The Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association (LAMA) is making progress with the FAA on its combined efforts with the United States Ultralight Association (USUA) on the implementation of proposed industry objectives. Five of the LAMA and USUA goals are now included in the FAA’s present actions, including allowing special light-sport aircraft (LSA) to perform aerial work, permitting electric propulsion and instruction in aircraft designed for such motors, and increasing the gross weight of LSA.
Additional objectives include the introduction of safety benefits associated with adjustable propellers controlled solely by a single lever and solving the problem surrounding the requirement for gyroplanes to be built only as kits, which prevents commercial training.
LAMA and USUA have worked together over the last four-and-a-half years to develop the stated initiatives but according to LAMA, rulemaking is expected to take at least three to five years before approval and implementation. “LAMA has always assumed that even if rulemaking followed, it was worthwhile to pursue alternatives,” said Dan Johnson, president and chairman of the board of LAMA. “A 14-year-old industry does not want to wait five years or more for even the best-sounding regulations to be fully implemented.”
In an effort to provide an interim solution, LAMA and USUA have submitted a business case for a program that will allow the objectives to be exercised before the rulemaking is complete. “The program we proposed is an evaluation and data-gathering period that will give FAA precisely what managers and executives say they need to make regulation change,” said USUA president Roy Beisswenger. “Our program can help industry and pilots, but it will also help the FAA.”
LAMA said it has sought and received support from organizations, including EAA, AOPA, and GAMA. “Assuming the FAA pursues these plans as they indicated, industry businesses might have new opportunities in the near- and medium-term,” said Beisswenger. “This early success at reaching our goal drives us even harder.”
