Top Letters And Comments, July 27, 2018

On the fence about that 150 purchase? Better buy it now because in two years there will be a significant price increase.

Robert Ore

Weight restrictions still two years away? WHY? How can a Cessna 150 not be a "Light Sport Aircraft"? Shoulda been done already.

James Efird

The LSA concept was flawed from the beginning and specifically designed to exclude existing trainers so as to boost sales of new European designs. The training environment did not appreciate the fragile planes that could not carry American-sized students and fuel. The only good thing that came out of the concept was that it proved that all the old pilots without medicals were flying perfectly fine without any increase in accidents. Why not just get rid of the medical for small 2-4 seat "trainer" class planes and let designers and pilots choose what they want?

Mark Fraser

Sure, 1320 pounds is an arbitrary number, but then so is 750 Kg (1654 lbs). Any number chosen will be arbitrary, but with a reason or purpose. 1320 lbs is 600 Kg. I'm sure that had some bearing on standards for a European class of aircraft, but it wasn't adopted in America to help European designs, rather it conformed with the European class, and if Americans wanted to make something that could qualify to a broader market, they could. LSA class has been adopted as an ASTM standard for many countries around the world. Hopefully in the new classification they will remove the "Reciprocating Engine" requirement so we can better develop and utilize electric propulsion. Also hope they allow for automatic constant speed props too. When considering "American size" people, where should the upper limit weight limit be placed? No matter where it is placed, it is still an arbitrary number, but hopefully with a reason and a purpose. The word arbitrary as it is used today has a negative connotation as if there was no thought behind it; rather is an unsatisfactory, random number chosen. The LSA number and whatever it is changed to are not ever arbitrary in that connotation.

Jon Durr

I flew in VFR yesterday evening just before closing and it was a madhouse with a lot of people who either didn't read the NOTAM or just didn't care. My ADS-B traffic screen was almost unreadable at the tightest zoom level, and that didn't include the others without ADS-B. I'm certain there were some close calls from people only looking at their traffic screens and not out the window. It's great having that traffic screen, but it also leads to some serious complacency.

Gary Baluha

One of the first things I noted about using ADS-B for traffic was that for close-in work, having a HUD to prevent the head down in the cockpit problem would be a MAJOR safety improvement. Maybe it will click with the manufacturers as an unfilled niche & spur some R&D investment; the current ones don't seem to be gaining much traction.

John Wilson

For what it's worth, I flew in on Sunday with an IFR clearance, and saw nobody on ADS-B except the other clag drivers. Breaking out at 750' AGL with 1.5 mile visibility gave me a lovely view of the whitecaps on Lake Winnebago, but nothing else. Once Ardy & Ed's slipped into view I knew Runway 27 wouldn't be far behind. I loved having the airspace to myself; it was way safer than 2016 where I was fifty feet from a midair in perfect VMC. The ATIS yesterday said "Oshkosh is IFR. Really. No special VFR operations will be permitted. Even for you."

Brad Koehn