Mosaic

[Richard Allen]

At what take off weight can I fly a m20j as a light sport pilot, if at all

[Jackk]

37 minutes ago, Richard Allen said:

At what take off weight can I fly a m20j as a light sport pilot, if at all

 Gross weight, it’s not a weight thing it’s a clean stall thing, I think the early ones would work

 

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2025/july/22/light-sport-rules-expand-dramatically

Edited October 18 by Jackk

[Richard Allen]

My m20j poh shows 63kias vs which is above the 59 cas allowed by mosaic, hovever that’s at max takeoff weight, and it’s impossible to extrapolate cas for vs at lighter weights due to quality of graphs.

so my question is can I fly my j model at below 2740lbs take off weight as a sport pilot without a medical, and only a valid drivers license?

[MikeOH]

40 minutes ago, Richard Allen said:

My m20j poh shows 63kias vs which is above the 59 cas allowed by mosaic, hovever that’s at max takeoff weight, and it’s impossible to extrapolate cas for vs at lighter weights due to quality of graphs.

so my question is can I fly my j model at below 2740lbs take off weight as a sport pilot without a medical, and only a valid drivers license?

I think what @Jackk was getting at is that legality is based upon the stall speed at gross weight, NOT the weight and actual stall speed you choose to fly at.

So, no, NOT legal if that number is over 59 knots CAS.

[Hank]

You'll need an early J with the 2740 Gross Weight limit. But double check the POH for Stall Speed at Gross.

Unlike Normal vs. Utility operations, which can go by loading for an individual flight,  the Sport Pilkt rukes under MOSAIC are based on stall speed per certification standards, i.e. max gross weight in the landing configuration, which is shown in every POH and many Owners Manuals such as for my 1970 C.

[hazek]

7 hours ago, Richard Allen said:

At what take off weight can I fly a m20j as a light sport pilot, if at all

The limiting factor is the Vso at MTOM. So your POH full landing configuration stall speed at max takeoff mass. This speed must be 59kt or less.

[midlifeflyer]

3 hours ago, hazek said:

The limiting factor is the Vso at MTOM. So your POH full landing configuration stall speed at max takeoff mass. This speed must be 59kt or less.

Vs1 not Vs0.

[hazek]

1 hour ago, midlifeflyer said:

Vs1 not Vs0.

Ah I didn't realize that for the sport pilot license it's Vs1 <=59kt and for the LSA it's Vso <=61kt! That's even better than I thought!

 

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2025/august/14/mosaic-explained-faq

[amillet]

Does this mean my 2900 gw J qualifies as light sport?

[1980Mooney]

10 minutes ago, amillet said:

Does this mean my 2900 gw J qualifies as light sport?

No. A plane can only be certified as Light Sport in new Type Certification.  Existing planes cannot be recertified. 

[midlifeflyer]

2 hours ago, hazek said:

Ah I didn't realize that for the sport pilot license it's Vs1 <=59kt and for the LSA it's Vso <=61kt! That's even better than I thought!

 

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2025/august/14/mosaic-explained-faq

One of the things I've seen confusion about is the difference between an LSA (an aircraft certification) and what those exercising sport pilot privileges (a pilot certification) are allowed to fly. One of the things MOSAIC did was to decouple them.

The best illustration of this  is that you will not find a reference to "light sport aircraft" anywhere in amended Part 61. They've been removed.

The best practical illustration  is, as you point out, a light sport aircraft can have a Vs0 of 61. IOW, there will be LSAs that sport pilots are not authorized to fly.

Remember these ancient private pilot knowledge test questions?

With respect to the certification of airmen, which are categories of aircraft? 
vs 
With respect to the certification of aircraft, which is a category of aircraft?

That's what we are dealing with.

[midlifeflyer]

18 minutes ago, amillet said:

Does this mean my 2900 gw J qualifies as light sport?

 

If you are asking whether you can fly it only exercising sport privileges, no. The relevant number is 63, not 56. Vs1, not Vs0.

[Pinecone]

1 hour ago, midlifeflyer said:

IOW, there will be LSAs that sport pilots are not authorized to fly.

Which is downright confusing to normal people and makes little sense.   And will lead to issues with people flying aircraft they are not authorized to fly.

Pilot A has a Sport Pilot certificate, so he can fly that M20J, but NOT that Model XYZ Light Sport airplane.

[midlifeflyer]

On 10/19/2025 at 11:51 AM, Pinecone said:

Which is downright confusing to normal people and makes little sense.   And will lead to issues with people flying aircraft they are not authorized to fly.

Pilot A has a Sport Pilot certificate, so he can fly that M20J, but NOT that Model XYZ Light Sport airplane.

Once you get that LSA certification has exactly nothing to do with sport privileges, the problem goes away. But I've seen more than enough confusion on it that the FAA probably should have come up with a new category name and tossed "LSA" out altogether. The other one I've seen several times is, you can't fly that Cessna 172/M20J, whatever unless it gets recertified as an LSA. 

[Jackk]

On 10/19/2025 at 8:50 AM, 1980Mooney said:

No. A plane can only be certified as Light Sport in new Type Certification.  Existing planes cannot be recertified. 

uhhh

 

 so it’s got nothing to do with that, unless he’s asking for the being able to work on your own LSA LSA repairman angle 

 

if he’s asking on the operations angle, it doesn’t matter how the plane was certified for flying it under LSA as long as it meets the performance etc numbers 

 

IE a standard cat J3/7AC could always be flown under LSA rules even though it was certified before the thought of LSA even was a seed