I Am A LS-I

Ok, what the hell is a “LS-I”? Unless you are involved in aviation and especially Experimental Aircraft, you may not have heard of this. I just spent 16 hours in a weekend course on this topic, passed the final exam, and shortly I will have a FAA license that identifies me as a “LS-I”. What “LS-I” means is that I am a “Light Sport Aircraft Inspector” for my own personal Experimental Aircraft. This means that I am now authorized to inspect my experimental aircraft and determine the air worthiness status of this aircraft.

Many people build airplanes from scratch or kits and during the construction of their aircraft they spend a lot of time doing various tasks as part of the construction of the aircraft. Since these builders do the majority of the construction of the aircraft the FAA decided to declare that if you perform 51% of the work in the construction of your aircraft, as most home aircraft builders do, you have learned and developed enough skills and have become experienced enough to be able to repair and inspect your own aircraft. This will save an experimental aircraft own hundreds if not thousands of dollars each year in inspection and maintenance costs.

Yes, I have an Experimental Aircraft and I had bought mine as a kit. But this kit is different than most. This kit is not considered a 51% kit as the manufacturer, in their desire to make the overall aircraft safer and easier to build, has performed most of the construction prior to delivery. I did not experience tube cutting and bending, painting, bolt hole drilling, riveting and a dozen other tasks. Since I did not perform 51% of the construction, I was left in a limbo area because I am not allowed to perform my own inspection and maintenance.

Here is the real limbo problem. Most licensed and qualified aircraft mechanics work on planes that are familiar to them. My ultralight, being so different from what normal aircraft mechanics work on, most will refuse to accept the job.

Aircraft mechanics and automobile mechanics are quite different. If an automobile mechanic does not put a spark plug back in correctly and the spark plug fails, at most you will be stuck on the side of the road waiting for a tow truck. If an aviation mechanic fails to put the spark plug back in properly and it fails in flight, the resulting failure could cause the engine to stop resulting in a crash landing which could kill the pilot and passengers. Therefore, aircraft mechanics need to be qualified and certified to do the job, plus they need to sign the repair job as completed properly. In the event of a failure the aircraft mechanic can be held legally liable for the damages if they resulted from a poor or incomplete job.

Now back to this class I took. My experimental aircraft, like all other aircraft, needs to have an annual inspection. But, since my aircraft is an experimental aircraft and most aircraft mechanics will not touch my aircraft, I would be left with an aircraft I cannot fly because I cannot get it inspected.

Somebody at the FAA came up with a good idea (Maybe it wasn’t the FAA’s idea but they approved it). There are classes being offered, in which I just attended one, that teaches you how to properly inspect and document this inspection for your own personal aircraft. Do not judge too quickly. This inspection is not a quick look over of the aircraft. This inspection on my experimental aircraft will take about 3 or 4 hours to complete not including the documentation needed to support this inspection. Not a simple inspection.

Now after spending 16 hours in classroom lectures and practical applications, passing a written test (80% needed to pass), I have been are awarded a certificate that can be used at the local FAA Flight Standards District Office (FSDO) to obtain a FAA “Light Sport – Inspection” license.

The course was fun and hard, and I learned a lot of things. I made some new friends and found new places to fly. The weekend was well worth the money spent, no only in the savings for the inspection and repair costs, but in the personal satisfaction with my completion.