Cessna 140 sport pilot conversion

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Sabre

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Sabre
Hello!

My brother in law might have found a nice old Cessna 140. It needs an engine. What I was thinking is making it sport pilot ready. Would it be possible to get a nice rotax engine and make it fly under sport pilot restrictions? Thanks.
 
You're going to have to explain the reasoning behind this one and some facts to help us understand what you think you can do with a certified aircraft.
 
Not possible. Gross weight is >1320 lbs.
 
Sabre said:
Hello!

My brother in law might have found a nice old Cessna 140. It needs an engine. What I was thinking is making it sport pilot ready. Would it be possible to get a nice rotax engine and make it fly under sport pilot restrictions? Thanks.
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Since it’s a type certificated aircraft, to put a Rotax on it, you’d need a STC. However that would not magically make it weigh within the limits of Sport Pilot, 1320 lbs.

Max weight of a 140 is 1450 which is 130 lbs too heavy. I’m not sure how much you’d save by putting a Rotax on it but even if you did save enough weight, you’d need another STC to lower the Max Weight to 1320.

The development and certification costs for those two STCs would not make it economically feasible even if the FAA bought off on it which is unlikely.

If you need a sport pilot capable aircraft, I’d suggest buying one that already meets the requirements. There are options aplenty.
 
^^^ what he said. They wrote the refs in a way that you couldn’t take a plane with a higher certified gross and downgrade it to meet LSA standard.

If you have an Ercoupe 415-c you’re good. If you did the C/D conversion to raise the gross weight at any time in the aircraft’s life, it can no longer be flown by a sport pilot (even if you go back and lower the gross weight).
 
Hi all

Thanks for the fast responses. I am asking because I don't know. I don't know enough about the 140 and I assumed you guys did and it looks like I was right. It looked light enough to put a smaller engine in. It's a great looking little plane and I thought it would make a nice project. At this point in our lives, a sport pilot license would be more realistically obtainable. Thanks again. I'm going to take a look at the Zenith website.
 
if a aircraft EVER goes over the magic #1320 gw no go, as stated by others.
 
Sabre said:
Hi all

Thanks for the fast responses. I am asking because I don't know. I don't know enough about the 140 and I assumed you guys did and it looks like I was right. It looked light enough to put a smaller engine in. It's a great looking little plane and I thought it would make a nice project. At this point in our lives, a sport pilot license would be more realistically obtainable. Thanks again. I'm going to take a look at the Zenith website.
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I've been flying LSAs since 2006, and have owned my Zenith CH601XL-B Zodiac LSA since 2016. The current Zodiac is the CH650LS, but Zenith also sells the high wing CH701 STOL, CH750 STOL, and CH750 Cruzer LSAs.

My Zodiac is factory built by AMD with the 2010 structural modifications, and I love it. I can do 95% of the type of flying I did when I owned a C172, but it has lower operating costs (5.5 gph vs. 8 gph for the 172 and I can do my own maintenance) and it handles like a sports car.
 
Here's a couple pics of her.
 

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Sabre said:
Here's a couple pics of her.
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Nice looking C140 airframe, but as others have said under current rules it can never meet the regulatory requirements of an LSA. Several other CAR Part 3 or FAR Part 23 certified airplanes do, though.

Here's a list from the FAA website (45 Kilobyte PDF). It includes specific models from Aeronca, Ercoupe, Interstate, Luscombe, Piper, Porterfield, Quicksilver, and Taylorcraft.

https://www.faa.gov/aircraft/gen_av/light_sport/media/ExistingModels.pdf
 
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It can’t meet LSA requirements but if you had a medical at one point recently you could go Baisc Med and fly the plane as is
 
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