"Gezellig" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:53:23 -0500, Peter Dohm wrote:

Based upon my belief
that the LSA standard will form the basis of the next new training fleet,
and I remain disgusted by those standards! I believe that the weight
limit
should have been at least 750Kg instead of 600Kg, the maximum cruising
speed
should have been at least 130Kts instead of 120Kts, and that the
standards
should have amended as needed to include the maximum number of type
certificates already owned by US manufacturers for w seat aircraft.

Peter
Comment as requested

Peter, why those numbers? I agree but would appreciate your additional
comments.

Actually, part of it is because I goofed. I should have said 800Kg for the
weight--because I wanted my weight to include the common existing basic
trainers, such as the 152 and Tomahawk which actually weigh about 760Kg.
The other big problem with the weight is that it still seems to press the
limits of the available materials, so that many of the LSA aircraft are
forced to use a lot of carbon fiber in an effort to give a practical usefull
load--and even then it is not enough because so many of the pilots who have
a problem medical certification are overweight. Therefore, I strongly
suspect that a large proportion of LSA aircraft are simply operated over
gross.

I also have two problems with the speed range allowed. First, I fail to see
any good reason that an entry level aircraft should not deliver a practical
speed for travel. The second is safety--the slower an aircraft lands and
takes off, the less crosswind it can usually tolerate.

In addition to my personal belief in nationalism, it would have been so much
simpler to just create the Light Sport Pilot classification to cover 2 seat
aircraft that are neither complex nor high performance. That would have
allowed the development of a far more capable class of LSA--and one free
from the poor initial accident record tat we have experienced.

Peter