Last Friday the US Federal Aviation Administration issued a Notice of Availability (NOA) for the consensus standards surrounding the MOSAIC reforms.
The NOA, which became effective on 16 July, announces the that FAA will accept the new standards as a means of compliance (MOC) for special airworthiness certification for light sport aircraft (LSA).
The new standards, which come into force on 24 July in the middle of Oshkosh week, will enable LSA manufacturers to build larger, stronger and more modern aircraft without having to go through full type certification.
"The FAA has been working with industry and other stakeholders through the ASTM F37 Committee on Light-Sport Aircraft to develop consensus standards as an MOC in certificating airplanes, gliders, powered-parachutes, weight-shift control, and lighter-than-air ..." the FAA notice states.
"The [MOSAIC] final rule, published on July 24, 2025, anticipated that beginning on July 24, 2026, new consensus standards would need to be developed as the MOC to the design, production, and airworthiness requirements of [Code of Federal Regulations] part 22 subpart B, including the performance expansions and new classes of aircraft allowed by this rule.
"With FAA participation, F37 has worked to publish a new framework of standards that could serve as MOCs to the changes provided by the MOSAIC final rule. In addition to the previously addressed categories of aircraft, these new standards also expand the applicability to new categories of aircraft such as gyroplane and powered-lift.
"As stated in the MOSAIC final rule, the FAA would publish a notice of availability (NOA) of those consensus standards in the Federal Register when the administrator accepts the consensus standards as an acceptable MOC."
The notice issued last Friday means that the FAA administrator has accepted the new standards, clearing the way for manufacturers to certify aircraft as LSAs.
Whilst Australian general aviation people have been involved with the ASTM F37 committee, the start of MOSAIC in the USA doesn't mean that aircraft to the new standard can be registered in the LSA category in Australia now.
Although CASA has expressed support for MOSAIC standards in the past, the regulator has said they are still investigating how the standards would fit in with Australia's safety regulations, particularly when it comes to administration by CASR Part 149 self-administering organisations such as RAAus.
New RAAus chair Jim Tatlock told Australian Flying last week that his organisation was "uniquely positioned" to administer MOSAIC aircraft, and hold told CASA they had the "ability and appetite" to take it on.
- Steve Hitchen