The era of the light sport aircraft is here, and pilots are working hard to understand what, if anything, it means to them. The 452-page rule that the FAA put into law last fall is a complex one, to be sure, defining a whole new category that encom-passes a number of very different types of flying machines. As far as fixed-wing airplanes are concerned, pilots probably will soon learn to refer to LSAs as either experimental light sport aircraft (E-LSAs) or special light sport aircraft (S-LSAs), which is an important distinction. Technically, the Flight Designs CT, one of the first of the new breed, is an S-LSA, so you can buy one ready to fly. Complicated nomenclature notwithstanding, pilots will no doubt soon start referring to it, and others like it, simply as an airplane.
I got the chance to fly a CT late last year as it was awaiting delivery to one of the type's first customers. The CT is being imported into the United States by FlightStar, an Ellington, Connecticut, company that has been designing and building the popular FlightStar line of light sport aircraft (experimental and ultralight) for more than 20 years. The company's owner and president Tom Peghiny has been working for years to help create the category, and he served on the FAA/industry advisory council that drafted the rules behind LSA. (See sidebar.)
Even before the advent of LSA, the CT was already a certified airplane, having earned approval in the U.K. and Germany (where it was designed and originally built). Because of its existing certification status, the CT was eligible for reciprocal LSA certification. The airplane's major components are now built in Ukraine and imported into the United States by FlightStar, which installs the engine and instruments and assembles the airframe. More than 300 CTs are flying around the world.
I'd been reading and writing about the new category for years, so I was curious to see what a real live LSA was all about. My big question was, could designers work within the limitations of the new category and still come up with an airplane that was more than a fly-around-the-patch-on-a-sunny-summer-weekend flier and deliver an airplane that feels and flies like, well, an airplane?
This is what I was wondering as I flew in the SR22 from Westchester County Airport to Windham (IJD) in central Connecticut to go flying in the CT. It was a cold late fall day with strong gusty winds and ceilings not much above VFR minimums. There was also, as you might expect, a good deal of mechanical turbulence to deal with around the otherwise pretty New England hills and dales.
