LSAs Can Handle the Long Legs of an ‘Earthrounder’ Flight

Pilots have circled the globe several times in modified aircraft.

Friday, May 06, 2022 at 09:08 AM ET

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Pilots from Sling Aircraft factory fly a heavily-modified Sling 2 LSA on their 2009 earthrounder flight. [Courtesy: Sling]

Key Takeaways:

Light Sport Aircraft (LSAs) are generally considered unsuitable for round-the-world flights due to their limited fuel capacity for long over-ocean legs.
Despite this, Sling Aircraft successfully completed two global circumnavigations in heavily modified LSAs (in 2009 and 2015), demonstrating the feasibility.
These successful LSA earthrounder missions, including Zara Rutherford's record-setting flight, were achieved through significant fuel tank modifications, meticulous flight planning, and the exceptional fuel efficiency of Rotax engines.

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If you go on the Earthrounders.com website and search for completed globe circumnavigations by single-engine aircraft, you will see plenty of Cessna Caravans, Pilatus PC-12s, Beech Bonanzas, Mooneys, and Piper Saratogas, Cherokee Sixes, and Malibus. With their massive useful loads, these airplanes were able to easily tanker the extra fuel needed to safely transition the longest over-ocean legs of such a journey.

What you will not see are very many light sport airplanes.