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Lose the light: A move to drop Light from Light Sport Aircraft

By Meg Godlewski · May 18, 2007 ·

Sometimes it’s not so much the concept you are trying to sell as much as its presentation.

That’s why some in the Light Sport Aircraft community want to drop the word “Light” from the description.

One of the leaders of the movement is Michael Meirer, co-CEO of Remos Aircraft from Pasewalk, Germany. According to Meirer, the word “light” tends to give the uninitiated a negative image of aircraft in the LSA world.

“As I understand the English language, light is not necessarily a good adjective one could say about anything,” he said. “Light beer is not real beer and a light cigarette is not a real cigarette. The impression could be that a light airplane may not be a real airplane.”

That’s hardly the case, he notes, pointing to the Remos aircraft, a high-wing design with a roomy two-place cabin and, he noted proudly, performance comparable to a Cessna 172 or 182.

“It flies like a real airplane,” he said. “It is as safe and as sturdy as a real airplane.”

Getting the FAA to drop the “light” is a matter of getting all the LSA manufacturers, importers and distributors on the same page and putting pressure on the federal agency, he said.

“There is support for this in the aviation community. At a meeting in Sebring, Florida, I did a ‘raise your hand’ type of survey at a talk I was giving and about two-thirds of the manufacturers, even the most light of the light sports, such as the powered parachutes, were in favor of dropping the word ‘light.'”

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