How the FAA is Fixing Recreational Flying

We often forget that South Africa still has some world class institutions that make our country a much better place than that supposed paragon of excellence the USA. The American banking system is archaic compared to South Africa and our restaurants and food are better and cheaper.

ONE OF THE BIG SURPRISES is that South Africa's regulation of non-type certified aircraft (NTCA) is far better than the Americans. (Yes, Poppy, for once the CAA is better than the FAA).

The FAA has long been held to be the leader in aviation regulation. Yet they created a boondoggle when they tried to regulate home built aircraft.

The roots of South Africa's effective regulation can be traced back to the LS-1 document which laid the groundwork for an enlightened approach to 'homebuilt' aircraft regulation. Over time the South African regulations have been further refined and in 2007 the then Director of Civil Aviation Colin Jordaan launched the Recreational Aviation Administration of SA (RAASA) to manage 'non-type certified aircraft'. The idea was to make recreational aviation self governing and thus to allow the CAA to wash its hands of responsibility for those crazy enough to want to build and fly their own planes. By world standards, especially American, this was progressive.

Notably, unlike American and European regulators, South African Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) were allowed to have retractable undercarriage and a constant speed prop. And crucially, there was no weight limit, unlike the Europe and American 600 kg max all up weight limit. The weight limit was a bad idea as aircraft were being built to an arbitrary weight rather than to an appropriate strength.