The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Light-Sport Aircraft (F-37) committee met in Kansas City, Missouri, May 7-9, 2003 for a series of general committee meetings and various subcommittees as well. I had never been to Kansas City before and was impressed by the architecture of the buildings and some impressive monuments.

On the first night there were task group meetings, which are less formal than official subcommittee meetings, and are used to create the basic outlines of documents and bring out differences prior to when actual balloting takes place.

The task group meeting on the new standard for Spark Ignition Reciprocating Engines had already started when we arrived and the discussion was very serious. The major items were the use of single ignitions on Special (certified) 2-place Light-Sport Aircraft (LSA) airplanes, and whether FAR Part 33-certified engines (new and used, and it’s not as simple as it sounds) can be employed on Special (certified) LSA airplanes. Please note that the powered parachute committee has decided not to require an engine to meet an ASTM standard and that an Experimental Light-Sport Aircraft can use any engine you want. The subcommittee did meet later in session and voted on the proposed changes, which are now up for vote by the overall committee.

There was initiation of a subcommittee, headed up by BRS, to create standards for ballistically deployed safety parachutes, and another subcommittee to create standards for LSA propellers. These items were not required under FAA’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, but have been requested by industry to give guidelines for supplying Special (certified) Light-Sport Aircraft. These are called "crosscutting committees" as the equipment will be used on all LSA-type aircraft.

The weight-shift (trike) committee (F-37.40), chaired by Scott Toland, is making progress on developing FAA-required standards for that part of the sport. An interesting note, Toland had voted negative on our .20 (fixed-wing) standards. Toland requested that the name Light-Sport Airplane be changed to Light-Sport Aircraft, Airplane. The overall committee thought he was right and changed the name.

As of May ’03, the powered parachute committee (F-37.30), headed by Jim Stephenson, has finished its basic work and has the standards in place to meet the FAA NPRM requirements. Stephenson has now moved on to developing a standard for items that must be delivered with all LSA Special (certified) Aircraft, such as pilot flight manuals and other documentation.

Greg Gremminger, chairman of the gyroplane committee (F-37.50), continues to single-handedly organize and represent the gyroplane community for an ASTM standard. There is reason to believe that FAA will eventually include gyroplanes in the LSA category. Gremminger is a champion of the less-is-more ideology in general committee voting, and always pushes that philosophy in discussions.

At FAA’s request, the U.S. Hang Gliding Association (USHGA) has created a subcommittee to create standards for Tandem Hang Gliding and Tandem Paragliding. They named their committee the FAR 103-compliant vehicle committee, which may seem like a mouthful to some, but gets to the point that they are operating aircraft that are fully compliant with FAR Part 103 requirements.

The Light-Sport Aircraft, Airplane committee had several subcommittee meetings and some or all of the previously mentioned items were discussed. In the NPRM, FAA required us to develop guidance documents for design and performance, quality assurance, continued airworthiness and production acceptance.

To date we have completed balloting on our first standard, the quality assurance, which is a good first step to getting the others done prior to the hoped-for official announcement date at AirVenture ’03 in July.

The design and performance standard, arguably the more difficult and diverse standard across the whole LSA spectrum, went through a lot of discussion on the rewrite of the load section (the key portion of the standard) done by Tom Price of Quicksilver. He had offered a more precise manner to do a load calculation, which is more accurate and more complicated. Price had also kept a very simple path in the text to follow where most of the calculations are done for you, but it was not balloted with the other changes. This created a little firestorm of negative votes and sentiment until he made a very professional Powerpoint presentation and the changes passed the balloting. The system does create balance by forcing groups to work out differences to allow the documents to go forward.

The Continued Operation Safety Monitoring standard (COSM), which covers how manufacturers will determine what is a service difficulty or a hazardous situation, went forward as well for the next round of balloting. The biggest item that came from several different sources was a caveat that keeps manufacturers from creating nuisance Airworthiness Directives (ADs) to drum up business. Personally, I think the lack of ADs in this business is a bigger problem than too many, but both FAA and Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) proposed the wording.

At FAA’s request, USHGA has included a stand-alone section for the towing of motorless aircraft (hang gliders, ultralight sailplanes and LSA, gliders). We welcome the addition of this activity to our committee.

As this issue goes to press at the end of May, the next round of balloting will begin in early June and we hope to adjudicate all of the negative comments in a manner that will help the standard be finished prior to July ’03. We would like the administrator to have a complete package to refer to when she finally announces a regulatory path for people to follow to participate in flying Light-Sport Aircraft.

The creation of the Light-Sport Aircraft category is a unique opportunity for the sport of recreational flying. This will be the first time that all the parts will be in place for our industry - a simple license for operating simple light airplanes, an appropriate certification standard for selling ready-to-fly aircraft, and improved access to financing and insurance.

FAA has given our industry the opportunity to shape the future of our sport. We believe that developing the standards with the help of ASTM will increase both international acceptance and the quality of our products.

Tom Peghiny (USUA 946) has been around the sport flying community for 30 years, first as a hang glider pilot, then a powered fixed-wing pilot and now as the manufacturer of the Flightstar line of ultralights. Peghiny also imports 60-hp HKS 700E 4-cycle engines from Japan under the company name HPower, and imports the composite fixed-wing CT. Tom chairs the ASTM LSA fixed-wing committee (F-37.20), and has several prestigious awards, including the 2001 USUA Moody Award, 2002 EAA Hall of Fame inductee, and Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association President’s Award, 1998.