Re: Light Sport Weight Limit
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Av8r3400
At this point with Basic Med, there really is little or no reason to make such a broad sweeping change to the rules.
I agree with this. The problem is not the light sport weight limit. I assume, based on the very tiny fraction of pilots that hold Light Sport certificates, that the majority of pilots exercising light sport privileges are certified as private pilots or higher, but don't want to get a medical. BasicMed partially fixed this, but it's still pretty onerous, and still requires a 3rd class exam at least once. Medical certification is the problem that Light Sport is mitigating, and it's where the FAA should direct its attention instead of revising the light sport definition.
This won't happen though. It's a much harder sell in Washington to say you want to relax medical certification requirements. It's too easy to paint a picture of little planes raining out of the sky as pilots suffer heart attacks that somehow could have been prevented if they'd seen a government doctor 5 years ago. A mundane change to some airplane definition in 14 CFR 1.1 tends to raise fewer eyebrows. And then there's the fact that after years and years of EAA and AOPA effort, we got BasicMed. I don't think anyone in Washington wants to revisit the topic soon.
Re: Light Sport Weight Limit
If they are worried about safety the FAA should work on making radio use mandatory. In the past year I have been in 3 instances where no radio was a safety factor , 4 if you count the para backpacker flying around the runway at dark. I couldn't see him until I got below the horizon on final Luckily we have an RC club on the field with a radio and they alerted me to his presence.
But they are worried about 2 hundred extra pounds make no sense.
Re: Light Sport Weight Limit
Remember, all of the medical related accident statistics pre LSA and Basic Med were of pilots having medical related accidents WITH a FAA Approved physical. That was one of the biggest points used to justify no medical in the LSA rule. Those statistics basically prove that a flight physical doesn't stop many medical related accidents, as we are all ticking time bombs from a medical perspective. You can be fine the day of your physical, and die of a heart attack the next day.
Re: Light Sport Weight Limit
Re: Light Sport Weight Limit
A dose of reality... thanks Larry. I'd bet that we will see a more realistic weight increase for the category, but it won't happen real quick.
Re: Light Sport Weight Limit
That same rumour made its way across the Pacific to Australia as well. Got some people very excited. Then out came the Fireman's hose .... and washed poor ipsy wipsy rumour clean down the toilet .... but it will be very interesting to see how the FAA formulate that weight increase process ....
Re: Light Sport Weight Limit
In my brain it stands to reason that the FAA will choose an existing certified airplane, like a Cessna 152 (1670gw) and set that as the number. It's not a whole lot more than the existing limit. The Cessna 152 is a little light airplane and as such should be available to a sport pilot, vfr, fair weather flyer.
Re: Light Sport Weight Limit
The gist of what the article says is that what they are hearing is it will not be a set weight for LSA in the future. It will be a calculation of weight, speed, seating capacity and other factors to determine if a particular airframe qualifies.
Nothing like inserting Government complexity where it isn't needed.