It is called Free Market Economics. The marketplace is filling a demand with supply. No one was making a two place trainer aircraft (e.g. C152) anymore. The things are selling and there is a viable LSA community. It may not be the type of flying you or I enjoy to do at this time in our life but it would not exist if there was no demand.

I agree that general aviation needs all the growth it can get. Some of them will move up and some of us will move down eventually. If it gets new people flying general avation, I am all for them...besides just go fly on a 20 kt windy day and you won't have to see them

And for even less, you can buy an early Cessna 310 and fly a twin !!

Yes, you can buy a Bo or Comanche for the same or less money than a LSA, but you won't be able to operate it for anywhere close what those flying sewing machines cost to run.

- 5.5gph vs. 12gph
- Parts are dirt cheap. A complete nose-gear asembly for a Tecnam is $1200 or so, a wheel fairing $240 and a complete prop $1700. So even if you prang something, it is financially viable to repair it.
- You don't need an A&P to work on them. If you can spare 3 weeks, you can go and get a 'Light Sport Repairman Certificate' and do your own (and your retired friends) annuals and maintenance. After 2 years of experience, you can sit for the regular A&P exam if that floats your boat.



That is the hope. If they received their initial training from a regular CFI, it can be credited towards the PPL. All they need is the written and the PPL specific stuff (3hrs instrument, night cross-country, long cross-country flights) to go for the 'real plane' checkride (which can again be done in the LSA).

Btw. some of those flying blenders are approved for night-flight, but that requires a private ticket and a third-class medical.



I'm afraid that many of the current light aircraft are looking forward to a future as soda cans.

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You obviously do not understand the demographics of the pilot population. The 50 and over group is swelling and experiencing medically disqualifying conditions everyday.

You obviously do not understand the demographics of the pilot population. The 50 and over group is swelling and experiencing medically disqualifying conditions everyday.

When my ME tells me that I've become physically unfit to fly, I'm gonna believe him.

Sure, we all will, but it's often not that cut and dry.

Often certain medical conditions and medications can be worked through the system and ultimately approved. It costs a lot of money and time to do this. Specialist reports, independent testing etc. I know of one pilot with a heart condition - it cost him over $10K and took a full year to get his medical approved!

At least with LSA's, there is another option.

Yet another pilot that does not understand medical certification. I myself am jumping through hoops for the FAA to get my medical back. So far, it has been 3 months and counting. I know other pilots that when all is said and done, the cost of renewing the medical is many thousands of dollars. That gets repeated every year. In the case of a first class physical, it is repeated twice per year. Some people's threshold for spending on a medical are lower than yours. This whole thread is reading like class warfare. It kind of makes me sick. There is no crime in working hard for your money and earning a lot of it. It is the "holier than thou" attitude that is disturbing.

I understand medical certification just fine. I quit flying for several years because my young family budget was bumping me from a Comanche to a C-150.

It's fine if you want to fly an LSA, but there's no way it's for me.

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Mike, a $50k airplane with a $40k-$60k engine???

This is where the disconnect is. Unfortunately, to make a (CAUTION, dirty word here) profit, a modern Cub Clone is at or over $100k. That's just the way it is, reality SUCKS.

If you want to fly an LSA on a budget, which someday I might, there are tons of eligible aircraft for less than $30k.

Luscombe's, Ercoupe's, Cubs, Aeronca's, etc.

And this doesn't include the homebuilts like the RANS, Zodiac, or Van's RV12.

There IS a market for new LSA's and Larry is right, the market will win if allowed to. Quality designs backed up by reputable companies that are marketing savvy will survive, the rest will go the way of the DeLorean, the Edsel, and the Studabaker.

Here's to years of flying with a medical, and more without "renewing" should that become necessary.

I love to fly because I love to fly, fast is great, but flying is what it's all about.

$0.02, attempting to remove my vitriol.[/quote]


I had to look up vitriol.....

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Alejandro probably has the data on this, but from the reports I have read it is the knuckleheaded 'real-plane' pilots who just hop into an LSA thinking its just another small plane who rack up the worst safety record.

"Going somewhere" ????

NOW...you have nailed it for me. Someday, maybe not too far in the future as I'm already gray and balding (or balded, you pick), I might be glad just to get in the air and see the world from aloft just to feel the freedom of flight. But, I'm not there yet. The joy of Bonanza ownership is being able to visit a friend in Ocala for lunch, taking my wife to brunch or dinner 200 miles away, or ferrying a friend a few hundred miles to pick up his stranded plane. The occasional trip of 1,000 miles is even more shine on the apples I eat because I can fly where I want and when I want, and a trip of 4,000 miles seems like nothing (except the enjoyment of it). The new LSA's are not cheap and I will never buy one. When my time comes I will find an old rag-wing, buy it, wipe the oil from the engine and fly little trips barely out of sight of the home field just to say I am a pilot and I fly my own plane. But, it won't be nearly as satisfying as what I enjoy now.

Parasail? I think I would enjoy that for a few flights. Turn into the wind and hang like a cat on a limb.

I would be happier with a 'class4 medical' that can be signed off by your personal doc without involvement of the FAA central office than the current 'self-certification. There could be guidelines as to what is allowed and what is not and a restriction on passenger carrying beyond 1 or any compensated flight. This would keep most of the 'old guys with a Bonanza' in the air and still be safer than the fig-leaf of 'if you have a drivers license' of non-certification with the LSAs.

And.... They did it again.

LSA on the cover. WTF is going on? Are they really selling more magazines with LSA's on the cover?

I got a Pilot Mag last week. Much more my speed.

In the magazine, they do an article on the new Icon A5. It's an amphib LSA with a cool concept. Only problem is that it's a 100HP engine with a full fuel payload of 20lbs.

The first half of the article discusses how great LSA's are as they take advantage of the Part 23 loophole.

The company is based in L.A. But they readily admit that California is no fan of "Aircraft Manufacturing". The claim they have deposits for 430 of these things.

The writer calls it a "flying jet ski" and claims his favorite type of flying is "low and slow". How convenient for the LSA manufacturers!!!

I love the idea of the A5. Folding wings, amphibious, looks much cooler than the other LSA's etc. But at the end of the day, it's nothing more than a conversation piece.

How do these companies get all these talented people to work for them? How do they not see that this contraption is nothing more than a flying jet ski?

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I


LSAs, at present, aren't what I'm wanting out of aviation....however, there is a substantial group locally who have either built or bought LSAs. The majority of them keep their planes at a small grass strip that we also use for gliders. They seem quite happy with their planes, and for them, the joy of flying occasionally is enough. A few of them have gotten to the point with some medical conditions have left them "capable" of getting a medical (with expense, and trouble, and time), but for whom the "funds v. fun" titer has pushed them to go for an aircraft that can be inexpensively operated, no funds spent for a medical, can be worked on and repaired quite inexpensively, etc.


And, despite flying some pretty neat stuff in the past, I still really enjoy taking my L-2 out in the afternoons and just cruising around locally at times.


There was a time when I didn't think unless it was very fast, and fully aerobatic; or unless it was multi-engined and went fast, that I could possibly enjoy flying it....


I've noticed that as time goes by, some of my friends have had fairly dramatic changes of interest in their flying lives...but they still like to fly.

Can we not all be glad we enjoy the same sky, and the same thrill of flight, no matter our personal "peak interest"?


stan