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:

LAMA, USUA, and Jonathan Scott are lobbying the FAA to expand the severely restricted aerial work applications for Light Sport Aircraft (LSAs) in the U.S., citing their fuel efficiency and widespread use in other countries.
Extensive testing by Scott and the USDA demonstrates LSAs' cost-effectiveness and efficiency for aerial tasks like mapping and observation, significantly outperforming drones and larger aircraft in terms of speed, fuel savings, and reduced emissions.
The LSA industry anticipates the upcoming FAA MOSAIC regulatory rewrite will broaden allowable aerial work applications, opening new economic opportunities, increasing sales, and creating jobs, while distinguishing aerial work from passenger/cargo commercial uses.

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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: