Eliacim, Much of what you say makes sense.
In the case of the FAA artificially creating a market segment via their use of new rules, consider that they had previously killed the small, light aircraft manufacturing segment via their use of incredibly (and senselessly) expensive certification rules. Prior to LSA, there were virtually no new certificated aircraft with technology newer than the 1940s. The certification rules for certificated aircraft just cost too much. In experimental aircraft, there was great innovation - as well as an amazingly good safety record. LSA and the "Consensus Standards" loosened that up considerably. However, the consensus standards were set with a fairly high bar to jump, too - set mostly by existing manufacturers with nudging by the FAA. I joined the ASTM committee for a year and watched the process from inside the aircraft committee. The standards were largely lifted from the Canadian microlight certification standards which, themselves, were based on regular certification standards. They were/are pretty reasonable, I think, for the aircraft strength and performance. A difficult hurdle in the new standards is the tight material control required for parts sources and handling. In the end, the consensus standards were still fairly difficult for the manufacturers of illegal U.S. ultralights. But, they were pretty easy for the foreign manufacturers who were already making microlight aircraft under similar European and other foreign regulations. I think this was a big disappointment for the FAA. I do hope we might, someday, rebuild the American aircraft manufacturing we once had. But lawsuits kill companies - often blameless companies. Just the fear of lawsuits kills companies. I suspect that revising the legal system will be a prerequisite for rebuilding American aircraft manufacturing - and how likely is that? I watched the discussion as one "American manufacturer" of "American" made trike aircraft found he had to buy all the parts from foreign manufacturers. American companies either refused to make and sell him the parts for, Oh My Gosh, an AIRCRAFT or set prices so high (due to legal liability) that it was far cheaper to buy parts overseas and ship them here, then assemble the final parts here into the "American made" aircraft. <Big sigh> The light aircraft market is considerably more active than it was while the formerly booming "ultralight" market (in the same weight and passenger class) is now nearly dead. <Bigger sigh> Ed
