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Kim Blackseth wrote: > I've been told the EAA or others are working on having the 415D > (and other designs) certified as LSA approved. Is this true? > What's involved and how long will this take (best estimate)? Kim, Excellent question. What's involved is for the FAA to decide to change the gross weight limits for LSA in the regulations. A year and a third ago, the previous Administrator of the FAA, said at Oshkosh that too many trainer aircraft had been excluded and that they were considering changes. It's thought that the EAA and others are pushing for an increase in the LSA gross weight limit. Now, it's set at 600 kg. (1320 lb.) If that number were increased to 800 kg (1764 lb.) or 850 kg (1874 lb.), they could include most or all of the C-150 and other appropriate certificated trainers. That would give Sport Pilot a huge boost because now, those are the trainers that most FBOs and independent CFIs use. New Sport Pilots (not PP downgrades) are only running about 45 per month through this summer compared to about 2,000 per month new Private Pilots. I think you can count on there being a push for this change. Time frame? I'd guess that's between two years and never. I'd hesitate to be more specific. If it comes sooner, I'll be surprised since this is a change in actual regulation. That's a lot more difficult than changing FAA orders or other documents. I do hope they do make this change. The downside, and a reason they may not do it is this: by excluding all the existing trainers, they have created a hot market for new design trainer SLSA aircraft. If they increase the gross weight for LSA, they kill 80%+ of that market. Damned if they do. Damned if they don't. 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
