Van’s Aircraft Delivers First Next-Gen Light-Sport Aircraft
By EAA Staff
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The MOSAIC aircraft certification rules introduced a year ago at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh are beginning to bear fruit, as the delivery of a Van’s RV-12 at this year’s EAA fly-in convention marks the opening of a new Sport Pilot 2.0 era for recreational aviation.
The MOSAIC aircraft certification rules introduced a year ago at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh are beginning to bear fruit, as the delivery of a Van’s RV-12 at this year’s EAA fly-in convention marks the opening of a new Sport Pilot 2.0 era for recreational aviation.
“When Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy unveiled the MOSAIC rules at Oshkosh in 2025, it heralded tremendous possibilities for light aircraft, flight training, and pilot certification,” said Jack J. Pelton, EAA CEO and chairman of the board. “With the FAA’s publishing on July 24 of amended rules for the design, manufacture, airworthiness certification, operation, maintenance, and alteration of light-sport category aircraft, this year’s AirVenture was the perfect place to bring that language into reality.”
The RV-12 delivered to Tom Snow, EAA Lifetime 161308, of Signal Mountain, Tennessee, is the first of the model to be built at the Van’s Aircraft facility in Oregon in compliance with the MOSAIC rules. It creates new possibilities for updating flight training fleets and aircraft that are also legal to fly in instrument conditions. It was developed under ASTM International consensus standards that enabled new 14 CFR Part 22 light-sport aircraft category certifications.
EAA led the effort for MOSAIC rule development over a 10-year period, seeing it as the next step in the evolution of aircraft certification for recreational aircraft. Built on the success of the 2004 sport pilot/light-sport aircraft rule, MOSAIC uses ASTM International consensus standards to enlarge the light-sport aircraft category and give pilots more options to fly sport-pilot eligible aircraft.
“There is so much potential under these just-published standards,” Jack said. “One phrase that comes immediately to mind is ‘increased access’ — to new aircraft designs, to updated flight training fleets, and to more opportunities for pilots who choose to fly under sport pilot regulations. That is what EAA envisioned with its decade-long leadership in MOSAIC, as part of our organization’s mission to increase participation in aviation.”
MOSAIC enlarges the light-sport aircraft category, as it leaves untouched the foundation of all light-sport aircraft delivered since the 2004 introduction of the category.
More information regarding MOSAIC is available at EAA.org/MOSAIC.
