Will MOSAIC Allow LSAs To Do More?

The industry has lobbied the FAA to allow light sport aircraft to perform more aerial work tasks.

Dan Pimentel

Friday, May 20, 2022 at 08:52 AM ET

Verified

Fred Gomez with USDA mounts a camera under a Pipistrel Sinus MotorGlider. [Photo: Jonathan Scott]

Key Takeaways:

Organizations like LAMA and USUA, alongside researcher Jonathan Scott, are actively lobbying the FAA to expand the limited "for-hire" aerial work applications currently allowed for Light Sport Aircraft (LSAs) in the U.S.
LSAs are highly fuel-efficient and cost-effective, making them suitable for various aerial tasks such as photography, patrols, and wildfire spotting, a capability already widely utilized in other countries.
Testing, including work with the USDA, demonstrates LSAs' superior efficiency and affordability, capable of mapping vast areas significantly faster and cheaper than drones or larger aircraft.
The upcoming FAA MOSAIC regulatory rewrite offers a critical opportunity to broaden LSA aerial work in the U.S., promising economic benefits, reduced emissions, and new industry opportunities.

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In a 2016 white paper “Aerial Work for Light-Sport Aircraft,” the Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association (LAMA) in conjunction with the United States Ultralight Association (USUA) made a strong case that light sport aircraft are ideal for many types of aerial work, such as:

aerial photography
pipeline patrols
search and rescue
crop spraying
wildfire spotting

The fuel efficiency of LSAs is a major factor in these types of aircraft now being used worldwide for many aerial work applications. However, in the United States, LSAs currently are severely limited in what “aerial work” they can do, with the only “for hire” uses of an LSA today being: