SportFlying.aero

A light-sport aircraft is larger than an ultralight and smaller than most private-aviation aircraft. It borrows from both types, offering simplicity with safety. It's a low-performance, low-energy aircraft limited to two occupants (pilot and passenger). It's absolute fun!

The FAA has been working with the aircraft industry and trade groups for more than three years to come up with a new category of aircraft (and pilots) to meet an expanding need. People want to fly simple aircraft for about the cost of other recreational vehicles. The new rules could carry over to, and eventually change, other pilot certificates and aircraft manufacturing. For now, it's a bold new step that will dramatically impact general aviation for many years.

The best way to define light-sport aircraft is to list their limits. Here's how the FAA defines the limits of LSAs:

• 1,320 lbs. (599 kg.) maximum certified gross weight (1,430 lbs. if float equipped)
• Two-occupant seating (pilot and one passenger)
• Single, nonturbine engine only
• Fixed-pitch or ground adjustable propeller (not adjustable while flying)
• Maximum cruise airspeed of 138 mph) (120 knots) and stall speed of 51 mph (45 knots)
• Fixed (not retractable) landing gear
• Unpressurized cabin

Wing Tips

You are permitted to have landing gear that can be "repositioned" if your plane is equipped with floats to operate on land and water.

It's that simple. The limits were determined by the rules that restrict what a sport pilot may fly. These limits resulted in what many sport pilots were asking for: a simple airplane. In the 1930s and 1940s a number of manufacturers came out with simple aircraft, names that are legends such as Cessna, Piper, Taylorcraft, and Aeronca. They flew "low and slow." Planes then became more and more complex, leaving the idea of a simple aircraft behind. Fortunately, flying is returning to its roots—and adding a little pizzazz. LSAs fly at twice the highway speed. Let's take a closer look at the most important of the limits.

Weight Limit →