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10/05/06 - NEW ASTM STANDARD CLEARS PATH FOR E-LSA KITS
A newly created ASTM standard will clear the way for light-sport aircraft (LSA) manufacturers to produce experimental LSA (E-LSA) kits once it is published in the Federal Register. The standard, F2563, Practice for Kit Assembly Instructions of Aircraft Intended Primarily for Recreation, was developed by ASTM International Committee F37/Cross-Cutting Issues. It details the instructions an LSA kit producer must provide regarding how to assemble and safely flight-test an E-LSA to ensure compliance with ASTM standards.
According to Sub-Committee Chairman Scott Toland, “E-LSA kits must include an assembly manual that conforms to this standard for the aircraft to be eligible for an airworthiness certificate. Aircraft kit producers will use this standard to write their assembly instructions, which will in turn be used by consumers.”
Assembly instructions will indicate the necessary mechanical skills and training required to successfully complete an aircraft kit. The instructions also must include all the necessary tools, fixtures, inspections, measurements, and other pertinent required items. Without proof of compliance with this standard, aircraft users may not be able to obtain necessary flight authorizations.
“This is just one more step to having a standards in place for all LSA options, from kits to readily available aircraft,” said EAA’s Earl Lawrence, chairman of ASTM’s LSA consensus standards committee. “We thank Scott Toland for his hard work as leader of this subcommittee.”
Toland added that while the standard is now completed, participation is always welcome on the subcommittee. “We will particularly encourage consumer feedback about the standard when the assembly instructions get used,” says Toland. “That may show us ways to make the standard better.”
Before any LSA manufacturer may sell an E-LSA kit, it must complete one aircraft and earn special LSA (S-LSA) approval for that model. At this time it is not known when the standard will be published in the Federal Register, thereby making it official.
For a copy of the standard or information about participating on the ASTM Committee, visit www.astm.org, call 610-832-9585, or e-mail service@astm.org. For more information about LSA, visit EAA’s sport pilot website at www.sportpilot.org. | 
