Icon A5 Request For Weight Increase Exemption Status

[Floatsflyer]

Had a conversation with an AME friend on the subject of LSA weight and durability. He provided this example: A 600Kg Skycather vs. a 757Kg 150/152 have close to the same weight for engine and fuel capacity and use almost the same traditional construction methods and materials. So where did the 157kg go?? It went to structure he said. Structure equates with durability/sturdiness which equates with safety and many other in-the-field operational considerations like after sale maintenance and repair costs, etc.


So while the LSA weight number mostly came from somewhere, perhaps it's not the correct number. Perhaps increasing the weight restriction for all allows the manufacturers to build the kind of aircraft that they would all like to build, all flight schools would like to have for training and you would want to own and fly.


If Icon does not receive the excemption, in my mind they will have 3 options:

-Build to current LSA certification standards

-Build the plane as it currently stands to FAR 21.24 Primary Category Type Certification as I mentioned before. This is the most viable direction and is the most cost effective. Primary costs close to about $1 million for approval(compared to Part 23 which can be from $25-50 million). Cessna has done this with the Skycatcher for sales purposes only outside the US.(LSA is not recognized in many countries).
http://www.faa-aircraft-certificatio...-category.html

-Manufacture both models so they don't lose their sport flying recreational consumer market. This could be the best business model.

All this could be moot when they receive the excemption. So, just for a moment, does anyone have any real insider info on the status of the excemption request?