Wow! New MOSAIC rules.

[ironnerd]

I reviewed the tables and came away with one point.
► Light Sport Crop Dusting!

[Ernie]

This all sounds wonderful, but I wonder - how does a light sport manufacturer deal with the legal liability quagmire? EAB you build, the liability is mostly yours. So, I decide to banner tow with a light sport, and it turns out not have the power at the DA and stalls and I crash. The family sues. How does the defense work? Or a hundred other scenarios?

Ernie

[rwanttaja]

This all sounds wonderful, but I wonder - how does a light sport manufacturer deal with the legal liability quagmire? EAB you build, the liability is mostly yours. So, I decide to banner tow with a light sport, and it turns out not have the power at the DA and stalls and I crash. The family sues. How does the defense work? Or a hundred other scenarios?

Works the same as a Standard category aircraft. Why wouldn’t it? The tort system is independent from the FAA’s certification system.

The LSA manufacturers have a choice…they can carry insurance (thus driving up the cost of the aircraft) or go “bare” with no insurance, as companies like Maule have done.

If you don’t like it, talk to your congresscritter. The FAA can’t do anything about it.

Ron Wanttaja

[Ernie]

Works the same as a Standard category aircraft. Why wouldn’t it? The tort system is independent from the FAA’s certification system.

The LSA manufacturers have a choice…they can carry insurance (thus driving up the cost of the aircraft) or go “bare” with no insurance, as companies like Maule have done.

If you don’t like it, talk to your congresscritter. The FAA can’t do anything about it.

Ron Wanttaja

I wasn't trying to suggest the FAA could do anything about it. I'm wondering what the impact will be on startups and even smaller existing providers. Liability insurance is a cost of doing business and will possibly get even more expensive. Prohibitive for shoestring startups. One possibility is to limit activities in the operating limitations, I suppose.

[rwanttaja]

I wasn't trying to suggest the FAA could do anything about it. I'm wondering what the impact will be on startups and even smaller existing providers. Liability insurance is a cost of doing business and will possibly get even more expensive. Prohibitive for shoestring startups. One possibility is to limit activities in the operating limitations, I suppose.

I think most of the MOSAIC-related projects have been put forth by foreign firms. They'll be isolated, to a great extent that way, and can set up their US subsidiaries to slough off if lawsuits hit.

Again, no difference because of MOSAIC. It's just the reality of the American marketplace. If companies think their MOSAIC-compatible product will be profitable, and if they're sufficiently funded to develop it, the aircraft will make it to the market.

Ron Wanttaja