Special Light Sport Aircraft (SLSA)

S-LSA is an acronym for Special Light Sport Aircraft. It is a factory-built, ready-to-fly aircraft designed and constructed in accordance with the ASTM consensus standards for light-sport aircraft (LSA).

These aircraft can be owned or rented and used for recreational or instructional flying. They must be inspected and maintained by a certification repairman with an LSA rating, an airframe and powerplant rating (A&P rating), or at an FAA authorized repair station. That said, pilots are allowed to perform preventative maintenance.

Individual owners of this type of aircraft are able to change the S-LSA’s airworthiness certificate to experimental light-sport craft ranking (E-LSA). This change permits the owner to do the annual condition inspection if the owner has completed the 16 hour light-sport aircraft repairman’s certificate course. Unfortunately, once an S-SLA becomes certified as an E-LSA, that aircraft can no longer be used for any income generating purpose, such as rental or commercial flight training.