FAA clears certification path for new MOSAIC light-sport aircraft

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has accepted a new set of industry standards that will allow manufacturers to begin certifying larger and more capable light-sport aircraft under the agency’s MOSAIC rules.

The decision gives aircraft makers an FAA-approved way to show that new airplanes, gliders, powered-lift aircraft and gyroplanes meet the design and production requirements that take effect on July 24, 2026.

Without those standards, manufacturers had the new regulations but lacked the detailed compliance framework needed to certify aircraft under them.

The FAA accepted four ASTM International integration standards as a means of compliance with the new Part 22 airworthiness rules, which took effect on July 16.

ASTM’s F37 committee organized each integration standard around a package of more detailed requirements covering areas such as aircraft structures, flight characteristics, landing gear, engines, propellers, fuel and electrical systems, installed equipment and occupant protection.

The packages also include requirements for production testing, quality assurance, maintenance programs and continued operational safety. Some aircraft may need to meet additional standards for night flight, instrument operations, water operations or certain aerial-work missions.

The move removes one of the final obstacles to the aircraft-certification portion of MOSAIC, short for Modernization of Special Airworthiness Certification.

The FAA finalized the rule in July 2025. Changes affecting sport pilots and light-sport repairmen took effect in October 2025.

MOSAIC replaces several rigid limits from the original light-sport rules with performance-based requirements. The rule opens the category to aircraft with as many as four seats and allows designs with retractable landing gear, constant-speed propellers and a wider range of propulsion systems.

The FAA also removed the 1,320-pound maximum takeoff weight for landplanes. Aircraft must instead meet limits based largely on stall speed, maximum level-flight speed and other performance characteristics.

The change gives manufacturers room to develop light-sport aircraft with greater payload, range and utility than most aircraft built under the original rules.

The FAA’s acceptance does not approve any individual aircraft. Each manufacturer must still design and test its aircraft, follow the applicable standards, maintain a production-quality system and submit a statement of compliance before the FAA issues an airworthiness certificate.

The agency also accepted only the specific versions of the standards listed in its notice. ASTM revisions will require separate FAA acceptance before manufacturers can use them as an approved means of compliance.

The notice does not cover every aircraft category that MOSAIC could eventually accommodate. The FAA, for instance, has not yet accepted an integration standard for light-sport helicopters. ASTM continues to develop that standard through its F37 committee.

ASTM F3840-26 includes provisions for multicopters, but the FAA accepted it only for powered-lift aircraft. The agency also said it has not accepted a standard that would allow manufacturers to classify aircraft in the four covered categories as having simplified flight controls.

The new standards will apply to light-sport category aircraft certificated on or after July 24 and to eligible experimental light-sport kits whose manufacturers sign their compliance statements after that date.

Previously accepted standards will continue to govern repairs and alterations to aircraft certificated under the old light-sport system. They will also continue to apply to certain kit-built aircraft supported by compliance statements signed before the July 24 date.

The change does not automatically increase the approved weight or operating limits of aircraft already in service. Existing aircraft will continue to operate under the certification basis and limitations that manufacturers used when they produced them.The post FAA clears certification path for new MOSAIC light-sport aircraft appeared first on AeroTime.

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