The Zenith CH 750 STOL is an example of a popular E/AB kit airplane that can be flown with a sport pilot certificate. [Photo: Zenith Aircraft].
Key Takeaways:
While new factory-built Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) have become expensive due to added features, building an experimental/amateur-built (E/AB) kit airplane offers a significantly more affordable path to recreational flying.
Zenith Aircraft, a leading kit manufacturer, specializes in easy-to-build, easy-to-fly designs suitable for first-time builders, offering potential cost savings of about 50% compared to factory-built LSA.
The total cost of a kit-built LSA is approximately three times the kit price, giving builders substantial control over component choices (e.g., engine, avionics) and overall expenses.
Builders receive extensive support through workshops, online communities, and organizations like EAA, with future market expansion for E/AB aircraft anticipated from the FAA's upcoming MOSAIC rewrite.
Back in 2004 when the FAA created the light sport regulations and the sport pilot certificate, it flooded the general aviation community with optimism that we’d soon see much more affordable GA airplanes coming to market. There was talk of many new models that could be bought brand new for under $100,000.
That was then, and this is now.
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Dan Pimentel is an instrument-rated private pilot and former airplane owner who has been flying since 1996. As an aviation journalist and photographer, he has covered all aspects of the general and business aviation communities for a long list of major aviation magazines, newspapers and websites. He has never met a flying machine that he didn’t like, and has written about his love of aviation for years on his Airplanista blog. For 10 years until 2019, he hosted the popular ‘Oshbash’ social media meetup events at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh.
