On Fri, 23 Sep 2005 14:18:27 GMT, Ernest Christley wrote:

Evan Carew wrote:
AINut wrote:
Replace that $15,000 for the engine with less than $5,000 for engine
and prop if you use auto engines and build the PSRU yourself.

We are talking about a commercially built & sold unit here.

rec.aviation.HOMEBUILT

No, you misunderstood Evan's comment. He was participating in a discussion
about the manufacturing costs of *production* LSA aircraft. The manufacturer of
an SLSA cannot use the approach AINut suggested, unless they do the work to
ensure the engine conforms to the consensus standard.

Once a buyer PURCHASES that production LSA, they can remove the engine, replace
it with an auto-engine/PSRU combination, and get the airplane re-certified as an
Experimental Light Sport. But production or experimental, at the time an LSA
receives its airworthiness certificate, it *must* have a conforming engine
installed. So the ELSA owner ends up with two engines.

I expect some workarounds might be possible...the manufacturer could arrange to
buy back the delivered engine and repeat the process. It could be like that old
movie "Skin Game," where the manufacturer delivers an SLSA with a conforming
engine, buys the engine back, and installs it in another newly-produced SLSA to
be sold to another person intending an ELSA conversion.

Ron Wanttaja