LSA Joint Safety Committee Meets at Sebring

January 21, 2010 — The first meeting of the Light Sport - Joint Safety Committee of the GA-Joint Steering Committee convened prior to the Sebring U.S. Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring, Florida. EAA Government and Advocacy Specialist David Oord, who serves as co-chair of the Joint Safety Committee, reports that the inaugural meeting was well attended by the FAA and industry.

“We identified a number of safety issues relating to light-sport aircraft and formed groups to work on solutions,” Oord said. “The committee continues and maintains the industry/FAA partnership.”

Also at Sebring, the ASTM F-37 Committee on Light-Sport Aircraft convened prior to the Expo. Action included:

• An auditing standard developed by a group of industry experts was presented. The standard now will go to the committee for approval.
• Two new standards were discussed, one for electric propulsion - for the future of electric-powered light-sport aircraft – and a quality assurance standard.
• The FAA gave a presentation on the Zodiac 601XL aircraft, indicating that the report and data will be out shortly. FAA management also attended Sebring to meet with manufacturers of light-sport aircraft.
• Representatives from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) addressed the meeting