(h) The holder of at least a sport pilot certificate may approve
an aircraft owned or operated by that pilot and issued a special
airworthiness certificate in the light-sport category for return to service
after performing preventive maintenance under the provisions of §43.3
Take note that a special airworthiness certificate is not the same as the
airworthiness certificate given to a certificated aircraft, i.e. an
aircraft produced under the higher class certification rules.
The Coupes were manufactured under those higher class certification rules
built to a higher standard. Thus, the FAA deems it necessary to have the
higher class training given Private Pilots in order to do preventive
maintenance on a certificated aircraft.
A factory built Special Light Sport Aircraft has a special airworthiness
certificate which is of a lower class. Its manufacture is governed by the
community standards embodied in the ASTM standards documents and process.
As a lower class aircraft, it may still receive preventive maintenance from
its Sport Pilot (only) owner (or, presumably, by a pilot-owner holding a
higher license).
Experimental aircraft also bear a special airworthiness certificate. They
have even looser maintenance requirements.
All of these may qualify as light sport aircraft because LSA is a
definition written into the regulations. LSA means it meets certain
standards of weight, speed, etc., and has nothing to do with how it was
manufactured. If an aircraft meets the definition, it is a Light Sport
Aircraft (while remaining whatever else it is certificated, SLSA, ELSA,
EAB, etc.).
http://sportpilot.org/learn/sp_rule.pdf
<http://sportpilot.org/learn/sp_rule.pdf%201.1> 1.1 General Definitions
Ed
Ed Burkhead
http://edburkhead.com/Ercoupe/index.htm
ed -at- edbur???khead.yyy change -at- to @, remove the ??? and change
yyy to com
