Hm, wonder what this would mean?

[Rich]

At the AOPA confab this weekend, this has been released:

Baker invited Jack Pelton, EAA chairman and CEO, onto the stage. On Jan. 19, 2019, Pelton said, the FAA will publish a notice of proposed rulemaking that seeks to raise the weight limit for light sport aircraft from the current 1,320 pounds to 3,600 pounds. “That will allow you to fly in a 172, have four seats in the airplane, and fly 150 mph,” said Pelton, who also anticipates a rule change that would allow professional builders to construct experimental amateur-built aircraft.

[pilotmichael]

They've been talking about bumping it to 1650 pounds to match the European Light Sport standards so this is a little out of nowhere. I'm wondering if someone typoed something (or made a conversion error - 1650kg to lbs). It would be great news if true. I'll wait and see exactly what the FAA says though.

[TimS]

No, it has been confirmed on avweb and AOPA.
3600lbs was the stated number.

Tim

[Rich]

It is an interesting coincidence that 1650 kg is just about equal to 3600 lb. Perhaps a misspeak on the part of Pelton. 3600 lb is a heck of a leap. I think it includes every single-engine type I've ever flown. There are other limitations on LSA's that presumably would also need to be lifted/increased to make this realistic.

[Rick]

The article I read said they kept a 100 HP and 150 MPH (not kts!) limitations, so I'm not sure how that squares with the "...you can fly a 172..." part of the statement. I guess we'll have to wait for the official announcement in January to find out what is really going on.

[pilotmichael]

No, it has been confirmed on avweb and AOPA.
3600lbs was the stated number.
Tim

Both infallible press sources... I'm going to contain my excitement until I hear it directly from the FAA. There is nothing light or sporty about 3600 pounds so that has me skeptical.

[Rich]

My guess is the real story is, if anything, they're targeting those "almost" LSA's out there. Additional ercoupes and unconverted old cessna 150's (which had a 1650 lb GW), for example.

[Colin]

There was some LSA that had that 150mph limit at 70% throttle. A friend kept asking the salesman at a fly-in, "What does it do at redline?" and the salesman just wouldn't play. He kept repeating, "We are at the maximum LSA speed at 70% throttle...."

[Rich]

The current limit is not 150 MPH. The various stuff that currently limits LSA's:

Max. Gross Takeoff Weight 1,320 lbs (1,430 lbs for seaplanes)
Max. Stall Speed 51 mph / 45 knots CAS
Max. Speed in Level Flight (VH) 138 mph / 120 knots CAS
Seats Two (max.)
Engines / Motors One (max. if powered.)
Propeller Fixed-pitch or ground adjustable
Cabin Unpressurized
Landing Gear Fixed (except for seaplanes and gliders)

So simply raising MTOW doesn't fulfill what is most probably an irrationally exuberant proclamation by Mr. Pelton.

[pilotmichael]

Here is my guess for the new SLSA/ELSA rule:

Gross Weight: 1650 lbs
Max Speed Level Flight: 150 mph / 130 kots
Make accommodations for electric propulsion
Everything else the same (2 seats, etc, maybe they look at stall speed)

The only thing keeping me from going SLSA has been that they needed a few hundred more pounds of gross weight. It's way too light right now. This would solve that for me. More speed would be great too...