Sport Pilot Talk

It just so happened that I studied Luscombe intensively before turning my attention to C150. Although it is in the same class and competes for the same market, 8E loses in a few parameters. Most importantly, it is a taildragger. In my hubris I am not concerned about landing it per se, but the insurance is twice higher for the same hull value. It has to be factored into the budget. Secondly, size. I am 200 cm or 6'5" tall. I fit into a post-1975 C150 rather comfortably (Cessna installed different seats in 1976 model). Luscombe is rather tight and almost unflyable for me. And finally, parts and support for Luscombe are not as easy to obtain. Also, keep in mind that vast majority of 8Es exceed the LSA gross weight. It's the same situation as with Aircoupe. I would say it seems obvious that C150 should be more palatable airplane for many and thus create a competiton that old taildraggers did not present.

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http://zaitcev.mee.nu/

So now you've even got the LSA manufacturers themselves putting up barriers to growth in an effort to "protect what little market share each company has", instead of focusing on innovations that will help them all increase sales. The vast majority of these hundred LSA manufacturers are barely hanging on, and now they believe preserving the status quo of few if any sales will help them survive ? Talk about drinking tainted Kool-Aid.

And people wonder why GA is so screwed up.

7900, I do not believe that a vast majority of LSA manufacturers are against a weight increase. At a recent LSA tour I had the occasion to speak to the dealers of several of the top 10 sellers. No one disagreed with raising the weight with at least 2 being very confident that 650kg would require no redesign in their products. This would widen their market to handle our wider pilots

As to why not just increase the weight to include [insert favorite GA aircraft here], remember we're dealing with a government agency. They have no motivation to change the regulations to support a business model. Part 23 allows aircraft to be built to any MTOW, so why should they change LSA? EAA/AOPA want to formulate a narrow case that is based on safety. Will this truly translate to safer aircraft? Who knows but it COULD give the FAA reasonable grounds to grant the increase. Their primary charter is safety so this gives the approach a chance. It's the same principle as the RP medical exemption. I give kudos to the alphabets for trying.

Paul, I want my 3lbs rounding error!

Also, I've got no horse in this race. My current aircraft hauls my wife and I, 55lbs of stuff, one spoiled Shih Tzu and a full tank (21.5g)

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dave

I am buying a Tecnam Sierra with the parachute mount kit installed but not the chute. If the gross weight were increased by 30 lbs. dependent on the installation of the chute, I would not hesitate.