Thread: FAA Ponders Changes to LSA Certification

From avweb.com,
AVwebFlash Complete Issue

The FAA is considering making some major changes in the way special light sport aircraft are approved, Dan Johnson, chairman of the Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association, said on Wednesday. FAA officials told LAMA that in the future, LSA manufacturers may have to pass a compliance audit conducted by a specially trained cadre of FAA inspectors. The FAA staffers would also inspect the first production airplane for each LSA model produced. "Airworthiness certificates will not be issued until after both the audit and inspection are successfully completed," the FAA said. If the FAA follows through on this plan, it would be a major change from the current practice, which allows manufacturers to certify on their own that consensus standards have been met.

Although the FAA has not yet taken any formal action to change the status quo, Johnson said the industry should start now to be prepared for possible changes. FAA officials, including Administrator Randy Babbitt, have said frequently that they have found no cause for alarm in the safety record of LSAs, but a recent FAA assessment of the industry led regulators to believe that many companies are not in full compliance with the ASTM standards, according to Johnson. "Therefore, it is in your best interest to review your compliance," Johnson said in a letter to LAMA members. On Wednesday, Johnson told AVweb that it's too soon to consider the impact of these possible changes on aircraft owners and buyers. "All of it is tentative," he said. "LAMA just wanted to get the word out now to manufacturers, to be prepared." He said he doesn't expect the FAA would start to review LSAs that are already in the market, but would focus their efforts on proposed new models.

None of this is a surprise to me. I got a heads-up from an FAA employee about 2 weeks ago that the FAA was looking at more mandatory/inspected compliance. It's also not a surprise because I joined ASTM, obtained the S-LSA standards and have compared them with my plane. There does appear to be minor issues of compliance, but not being an LSRM or an A&P I-A, I have no authoritative standing in the matter..

The danger here is that the FAA will over react, over reach, and over requlate thus driving the LSA market out of existence. Many bureaucrats have a tendency to one size fits all. Thus they will take the worst example of a problem at a manufacturer and apply corrective action liberally to all. As far as I know, there have been no real problems with LSA except for the Zodiac 601 and I'm not sure of the specifics of that one. These folks (FAA) mean well but they don't know any better. Few have real world private sector experience. They have never had to produce a product much less meet a payroll. The new employees coming in are taught by the old guard and I bet some of that old guard are chaffing over LSA to include no need for a medical. What the FAA needs to do here, if anything, is take a precise surgical approach to correct specific problems with specific manufactures. But, they won't since that means lack of ability to flex muscle to show who the boss is, and because the surgical approach means more work for them - or the perception thereof.

This coming from a career bureaucrat!!

Pure speculation but I'd bet that Cessna probably has a hand in this. You can bet that the Skycatcher has been gone over extensively, compliance-wise. Cessna can't do otherwise and risk their name. Just look at the money and pain they put into spin testing. So they'd want to make sure that the playing field is level and I'm sure they have some ears listening in Oklahoma City. I'd do the same thing if I were them.

The Zodiac 601 debacle didn't help either.