How to Choose the Right Light Sport Airplane for Purchase, Training, Renting, or Building

Jabiru Light Sport Airplane

Almost five years ago, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) authorized a new category of aircraft and new pilot certificates to go along with them.

The Light Sport Rule, as it is called, allows for the professional, but non-certified, manufacture of two-place (pilot and one passenger), light weight (1,320lbs without floats), low power (single engine), and low speed (120 Knots [138 mph] max) airplanes. There are also some other restrictions like no night flying. These aircraft are called Special Light Sport Aircraft (S-LSA), or Experimental Light Sport Aircraft (E-LSA) if the owner has to put some finishing touches on the airplane after they buy it.

To go along with these aircraft, the FAA also created a low flight-time pilot certificate (20 hrs min), as well as a specific Light Sport Instructor certificate (150hrs with no instrument rating).

One big difference between Light Sport and General Aviation (GA) certified airplanes is that you only have to have a driver's license to be able to fly solo after training. In GA, you are required to get a third class medical certificate.

Since 2004, there has been a literal flood of Light Sport airplane makes and models onto the U.S market. They are cheap ($100k+) compared to General Aviation (GA) aircraft ($200k+), and therefore have introduced many folks to aviation who had been previously on the sidelines due to the cost of GA.

My goal is to help you sort through this overwhelming stack of makes and models, and get you on your way to finding that one airplane that is right for you. Read on...

Things You'll Need

• A desire to enter the relatively new world of Light Sport Aviation
• A desire to sort out the 100+ models of Light Sport airplanes now on the market
• A desire to reduce your anxiety over the purchase of an airplane
• A desire to spend your airplane dollars wisely

Instructions

1. 

   Getting into Light Sport Aviation - There a number of ways folks are getting into Light Sport aviation.

   (1) Never been in aviation before - You may have been interested in flying since childhood, or just recently gained an interest in the subject.

   (2) You may have gone through your private pilot training a while back, but never really did anything with your certificate, because the cost to purchase an aircraft was too high, or aircraft rental was way out of your budget, these days in excess of $100/hr is common.

   (3) There are current pilots that have decided to let their Third-Class Medical certificate lapse, because they have some minor chronic medical issue, and they want to continue to fly longer than they otherwise may be able to in GA.

   About third-class medicals and the FAA - Many folks in the aviation industry contend that a number of medical conditions the FAA have issue with, have little bearing on a person's fitness to fly, and letting your medical lapse is a good way to avoid a fight with the FAA over whether or not you are fit to fly. If you fail your third-class medical, currently you cannot fly Light Sport. Light Sport rules require you to "self-declare" when you believe you are no longer fit to pilot an airplane.

2. 

   If you are planing on buying an airplane in the near future, the very next thing you need to do, regardless of how you got into Light Sport aviation, is to determine your budget and the general kind of airplane you want to fly.

   There are four basic kinds of Light Sport Airplanes:

   (1) All metal construction, just like the GA Cessna, Piper, Beechcraft and Mooney, to name a well known few. Most commercial jetliners are made from metal too.

   (2) Airplanes that are made from composite materials are gaining in popularity. These are materials like fiberglass and carbon fiber, very strong and durable materials. There are some new GA airplanes made from composites like Diamond, Cirrus, and some parts of the new Cessna Light Sport Skycatcher. Commercial airliners have also been incorporating more composite materials in their construction recently.

   (3) Tubing and Fabric are traditional airplane building materials, the tubing being the metal "skeleton" of the airplane, and the fabric being the "skin". The tubing is durable steel or aluminum chosen specifically for strength, resistance to corrosion, and its light weight. Cotton fabric has been used since the Wright brothers flew, but many fabrics are hi-tech materials that bear little resemblance to their ancestors.

   (4) Wood and Fabric are as traditional as you can get, and date back to the birth of aviation. The wood is selected for its strength, lightness, and resistance to rot and is the "skeleton", and the fabric is the "skin".

   The most expensive airplanes will be among the all metal and composite models, which commonly sell for $100,000 or more. The other end of the financial scale is occupied by an airplane that looks like an ultralight on steroids, like a FlightStar IICS for around $30,000, made from metal and composites. All the rest fall in between, with the imported composites occupying much of the upper end of the scale, and most all more than $65,000.

   The most durable type is all metal, the next are composites which are challenging all metal for top slot, tubing and fabric are next most durable, and wood and fabric bringing up the rear. No matter what materials your light sport airplane is made of, they have been manufactured to a very high standard, and they all offer a long and safe service life measured in decades, not just years, as long as the factory recommended maintenance requirements for the whole airplane are adhered to over its lifetime.

3. 

   If you are new to Light Sport aviation and require flight training, then you have to find a flight school that has Light Sport Aircraft on the flight line, available for training. See the link at the end of the article for a current list of flight schools that have the hardware and personnel to train you.

   A convenient way to sort out flight schools is according to the hardware they teach in. So you ask very simply, what aircraft do you teach in, what is it made of, does it have high-wing or low-wing? According to an informal voice vote I took among some local EAA members a few years back, if possible, learn to fly in the make and model of airplane you plan to buy, build or rent. This advice is echoed by many in the aviation industry.

   So if you want to purchase, rent or build a low-wing, all metal AMD Zodiac 650 LS, or one of its close cousins, try and find a school that at least trains in low-wing, all-metal airplanes. If you think you may want to buy a Cessna Skycatcher or a Jabiru, then try and find a flight school that trains in a high-wing, composite, or part metal and composite airplanes.

   As Light Sport is relatively new in the history of GA, you may not be able to find a convenient flight center with the exact make and model you are looking for. But there is never any harm in trying.

4. 

   Before you put your deposit down or take your first flight lesson, you should get a ride in a make and model close to the one you intend to train in, purchase or rent. When purchasing, reduce your list of aircraft to no more than four. It will take you a long time to research this so expect to put 40-100 hours into it before you have some decent clarity. The EAA has a great list of all Light Sport manufacturers which you can browse even without being a member, and Kitplanes Magazine has their annual review of all experimental aircraft which includes many Light Sport model, in the December issue.

   When you have done the research, which also includes going to the airplane sales website and downloading and reading as much as possible about the airplanes your are interested in, doing literally dozens of web searches for your make and model pilot reports, pilot tests and pilot reviews. You should also search the web for people building your make and model, or a close cousin, and read their build logs and blogs. The web is a great place to get well grounded in all things to do with Light Sport aviation.

   You can't do enough research before you buy, take flying lessons, build or rent. If you find the task daunting, reduce it to one step at a time and make it a game where you win when you have researched it to death, taken the test flights or your first lesson, and you are safely back on the ground basking in that high of leaving the earth and coming back safely. If you do not do all the research and prep work before you start buying, training, building or renting, you are very likely to make bad and potentially costly decisions that will work against your goal of being pleased about a plane of your choice.

5. 

   Regardless of your experience level in aviation, you should become a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), as they host a huge amount of information on their website regarding Light Sport aviation, both factory built and home built, and they were one of the organization that helped get Light Sport introduced to American aviation. Find a local chapter near you, look for the information at your local GA airport, they usually hold monthly meetings which you can attend before you become a member. You may very well run into some folks who have bought, are buying or building their own Light Spot airplane the same as or similar to the ones on your short list. You may get lucky and be able to get a ride in a Light Sport airplane to see if it meets your expectations.

6. 

   Buying aviation magazines like Plane & Pilot and Kitplanes, can help you keep up with the latest information about ready-to-fly and kit built Light Sport airplanes.

7. So there you have it. The basic to get you started on this exciting journey into Light Sport aviation. Take your time, enjoy your enthusiasm and share it with friends and family, and carefully thread your way thru all the makes and models and issues surrounding your airplanes on your short list. Then when you are ready, dive into flight training if you don't have a pilot certificate, or do some transition training if you already are an experienced pilot, or just go to the airport and hang out, ask as many questions as you can of folks that are already training, buying, building or renting Light Sport airplanes.

8. If you liked what you read, please scroll to the top of the article and click on one of the stars that match what you thought of it. You can also send the article to a friend if you like. Thanks for reading my article, I hope it was helpful.

Tips & Warnings

• Research, research, research and research Light Sport aviation and aircraft until you are full to the brim with useful information, and you thrown away the useless information you inevitably collect along the way while you are doing your due diligence.

• It has recently come to light that many light sport aircraft accident reports reveal that the pilots are experienced and they are having difficulty transitioning from GA airplanes to Light Sport airplanes. There are even very high time pilots involved in these accidents. The GA to Light Sport transition flight instruction time has mostly been minimal, just one or two hours, and it appears as a result, experienced pilots have been over or under reacting in these light aircraft when they are buffeted by high cross winds, or exhibit other instability in normal flight, that their much heavier GA cousin airplanes do not experience. The problem is rife, and the aviation insurance industry is going to require significant transition training for existing GA pilots, probably in the order of 5-10 hours, in order to reduce these accidents. There will be a lot of pilot egos hurt by this, but the accident rates should go down significantly. It has been said that it is easier to train a non-pilot to fly a Light Sport airplane than to transition a GA pilot to Light Sport. The GA pilots have a set way they "think" a plane should fly, and the Light Sport planes do not fly like GA airplanes, they are not unsafe, they are just lighter and fly differently.

Resources

• EAA List of Light Sport Aircraft
• EAA List of Light Sport Flight Schools
• Jabiru Light Sport Airplanes
• Cessna Skycatcher Light Sport Aircraft
• AMD Light Sport Aircraft
• Kitplanes Magazine - for the Light Sport builder
• Plane & Pilot Magazine has a Light Sport section
• Flightstar IISC - Much more than an ultralight on Steroids
• FAA - Light Sport Branch
• How to Legally Keep Flying Without a General Aviation Third-Class Medical Certificate
• How to Stretch Your Light Sport Airplane Dollars
• How to Build a Two-Place Light-Sport Airplane for $30,000 or less
• All eHow Articles by This Author - Brian Lewis