Is there a light sport plane that is IFR capable?

Is there a plane that an instrument rated pilot can fly in IMC, but could also be flown NORDO by a sport pilot?
NORDO IFR is quite a leap. If you open your horizons a bit, there are some alternatives to LSA. Have you looked into Touring Motor Gliders ? Gliders don't require Medical Certification. Unlike LSA, they operate in "A" airspace all the time. You can fly it at night. Not much of a leap to get a Glider add-on with a Self Launch endorsement. There are instrument ratings for only airplanes and helicopters, so an airplane IFR rating is used in gliders. I saw a You Tube vid a while back of a X-country IFR flight in a motor glider. Solid IMC. Vid seems not to be still available.

Some of the many touring motor gliders: Lambada, Ximingo, Europa, Stemme, Grob, Etc. Diamond built a couple of M.G.s. The Diamond Dimona has a GW around 1,700 lbs. Pipistrel offers the Sinus & Virus as factory or kit built. Nose or tail wheel. The Virus Short wing cruises at 147 Kts for around 1,000 miles.

Barnstormers had a listing for a kit built Sonex Xenos that was IFR and could do coupled approaches. It was loaded and sold for about 50 or 60 K. Neat bird. 120 mph cruise and acro capable solo and w/ the removable wing tips stowed. (It has a span of 39 ft tips off so it can fit through a hangar door.)
 
Oh, another glider benefit. When the pattern is full, you can kill the engine, feather the prop & you have the right of way over everything except balloons.
 
If a LSA is suboptimal for IFR due to it being so light it gets tossed around in turbulence, a motorglider would seem even worse.
 
Some Special LIght Sport Aircraft (SLSA) have prohibitions against IMC operation in the AOI. Even when converted to Experimental Light Sport Aircraft (ELSA) one needs to check the Operating Limitations, as some refer back to the AOI.

FAA Order 8130.2J Table D1. #6
This aircraft may only be operated per the manufacturer’s aircraft operating instructions (AOI), including any requirement for necessary operating equipment specified in the aircraft’s equipment list. Night flight and instrument flight rules (IFR) operations are authorized if allowed by the AOI and if the instruments specified in § 91.205 are installed, operational, and maintained per the applicable requirements of part 91.
I finally got around to digging into this Order and looking at some AOIs. Other relevant text from the order: "Note: The AOI is also commonly called the Pilot’s Operating Handbook (POH). For the purposes of this order, the term AOI is used interchangeably with POH."

So basically, if I understand this/you correctly, you may only fly an S-LSA -> E-LSA in IMC if permitted by the POH/AOI. For example, the Evektor Sportstar and Harmony AOIs provide reasonable conditions under which you can fly in IMC. For example, the RV-12 POH specifically prohibits flying in IMC so you couldn't fly in IMC even if you converted to E-LSA.

Am I understanding that correctly? I'm going to keep digging through POHs/AOIs trying to find more examples where IMC is allowed...

edit: I don't think #6 even applies if you are converting S-LSA to E-LSA. #6 applies to Part 21.190 which is only for a special airworthiness certificate. Are there any S-LSA that you CAN'T fly in IMC after converting to E-LSA and properly equipping it?

edit2: #48 and #49 are the limitations you would probably get to allow night and IFR
 
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You could read his posts to understand why he wants this. Nah.
I've read his posts and I don't understand why he wants this.

Whether you need to use radios depends on where you are, not the aircraft or pilot.

If his hearing loss is not so severe to disqualify him from sport pilot, then it shouldn't disqualify him from basic med. So why can't he do what he wants to do with his Bonanza?
 
Oh, another glider benefit. When the pattern is full, you can kill the engine, feather the prop & you have the right of way over everything except balloons.
Um, no. That's a common misconception. The category/class preference only exists for aircraft converging other than head-on (or nearly so). Distress, Converging head-on (or nearly so), overtaking, and landing are all handled without respect to aircraft category/class.
 
Um, no. That's a common misconception. The category/class preference only exists for aircraft converging other than head-on (or nearly so). Distress, Converging head-on (or nearly so), overtaking, and landing are all handled without respect to aircraft category/class.
Just want to get your juices flowing, Ron. Once upon a time, I was in the pattern at FTY in Atlanta. Pattern was busy. Get this. A TV show was filming a segment that involved 5 or 6 hot air balloons. Of course, there was a helo film ship. Naturally, the whole mess drifted off course and cruised the down wind leg at FTY. NORDO except for the filming helo. And there was another unrelated helo in the pattern. Right of way rules went out the window and twr climaxed several times.
 
I've read his posts and I don't understand why he wants this.

Whether you need to use radios depends on where you are, not the aircraft or pilot.

If his hearing loss is not so severe to disqualify him from sport pilot, then it shouldn't disqualify him from basic med. So why can't he do what he wants to do with his Bonanza?
It is my understanding that a Sport Pilot is not required to pass "communications" training unless he wants to fly in class B, C or D airspace. However, this limitation may be removed following communication training and endorsement by an instructor. I would have to base an LSA a little further from home base (Delta), but most of the destinations I would like to fly to myself are class echo.

In order to fly my Bonanza, I would need to get a PPL with a Complex and HP endorsement. That's not happening.

I don't just want to go up and fly in circles. I fly to go places for a purpose. Right now, my IFR rated wife has to fly me to those places, like my friends house in an airpark, and to go see family a couple hundred miles away.
 
NORDO IFR is quite a leap. If you open your horizons a bit, there are some alternatives to LSA. Have you looked into Touring Motor Gliders ? Gliders don't require Medical Certification. Unlike LSA, they operate in "A" airspace all the time. You can fly it at night. Not much of a leap to get a Glider add-on with a Self Launch endorsement. There are instrument ratings for only airplanes and helicopters, so an airplane IFR rating is used in gliders. I saw a You Tube vid a while back of a X-country IFR flight in a motor glider. Solid IMC. Vid seems not to be still available.

Some of the many touring motor gliders: Lambada, Ximingo, Europa, Stemme, Grob, Etc. Diamond built a couple of M.G.s. The Diamond Dimona has a GW around 1,700 lbs. Pipistrel offers the Sinus & Virus as factory or kit built. Nose or tail wheel. The Virus Short wing cruises at 147 Kts for around 1,000 miles.

Barnstormers had a listing for a kit built Sonex Xenos that was IFR and could do coupled approaches. It was loaded and sold for about 50 or 60 K. Neat bird. 120 mph cruise and acro capable solo and w/ the removable wing tips stowed. (It has a span of 39 ft tips off so it can fit through a hangar door.)

At one point I may have contributed to the misconception that I want to fly an LSA under IMC. That is not exactly the case.
I want an LSA that I could get a license for, but would also allow my wife (who is IFR rated) to fly in IMC.

A glider or a balloon just isn't happening. Perhaps when I was a kid (like around 50 or so) I might have considered it. But now that I"m months away from 70, I have no desire to learn either of those.
I already know how to fly a fixed wing just fine. I just don't have, and cannot get an FAA medical for a couple of reasons, chief among them is my hearing.

Oh well, maybe I'll just buy a Tesla instead. That would almost as much fun anyway.
 
At one point I may have contributed to the misconception that I want to fly an LSA under IMC. That is not exactly the case.
I want an LSA that I could get a license for, but would also allow my wife (who is IFR rated) to fly in IMC.

A glider or a balloon just isn't happening. Perhaps when I was a kid (like around 50 or so) I might have considered it. But now that I"m months away from 70, I have no desire to learn either of those.
I already know how to fly a fixed wing just fine. I just don't have, and cannot get an FAA medical for a couple of reasons, chief among them is my hearing.

Oh well, maybe I'll just buy a Tesla instead. That would almost as much fun anyway.
Have you never had a medical?
 
Um, no. That's a common misconception. The category/class preference only exists for aircraft converging other than head-on (or nearly so). Distress, Converging head-on (or nearly so), overtaking, and landing are all handled without respect to aircraft category/class.
You go right ahead and cut off a glider entering the pattern because you're lower. Good luck with that argument.
 
Have you never had a medical?

No. But only recently did I realize that I never had one denied either.

Back in the '70s I couldn't afford to fly, but I did have several friends that were pilots. They would take me up in exchange for working on their cars. I got a lot of unloggable hours that way.

But a few years later I found myself in a position where I could afford it, so I took lessons. Prior to my first solo I scheduled an appointment with an AME. However, the night before my exam I worked a double shift. I got home a 8am and fell asleep with my daily wear contacts in place. I woke up to my alarm clock in time for my medical but I couldn't open my eyes. They were stuck shut. I doused them with liquid tears enough to rip the contacts off (that hurt) and went to the appointment and promptly failed the eye test. The doctor said I could come back within 10 days to get a retest, but that same day I found out that I was being transferred to another state and my flying training came to a halt. AFAIK, the AME never sent my test results to the FAA and I never received a denial.

Almost 40 years later, my 53 yr old wife decided she wanted to get a license. She did really well and we bought a plane and I have been flying right side ever since. But I'd really like to be able to fly alone but now my hearing is too bad for me to even attempt to get a ppl. She now has about 1,500 hours and her IR. We have flown to every state on the Continent (except Minnesota and Iowa, which we will do in May) and several provinces in Canada. But she was always in the left seat.

That's my story, and I'm sticking with it. I think I only told it once here before.
 
No. But only recently did I realize that I never had one denied either.

Back in the '70s I couldn't afford to fly, but I did have several friends that were pilots. They would take me up in exchange for working on their cars. I got a lot of unloggable hours that way.

But a few years later I found myself in a position where I could afford it, so I took lessons. Prior to my first solo I scheduled an appointment with an AME. However, the night before my exam I worked a double shift. I got home a 8am and fell asleep with my daily wear contacts in place. I woke up to my alarm clock in time for my medical but I couldn't open my eyes. They were stuck shut. I doused them with liquid tears enough to rip the contacts off (that hurt) and went to the appointment and promptly failed the eye test. The doctor said I could come back within 10 days to get a retest, but that same day I found out that I was being transferred to another state and my flying training came to a halt. AFAIK, the AME never sent my test results to the FAA and I never received a denial.

Almost 40 years later, my 53 yr old wife decided she wanted to get a license. She did really well and we bought a plane and I have been flying right side ever since. But I'd really like to be able to fly alone but now my hearing is too bad for me to even attempt to get a ppl. She now has about 1,500 hours and her IR. We have flown to every state on the Continent (except Minnesota and Iowa, which we will do in May) and several provinces in Canada. But she was always in the left seat.

That's my story, and I'm sticking with it. I think I only told it once here before.
Got it. If the issue is that you just want to fly in the left seat, then just fly in the left seat. Your wife can spend some time in the right seat with a CFI to get comfortable there. But there's no rule that the PIC has to sit on the left. If you want to fly solo, then yeah, light sport is the way to go.
 
Got it. If the issue is that you just want to fly in the left seat, then just fly in the left seat. Your wife can spend some time in the right seat with a CFI to get comfortable there. But there's no rule that the PIC has to sit on the left. If you want to fly solo, then yeah, light sport is the way to go.
Left/Right; makes no difference. At this point after so many years in the right seat, I would probably stay there even if I got my license.
The whole point is to be able to fly somewhere SOLO. I want to be able to go somewhere without making my wife fly me there.
 
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