On Sun, 1 Feb 2009 19:22:42 -0500, Peter Dohm wrote:

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 attended Sebring and got to talk to a lot of LSA manufacturers. Nearly
everyone of them had to admit that working under the wgt limits was a
"challenge". Carbon was everywhere but the long term integrity
discussions about it weren't. Translation: Gorilla in the room.

Then to highlight, we had the LSA crash and ""Unfortunately accidents
happen"

http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/RemosLSACrashesAtExpo_199651-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS

http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum...ad.php?t=26982