(December 2011) October’s column discussed training in a light-sport aircraft for the private rating. Briefly, if the LSA is equipped for night VFR and if the manufacturer states so in the POH, you can do all of your training for the rating in the airplane. Upon learning this, I naturally wondered if, after receiving said private rating, one could log training time toward an instrument rating in an LSA. Turns out it’s possible in a properly equipped LSA, but the requirements the airplane has to meet are more complicated than those for the private rating. Not only does the LSA have to be night VFR equipped and said to be so by the manufacturer, but it must also have a certified engine in some cases (Rotax requires it to have the certified 912 F or S engine) and the required instrumentation for instrument flight as outlined in the FARs.
Which brings us to another important point of clarification. Though flying an LSA that meets the above requirements within the IFR system is OK, it should not be confused with flying the LSA into actual IMC, for which LSAs are not designed. ASTM standards do not exist for IFR instruments, lightning protection, high-
intensity radiated fields (HIRF) protection or other required design aspects of standard category aircraft to meet IFR certification requirements.
