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Very nice Ed. You certainly covered all areas very well. I still love the Coupe but have a difficult time with SOME wanting way more than they are worth because some who are not familiar with the problems or cost of owning these older aircrafts are purchasing them. And then having to spend a great deal of money to get them as they should or even worse, will let them sit and never be completed. I am like many who have owned and repaired these older aircrafts. Will pay what the aircraft is worth to me. Lee ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ed Burkhead" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Cflyin" <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, December 20, 2005 6:02 AM Subject: [COUPERS-FLYIN] LSA as alternative to Coupes > ----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any advice in this forum.]---- > > > Lee wrote: > > Bob don't know where you are looking, and yes some are that > > high, which I agree is too much, but some are in the 50's and > > 60's. Rans S-6 and the S-7, Pulsar, and Zeneth are all selling > > new in the 60's, and for a year or two old comes down into the > > 40's. > > > Here are "watch out for"s for those considering any kind of LSA: > > SLSA - The $70-$90k LSA aircraft being sold are SLSA - Special Light Sport > Aircraft. These are factory built to the consensus standard and must be > maintained by an appropriately rated LSA repairman (maintenance) or A&P or > higher and the annual condition inspections must be signed off by those same > levels of mechanic. Pay close attention to the difference between base > price versus fly-away price. And watch out because *some* sellers don't > include shipping costs from Eastern Europe in the prices they are quoting > you - till after you commit. > > By their SLSA status, they are much closer to certificated status than they > are to experimental. They MAY be used for commercial instruction and to a > large extent, that's what they're being sold for. These also have operating > limits similar to certificated aircraft in that they may fly over densely > populated areas under the same rules as certificated aircraft. The > manufacturer MAY impose operating limits that are permanent such as VFR only > or VFR daytime only - check it out before you buy. > > Any aircraft more than a year old cannot be a SLSA - no SLSAs had been > approved that far back. Buyer beware. > > dELSA - Some factories are selling a factory built LSA with only an ELSA > airworthiness certificate. If it was built by the factory to their SLSA > standard but issued a downgraded dELSA airworthiness certificate, it gets > better operating limits than the lower certificates. These may be > maintained by anyone but the annual condition inspection may be done by the > owner if he/she has a repairman (inspection) (16 hour course) certificate or > by a repairman (maintenance), A&P or higher. > > kELSA - The next level of LSA would be kELSA or kit-built Experimental Light > Sport Aircraft - if there were such a thing in existence. These don't yet > exist because the consensus standard for kits has not been completed and > approved by the FAA. These may be maintained by anyone but the annual > condition inspection may be done by the owner if he/she has a repairman > (inspection) (16 hour course) certificate or by a repairman (maintenance), > A&P or higher. > > gELSA - This level is for the never-before-registered ultralight trainers > and fat-UL aircraft. They must pass an inspection basically identical to > the ExpAB (Experimental Amateur Built) aircraft. These may be maintained by > anyone but the annual condition inspection may be done by the owner if > he/she has a repairman (inspection) (16 hour course) certificate or by a > repairman (maintenance), A&P or higher. > > Aircraft may only be converted to be gELSA until January 31, 2008. Even new > aircraft built between now and January 31, 2008 are eligible for this > status. > > Up till a couple of weeks ago, these gELSA got the most restrictive > operating limits essentially prohibiting them from ever flying over densely > populated areas even to land at an airport. But, a few weeks ago, the FAA > staff had a meeting. Since then, we've seen one newly inspected aircraft > get operating limits similar to the ExpAB limits with the inspector saying > these are according to the new guidelines he had received. By these, the > aircraft may fly over densely populated areas at the direction of air > traffic control or while landing or taking off as long as they maintain > sufficient altitude to effect a safe emergency landing in the event of a > power unit failure. We're waiting for publication of the new change to FAA > order 8130.2F. Up till now, we've only seen CHG 1. This would be a CHG 2. > > Those one or two year old aircraft being advertised as LSA are often > certified as either ExpAB or dELSA or even gELSA. It is ESSENTIAL to know > what the operating limits are on the aircraft before you put down you tens > of thousands of dollars! > > Here's a reference showing the privileges of each kind of LSA aircraft: > http://edburkhead.com/Challenger/LSA_privilege_chart.htm > > It's a mess. Buying a Coupe is simpler, if you can find a clean one (or > like projects). > > However, the new crop of aircraft built to be within the LSA standards to be > flown by Sport Pilots have better performance than our Coupes. They're much > like what Fred would be designing if he were here today. > > Fred told me in an interview that he never expected Coupes to be in use in > 10 years. The rate of progress was so fast, when he designed them, that he > thought new, clearly superior designs would have taken over the market. > That estimate was off by 55 years, but it's finally happening. > > We can still love our Coupes for their relatively low cost and intrinsic > value, their historicity and for the family of Coupers that comes with them. > > Ed Burkhead > http://edburkhead.com > ed -at- edburkhead???.com (change -at- to @ and remove "???") > > > ============================================================================ == > To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm > Search the archives on http://escribe.com/aviation/coupers/ > > > ============================================================================== To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm Search the archives on http://escribe.com/aviation/coupers/
