{"id":4891,"date":"1999-12-28T12:11:02","date_gmt":"1999-12-28T18:11:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.texas-flyer.com\/newblog\/?p=4891"},"modified":"2023-11-22T12:12:09","modified_gmt":"2023-11-22T18:12:09","slug":"faq-aircraft-types_","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.texas-flyer.com\/newblog\/?p=4891","title":{"rendered":"FAQ – Aircraft types_"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
Question:\u00a0<\/span>What’s the difference between an ultralight, an Experimental LSA, a Special LSA, Experimental\/Amateur Built and a General Aviation aircraft?<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\n\n\n\n
Answer:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

The FAA has very specific descriptions of what makes up each type of aircraft. \u00a0But it’s more than that… there is also the concept of how a particular type of aircraft became that way. \u00a0I’ll try to make this as short and succinct as possible, which means I won’t get every detail right, but will cover enough to give you a feel for it.
\n<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

The Ultralight (UL)<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Weighing no more than 254 pounds, the true ultralight should be a single-seat air vehicle that flies no faster than 55 knots (63 mph), and have no more than 5 gallons of gas on board. Here’s a good summary<\/a> of the FAA rules that describe ultralights.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

The Light Sport Aircraft (LSA)<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

The LSA is a 2-seat aircraft, weighing no more than 1320 pounds, and flies no faster than 120 knots (138 mph). \u00a0There are many other requirements, and you can read them\u00a0here<\/a>.\u00a0 To fly one, the minimum level of training you need is to be a Sport Pilot.
\n<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

The Experimental LSA (E-LSA)<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

The definition above applies to the E-LSA, but what differentiates it is how it becomes an E-LSA. \u00a0There are 3 ways for an aircraft to become an Experimental LSA:<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\u2666 convert from a 2-seat UL trainer (no longer available)
\n<\/strong>\u2666 build it from a kit provided by an authorized manufacturer
\n<\/strong>\u2666 “downgrade” an S-LSA to an E-LSA<\/strong>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

The conversion process is unavailable at this point, since the deadline of January 31, 2008 has passed. \u00a0But, it’s important to know about this only because if you decide to buy an E-LSA in the future, you should ask if it was a converted 2-seat UL trainer or downgraded from an S-LSA. \u00a0A converted E-LSA is likely to be much less expensive than other E-LSAs and a LOT<\/i> cheaper than S-LSAs.\u00a0 I would advise you inspect these aircraft very closely before purchasing.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

The type of E-LSA that will become more and more common as time passes will be the kit-built E-LSA.\u00a0 There are more kits available now than ever before so there is a lot of information you can discover on the Web. These kits can be built by you or anyone else and must be built to the exact specification of the manufacturer. \u00a0After the kit gets its airworthiness certificate, you can then modify it, in the true meaning of ‘experimental’.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

In certain situations, the Special-LSA (S-LSA) can be downgraded to an E-LSA, but it can only be done once, and once an E-LSA, it will always be an E-LSA. Why would the owner of an S-LSA want to “downgrade” to E-LSA?\u00a0 T<\/span><\/b>he E-LSA can be modified to your heart’s delight, as long as it doesn’t violate the rules as to what an LSA is. \u00a0Also, if you take a 16-hour repairman course, you can do the annual condition inspection yourself, thus saving lots of money each year.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

The Special LSA (S-LSA)<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

The S-LSA is the most similar to a General Aviation (GA) aircraft because it is built at the factory by professional builders and certified there before you ever see it. \u00a0You also need to treat it much like a GA aircraft in that, you can only perform basic maintenance, but it needs to be inspected once a year by an FAA-certified A&P mechanic. \u00a0While that may be fine for many pilots — especially those that aren’t very mechanically minded or someone who simply likes someone else doing the work — some pilots may not like that restriction. In that case, they are allowed to “downgrade” their aircraft to an E-LSA. \u00a0It’s a one-shot deal; you can’t reverse it, and it will forever remain an E-LSA after that point. \u00a0The advantage is, though, that you will be able to do all the maintenance on it yourself, and, with a 16-hour repairman course, you’ll be able to give it the annual condition inspection yourself.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

The General Aviation (GA) aircraft<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

The GA aircraft is pretty much what you already know of as a “light aviation” aircraft: \u00a0Cessna, Piper, and Mooney, are examples of the typical GA aircraft. \u00a0As the owner, you may perform basic maintenance, but the annual inspection must be performed by an A&P with inspection authorization.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

The Experimental\/Amateur Built (E\/AB) aircraft<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

The E\/AB aircraft are also commonly known as “experimental aircraft”. \u00a0They differ from the E-LSA only because they aren’t nearly as limited in weight or speed as the E-LSA. \u00a0The other restriction is that only the original builder of the E\/AB can inspect the aircraft, or, an A&P can inspect it.<\/span><\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question:\u00a0What’s the difference between an ultralight, an Experimental LSA, a Special LSA, Experimental\/Amateur Built and a General Aviation aircraft? Answer:\u00a0\u00a0 The FAA has very specific descriptions of what makes up each type of aircraft. \u00a0But it’s more than that… there is also the concept of how a particular type of aircraft became that way. \u00a0I’ll … Continue reading FAQ – Aircraft types_<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faq"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.texas-flyer.com\/newblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.texas-flyer.com\/newblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.texas-flyer.com\/newblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.texas-flyer.com\/newblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.texas-flyer.com\/newblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4891"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.texas-flyer.com\/newblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4892,"href":"https:\/\/www.texas-flyer.com\/newblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4891\/revisions\/4892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.texas-flyer.com\/newblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.texas-flyer.com\/newblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.texas-flyer.com\/newblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}