LSA thoughts and opinions on owning teaching and flying

The Gardener

Terrafirma Phobic
I flew a LSA today and have been looking at them with quite a bit of interest for some time. It was FUN flying, and there are tons of options.

The numbers look like it could rent for the same as a 152 or an old 172. Same hourly cost to get a nice, new, fun plane? Um, OK!

Anyway, I was wondering if anybody has any experience with owning, teaching, leasing or renting a LSA and what there overall experience has been.

My though was to lease one, and put it on the line at the flight school I work with. Then I could generate my own students to keep the plane busy. All with the thought of making an income on both ends while also have a bunch of fun.

What do you think?
 
My though was to lease one, and put it on the line at the flight school I work with. Then I could generate my own students to keep the plane busy. All with the thought of making an income on both ends while also have a bunch of fun.

What do you think?

Just remember that the insurance goes WAY up when the plane is being used for instruction. I've heard it's by as much as a factor of 5.
 
The FBO I worked at for two years has a fleet of high quality (nearly new) aircraft.

15 172's
1 G1000 172
2 Archers
1 Avidyne Archer
2 Diamond Eclipse
2 Cirrus
and 1 LSA.

Needless to say the boss is getting rid of the LSA because it doesn't generate revenue, breaks all the time and only brings in one type of client (the one you don't want)

I woudn't recommend it, from experience
 
One of the places I work decided to "upgrade" their fleet by not renewing the leases on a couple training aircraft early this year. They wound up first getting one LSA. Which rarely flies other than the owner perhaps once, maybe twice, a week. They then decided to get another LSA. Which, you guessed it, doesn't fly too often. Meanwhile, the other aircraft are flying every day at a new FBO on the field.

A third FBO on the field had an LSA then moved it to another location, hoping it would fly more.

As moxie said, you very possibly will be looking for a specific person to fly it. Especially if they have other choices.

My experience with them says not to do it.
 
Just remember that the insurance goes WAY up when the plane is being used for instruction. I've heard it's by as much as a factor of 5.

Thats why schools/FBO's have a fleet policy.

As a former owner/leaseback I have to say that you'll regret the LSA. It's such a small niche of the market out there. Look at the school/FBO see what rents the most and buy that if youre just dying to buy something. Crunch the numbers and see what your break even point is going to be. Ours was around 55 hrs. (fuel, insurance, monthly payment, tie down + mtx, once the warrenty ran out was usually an extra 5-10 hrs). We averaged around 100-115 hrs every month.
Don't buy something thinking your going to corner the market by being different. There is a reason the 172 is everywhere you go.
 
I'm renting a Flight Design CTLS from a guy at 17G (it's for sale, and if you want his phone number...I can help you out :buck:). I flew it into Oshkosh and loved it. He said he was getting about 1-2 new students per week for the sport pilot program. The plane flies a good amount, and after this aircraft he wants to get another LSA because of the success he has had with it.

I actually like flying the CTLS better than flying a 172...just a lot more fun.
 
As a personal aircraft, it would be nice. As a trainer at a flight school, trust me, they aren't built to last. I used to work at an FBO that did a lot of LSA training. Here are the aircraft:

Indus Thorpedo: Crashed by a sport pilot who stayed out too late, it got dark, and he got confused. Thank god he survived.

Evektor SportStar: Crashed by a Lear pilot on takeoff.

CT LSA: Crashed by a renter.

Before they crashed, there were numerous issues with them. They are not built with aircraft quality parts, but experimental/automotive parts. Oil filters and spark plugs were purchased at NAPA. Battery: Jet Ski Battery.

Each of them are quirky as hell too. The Evektor had such a small rudder and small wheel base, the transition from the flare to the nosewheel steering was tough for student pilots. The rudder went from not very effective, to SUPER sensative as soon as the nosewheel was touched down.

They just aren't up to the abuse of renters and flight schools, period. They are really fun to fly and should work well as a personal aircraft.
 
Thanks for the info all. That is exactly why i posted. I certainly am not very interested in doing Sport pilot training for the reasons posted but was more considering doing regular private training in them. I have wondered about there quality too. They seem like wind up toys!
 
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