On Tue, 04 Jan 2005 06:12:42 GMT, (sleepy6) wrote:

Personally, my only reason to consider ELSA would be to avoid building
at least 51%. The restrictions and requirements associated with ELSA
would easily outweigh that benefit in my opinion.

The world has become a lot more impatient... in nearly every conventional
hobby, people want to buy more and do less. People buy ready-to-fly RC models,
no one builds their own stereos, those who build their own computers basically
just plug ready-to-run components together. ELSA kits won't appeal to those who
want to customize their planes, but might be a good cost-savings opportunity for
those who don't want to do a lot of work.

The aspect that intrigues me is the SLSA to ELSA conversion. The FAA says that
owners of SLSAs will be able to convert their planes to ELSAs. Once it's in
ELSA, the plane apparently no longer has to continue to conform to the consensus
standards (the FAA says one can do the conversion if one doesn't want to
implement a change required by the manufacturer).

One of the more common homebuilding questions come from guys who want to take a
stock Cessna, install an auto engine in it, and "license it as a homebuilt." As
we've discussed here many times, it's almost impossible to transfer such a plane
to the Experimental Amateur-Built category.

However, it looks to me that such a switchover WILL be possible, within ELSA.
You still won't be able to do it with a Standard category airplane, but you will
be able to buy a flying aircraft (new or used SLSA), put it into the
Experimental category (ELSA), and then perform whatever modifications you please
with no further limitations by the FAA. You'll even be able to rent it out,
until the permission to do so expires in 2010. You'll be able to maintain the
aircraft yourself, and, with the completion of that 16-hour course, be able to
sign off the annuals.

I don't know if that was the intent of the developers, it sure looks like it's a
result of the program....

Ron Wanttaja