On Mon, 3 Jan 2005 20:21:43 -0500, "Morgans" wrote:

An ELSA is simply an SLSA that has been pulled off the production line
at whatever point the customer wants. The customer then finishes the
planes following the EXACT factory instructions but it must be
identical to the SLSA. All factory parts and no modifications at all.

It is subject to the same maintaince ect requirements as SLSA but can
not be used for instruction or rental.

Sorry, but you didn't catch what I asked. What about the plans built, or
one that has no assembly, at all? What about the guy that designs one (one
off) that fits under the specs of the rule?

Rick gave you the right answer, but let me have a crack at clarifying this.

The basic confusion here is over the term, "Light Sport Aircraft." IHMO, the
developers of the new rules made a mistake here, as they use the same term for
two separate, but related, concepts.

The first is that of "Light Sport Aircraft" as a definition. The regulation
changes added this definition to 14CFR Part 1...what us'n old timers would call
FAR Part 1. In Part 1, an LSA is an aircraft that has a gross weight of 1320
pounds or less, a stall speed less than 52 MPH, a flat-out level flight top
speed of 138 MPH or less, etc.

A person with a Sport Pilot license, or someone with a Primary, Private,
Commercial, or ATP license with an honorably lapsed FAA medical (e.g., a valid
medical that expired and was not revoked or renewal denied), can fly an aircraft
that meets the LSA definition.

This airplane can be licensed in ANY Category... Normal, utility, primary,
experimental, restricted, limited, etc. The only exceptions I can think if is
if a given aircraft has a set of operating limitations assigned by the FAA that
require a minimal set of pilot qualifications.

So, that's LSA as a definition. The FAA also instituted a *certification
category* called "Special Light Sport Aircraft," and added a new sub-category to
"Experimental" called "Light Sport Aircraft."

There are two basic kinds of Airworthiness Certificate. There is the 'Standard'
category. Once an aircraft receives a certificate in the Standard category, the
owner can operate the aircraft with no more attention from the FAA. A Standard
category aircraft can be flown for pleasure, rented, leased, or carry passengers
for hire with no additional involvement from the FAA other than the operator
ensuring the appropriate FARs for the type of operation be followed.. Standard
category includes "Normal" category, "Utility," "Aerobatic," "Commuter," and
"Transport." Each aircraft in these categories is assumed to be airworthy as
long as the appropriate inspections verify that the aircraft still meet the
description of its type certificate.

The other basic kind of Airworthiness is the "Special" category. The Special
category exists to allow aircraft that do not necessarily meet the requirements
of the Standard category to be operated to perform specific tasks. This
category includes Restricted, Limited, Experimental, and, now, the Light Sport
Aircraft category.

The Light Sport Aircraft category under the "Special" category (hence, "Special
Light Sport Aircraft") was created to allow production of ready-to-fly small
aircraft without requiring the level of design verification that Standard
category requires. To be produced on a Standard certificate, you have to meet
the FARs...and SLSAs do NOT meet the "regular" FARs. The FAA is allowing the
industry itself to define the amount of testing and validation necessary for a
SLSA airworthiness certificate.

The only things the FAA requires is that the aircraft produced must meet the FAR
Part 1 definition of an LSA, that the industry agree on the requirements *all*
SLSA aircraft must meet (e.g., the consensus standards), and that every occupant
of a SLSA aircraft be advised that the airplane does not meet FAA certification
requirements. In other words, all SLSA aircraft must include the same kind of
"Passenger Warning" that our homebuilts carry.

So, that's the production-type LSAs. As the development of the Special Light
Sport Aircraft category was ongoing, some consideration was paid to the
potential to sell kits of these SLSAs. The FAA was amenable...but the SLSA
category was designed to place the entire onus on compliance with the consensus
standards on the kit manufacturer. It was certainly possible to require the
manufacturer to inspect a customer-built aircraft prior to certification (there
have been kits of Standard category aircraft), but something closer to
traditional homebuilding was wanted.

Hence, the developers added a new sub-category under the Experimental category.
Where there was Racing, Market Survey, Amateur-Built, etc, the FAA added a new
sub-category for homebuilt Light Sport Aircraft: Experimental/Light Sport
Aircraft (ELSA).

Note that this was a *new* category under Experimental. It did not replace
Amateur-Built; it is not something that was merged under the Experimental
Amateur-Built sub-category. It is *entirely* separate, like Experimental/Racing
or Experimental/Research and Development category aircraft are.

Hence, traditional homebuilding is completely unaffected. BUT...if a
homebuilder constructs an airplane that meets the FAR Part 1 definition of an
LSA, it can be flown by a Sport Pilot. But unless it meets the specific
requirements of the Experimental Light Sport Aircraft category, it cannot be
licensed as a ELSA. It *can* be licensed as an Experimental Amateur-Built
aircraft, just like always.

But, let's look at this a different way. Let's say that I want to license a Fly
Baby in the Experimental Light Sport Aircraft category. That'll let me do all
my own maintenance, and, after taking a 16-hour course, I'll be able to sign off
the annuals, too.

First off, I *cannot* relicense my existing Fly Baby. The regs do NOT allow
relicensing existing N-numbered aircraft as either Special or Experimental Light
Sport Aircraft.

So I gotta build a new one. But to get a plane into the Experimental Light
Sport Aircraft category, I have to first certify a prototype as a SLSA. In
other words, I have to go through the ENTIRE CERTIFICATION PROCESS for a
production LSA. I have to perform the analysis/testing to verify that the
design meets the required load factors (+4G, -2G, 1.5x factor of safety, with an
additional factor of safety on critical components). I have to select an engine
that meets the engine section of the consensus standards (since it's single-seat
airplane, I only need a single-ignition engine).

I have to build the aircraft in conformance with the quality control standards
(which means a formal QC process), and develop the appropriate system for
tracking airworthiness problems over the years. I have to write up an affidavit
that certifies that the airplane I built meets the consensus standard, and have
the aircraft safety-inspected by a DAR.

As of that point, my Fly Baby has a SLSA certification. I can duplicate the
building effort and produce ready-to-fly aircraft, or I can *truncate* the
building process and sell kits. These kits can be sold at any level of
completion...no 51% rule. The builder of the kit has to *exactly* follow the
detailed assembly manual that I'm required to write. And at the end, they can
get their planes licensed as ELSAs.

But what about me? After I license my SLSA Fly Baby, I can voluntarily
downgrade it to an ELSA. At which point I can take that 16-hour course and get
the LS-I Repairman Certificate that allows me to perform ELSA annual
inspections.

A lot of work, right? Instead of going through all the SLSA certification
stuff, I could have just licensed the durn thing as an
Experimental/Amateur-Built and applied for the "regular" Repairman Certificate
that would allow me to perform that annual anyway.

The upshot is: If you are a traditional homebuilder, don't worry about the SLSA
or ELSA certification standards. If your plane meets the FAR Part 1 Definition,
you'll be able to fly it as a Sport Pilot without having to conform to consensus
standards, etc.

Ron Wanttaja