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In the last month, I’ve received many calls and emails from more than a dozen flight schools. Here, I will try to reduce the confusion — and some alarm — regarding IFR (flying by instrument reference) and LSA.

ASTM’s F37 committee is comprised of people with technical knowledge and they have done the nearly-impossible: start with a blank sheet of paper and create aircraft certification standards for the LSA sector… in just five years, and on the leanest of budgets. These volunteers from many countries created a series of standards, one of which is the Design and Performance Standard. Following a positive vote by committee members, all have been accepted by FAA.
For more than three years another subcommittee has tried to create an IFR standard that has yet to find agreement. Until consensus may be found and to provide an interim defensive position for the committee and for manufacturers, F37 added a point to the revised but yet-to-be-accepted-by-FAA D&P Standard.

Recent government actions cast a shadow over the freedom enjoyed by the LSA community. When issuing the new rule in 2004, FAA relinquished direct involvement with aircraft certification in an admirable display of innovative experimentation. The new approach depends on industry consensus standards, often referred to as “ASTM standards,” to certify an aircraft. *** In May this year, FAA issued its Manufacturers Assessment report following the agency’s visit to 30 manufacturers or their U.S. importers (mostly the latter). The report is “tough love” in that it shows many ways the industry must improve… with an implied “or else” lurking in the margins. Top FAA and NTSB officials have publicly and repeatedly said they are generally satisfied with the safety record of this five-year-old industry. But many in FAA are accustomed to government having a significant oversight role in the manufacture of aircraft and that was upended with the LSA movement.