Light Sport Aircraft (LSA)

U.S. category introduced in 2004 under the FAA. LSA is similar to the Canadian advanced ultralight category. There is a new CS-LSA category in European Union, which is simillar to the US E-LSA.

Basic definition of the category can be found on: What is a Light-Sport Aircraft? on sportpilot.org.

Licence needed for LSA flying

Pilot must own a sport pilot licence, which has following restrictions ¹:

• cant carry  more than one passenger
• VFR day - daytime flight only (civil twilight is used to define day/night)
• cant fly above 10,000 feet (3,000 m) MSL (sea level height) or 2,000 feet (610 m) AGL (above ground level), whichever is higher
• no flight in any of the airspace classes that require radio communication (A, B, C, D) without first obtaining additional instruction and instructor endorsement

FAA certified LSA models

There is a list of FAA certified models.

References

[1] Pilot certification in the United States

[2] Sport pilot rule synopsis