.


What do you fly again, Dave?
Andy Walker
Athens, GA
Sport Pilot ASEL, LSRI
2007 Flight Design CTSW E-LSA
User avatar
dstclair
Posts: 1092
Joined: Thu Mar 06, 2008 11:23 am
Location: Allen, TX

Re: Can you identify this LSA?

Post by dstclair »

What do you fly again, Dave?
TL-Ultralight Sting S3.

For right or wrong, the manual is written such that it refers to an external MEL (Manufacturer Equipment List) that will be updated 'periodically'. The manual states that modifications either need an LOA or be part of the MEL. SportAir (the distributor) has been pretty good on accepting changes to the MEL if the equipment is offered on new planes or is an upgrade from a major vendor (Garmin, Dynon, etc.).
dave
3Dreaming
Posts: 3107
Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2010 6:13 pm
Location: noble, IL USA

Re: Can you identify this LSA?

Post by 3Dreaming »

drseti wrote:As I've said in several other threads:

The 1320 pound LSA limit isn't about what the aircraft is capable of carrying without structural failure. It's all about kinetic energy limits. Raise the weight and the stall speed goes up (by the square root of thr load factor). Kinetic energy goes up as mass times velocity squared. That "squared" in velocity roughly cancels that "square root" in stall speed, but KE still goes up pretty fast. The weight and speed limits on an LSA keep KE low enough to minimize injury on the event of a takeoff or landing accident. As was already stated, raise the weight and it's no longer an LSA.

"Already certified at higher weights"? Maybe in Europe, Australia, or South Africa under different certification standards. Not in the US, because of certification costs. Remember that Cessna had announced it was going to certify the Skycatcher in the Primary Aircraft category, then abandoned that effort and dropped the 162 from its product line.

OK, so how about the premise that the manufacturer can raise the weight, and recertify as a non-LSA? One of the major cost drivers for Cessna, Piper, Cirrus, etc. iscertification costs. Some of that is the financial cost of assuming the additional liability that goes along with selling a certified aircraft. Raise the weight of a former LSA, certify it under Parts 23 and 33, and you can be sure it will not only no longer be an LSA, it will also no longer cost $80-90k. It will end up priced more like -- a Cessna, Piper, or Cirrus!
American Champion already has the certification done and in place for the Champ, because earlier versions were already approved at the higher gross weight. The price is a little off from the $80,000 to $90,000 figure though. Since they are standard category they could even raise the gross weight of the airplanes built at the 1320 pound limit with a Service Bulletin dictating the procedure.
Post Reply