Maybe it’s a combination of getting older and reading lots of NTSB reports, but lately I find myself advocating more flight instruction. In so many words that’s what I said after making a couple of landings in the new Flight Design F2 LSA for the video that chases the flight trial article in this issue. And man, did I get hammered from some viewers for even implying that real pilots can’t transition to this little airplane after a one-hour checkout.
The good news is that of any LSA I’ve flown, the new F2 hands-down has the most sturdy, predictable and benign flying habits. It’s remarkable, really. Unlike lots of other LSA models, this airplane could be the easiest to land. It feels bigger than it actually is, and it is bigger than any Flight Design and a lot of other LSAs. But it’s no Bonanza or Centurion, and that means not everyone can strap in and be 100 percent competent without quality instruction—in just about every wind and runway condition you can think up—from someone who knows the airplane like the back of the hand. Insurance pros that I talked with wholeheartedly agree. More than one told me the claims pattern suggests that a good number of LSA prangs happen within the first five to ten hours of endorsement, and new LSAs remain expensive to fix. For that reason a company might require up to 10 hours of work with an instructor as part of its training requirement, although there really is no set standard. For older pilots, I was told coverage might not even be in the cards for a flagship spanking-new LSA. Like it or not, welcome to the new insurance market.