Arlington 2014

[mkoxxy]

On to more pleasant subjects:
Who is planning to come out to the EAA fly-in at Arlington this week?

Mark will of course be there with his eGull, and I will bring my fuselage
(no point in risking damage to the wing until ready to fly).

I will drive my (small, old) motor home from the Portland area on Wednesday
and have a seat available.

Martin

[blaswichk]

I will be there with my Gull 2000, and Don will have his JT there too, and maybe I can get Sal to drag his kinda ugly old JT out also. I’m looking forward to seeing Mark’s newest work on the eGull.

[75kr@att.net]

Mark,

Are you, anyone you are aware of, or organizations working on getting the FAA to approve the use of electric motors in light sport aircraft??? Approval sure would solve a lot of problems down this line. I feel that it was an oversight when setting up the light sport rules, of course it is time to correct that oversight.

Best Wishes,
Kevin

[earthstaraircraft]

Yes we are working on the approval of electric power for light sport.
The FAA said that the reason that light sport does not include electric power is because there is not enough information on the functionality and not enough history.
I am working out both of those areas by flying electric ultralights.
Happy Flying
Mark

Sent from my iPhone

[rmm_guam]

Mark..
For an E-AB Odyssey, which is an LSA class of aircraft, is electric flight allowed without any caveats or having to wait for FAA to include formally in the regulations? Please confirm.
RMM


---In Earthstar_Aircraft@yahoogroups.com, <thundergul@...> wrote :

Yes we are working on the approval of electric power for light sport.
The FAA said that the reason that light sport does not include electric power is because there is not enough information on the functionality and not enough history.
I am working out both of those areas by flying electric ultralights.
Happy Flying
Mark

[earthstaraircraft]

Any power plant is slowed in EAB
Happy Flying
Mark

Sent from my iPhone

[75kr@att.net]

Any power plant is allowed in Experimental Amateur Built (EAB), but if you want to fly that EAB under Light Sport rules i.e. using a drivers license and no medical certificate it must be powered by a reciprocating engine. The light sport rules don’t allow you to fly under light sport rules using an electric motor. You could fly it with a third class medical as an Experimental Amateur Built and an electric motor and no ultralight weight restriction either.

Kevin

[75kr@att.net]

The glaring fallacy here is that you can fly an electric powered airplane as an amateur built experimental but not if operating under light sport rules. That makes no sense. I think it was simply an oversight when writing the regulation. They didn’t want LSA pilots flying turbines so they wrote “reciprocating engines” into the regulation and never thought about electric. Seems to me that it would be an easy thing for the feds to fix; but I guess not.

Kevin

[rmm_guam]

Thanks Mark and Kevin..
I plan to use my Odyssey as a trainer for teenagers here who just don't have the means to pay $200 an hour for a C172. Charlie Becker from the EAA advised me that there will a guide coming out soon for setting up a shared-ownership / Flying Club using an E-AB aircraft. Charlier advised that the guide is written and in review now.

Seems Kevin is probably correct, unless someone has more details. If I understand correctly, with his Third Class Medical, my CFI can train in an electric Odyssey.

This is all future planning, but as my HKS has to sit a lot, its life will be shorter than if it was flown more regularly. Hence, my keen interest in budgeting for going electric in the future.

Thanks for the solid input to my question.
RMM

[earthstaraircraft]

I ment any power plant is allowed in EAB

Sent from my iPhone