< Back Alert A-05-2025 - Alpi Pioneer 300 - Inspection of Undercarriage Components for Cracking and Corrosion 12 Jun 2025 LAA Alert A-05-2025 - Alpi Pioneer 300 - Inspection of Undercarriage Components for Cracking and Corrosion LAA Alert A-05-2025 has been published on the LAA website (and is also attached), highlighting Alpi Pioneer 300 and 300 Hawk aircraft that have suffered different malfunctions and failures of various components that make up the undercarriage. This Alert strongly recommends a close inspection of the undercarriage at 25-hour intervals for corrosion and cracking, as well as a retraction check, to verify that the retraction system components remained correctly adjusted, to avoid undercarriage collapse due to the mechanism not being adequately over-centre when extended. A-05-2025 - Alpi Pioneer 300 Landing Gear Corrosion .pdf Download PDF • 204KB Next Previous

Detail Design Having worked out a promising-looking layout, initial three-view and performance and weight specifications, now is the stage where the hard work begins of transforming concepts to working drawings. Essential decisions have to be made about types of material to be used, the structural arrangement, exact choice of powerplant and so on. You’ll probably need to make a cockpit mock-up to check the ergonomics and control system arrangements, and maybe build a flying radio controlled model of the design to give faith in the handling characteristics. With the basic geometry laid out, stress calculations and assembly drawings come next, then drawings of individual piece parts. Keep an up-to-date tally on weights. As the drawings get more detailed you must re-evaluate whether you are going to meet your original targets in terms of weight, strength and aerodynamic cleanliness, whether you need to re-visit your original assumptions or re-design from scratch. Is there a way that the part or assembly can be made more easily, more cheaply, lighter, stronger, more fatigue or corrosion resistant? Fewer parts and fewer joints generally means fewer problems and less weight. Can you use off the shelf parts rather than having to make them specially? Are there other aeroplanes around that have already solved a particular problem in a clever way? Will the aircraft be easy to inspect in service, easy to repair if it gets damaged? Can it be broken down for transportation? If the handling isn’t quite right when the prototype is test flown, does the design make provision for ‘tweaks’ to put it right? Does the design include reserves of strength to cope with weight growth in service and more powerful engines, or is everything pared down to the minimum? Design Tutorials

Hirth 2 Stroke Covering Letter to Owners Fuel System Inspection Checklist

Membership Full Plus Category is for members who own, operate or are currently building an aircraft and gives access to LAA Engineering services. (For Group Owned aircraft, at least one member of the group must have Full Plus membership.) Full Category is for everyone else and includes a monthly copy of Light Aviation Magazine and a discount at the annual LAA Fly-In. JOIN THE LAA Member Full - £72 Full Plus - £113 Member Joint Full - £82 Full Plus - £134 Joint members are members who are the partner of a full member or any children under the age of 18 and living at the family house. Under 30 Member Full - £30 Full Plus - £134 Please forward proof of DOB i.e. copy of passport, driving licence or pilots licence. Overseas Member Full - £88 Full Plus - £134 Overseas includes Eire. Payment Methods ONLINE Via the Member Area / Renew my Membership DIRECT DEBIT You are now able to set up your direct debit online. Please see your renewal or joining page for details. BY CALLING HQ 01280 846 786 with card details BY INTERNET BANKING Account No : 26225220 Sort Code : 60-30-03 Please note, for membership payments, you MUST quote your membership number and your surname or your payment will not be credited to the correct record. For Permit revalidation & engineering fees, you MUST quote your aircraft registration. If paying from abroad, SWIFT code is : NWBKGB2L IBAN code is : GB81 NWBK 6030 0326225220 Important Links RENEW MY MEMBERSHIP MY AIRCRAFT DETAILS MEMBER AREA ADDRESS CHANGE

< Back LAA Alert - FAA issues AD for Piper rudder posts 14 Feb 2025 Replacement of rudder posts not made from 4130N On 13.02.25, FAA issued Airworthiness Directive 2025-02-11 which requires the replacement of the rudder post on a large number of Piper types, where the part is not made from 4130N steel. Compliance time varies between 2 years and 10 years depending on whether a beacon light is fitted to the top of the fin post and depending on the power of the engine installed. LAA Alert A-01-2025 has been created to communicate this to potentially affected owners. A-01-2025 Piper rudder post AD .pdf Download PDF • 196KB Next Previous

< Back Engineering updates in April 6 May 2025 The following documents have been issued/updated in the Engineering 'Info Library' during April. Technical leaflets : TL 2.00 - Revalidating your aircraft's Permit to Fly TL 2.33 - Inspector categories for types (new TL) Forms: LAA/AR-REF - Airworthiness review reference guide (crib sheet) (new form) LAA/CFS-1 (fixed wing) - Check flight schedule LAA/PFRC-1 (fixed wing) - Permit flight release certificate Next Previous

< Back LAA appoints new CEO 22 Feb 2023 “This is my dream role and I can’t wait to get started!” Simon Tilling has been appointed as the new CEO of the Light Aircraft Association. He will start in his new role in mid-April. Simon brings to the Association a wealth of leadership, general management and customer service experience gained in the technology sector including ‘blue chip’ brands such as Dell and Sony, together with a passion for sport and recreational aviation. Simon is an experienced pilot who has owned various LAA types, including one of the UK’s oldest Taylorcraft Auster aircraft. He’s also a former British Air Racing champion and was from 2020 to 2022 the chairman of the Royal Aero Club ‘3Rs’ committee for races, records and rallies, during which time he regenerated the appeal of air racing to new participants. Eryl Smith, Chairman of the LAA said “I am delighted to announce Simon’s appointment as CEO of the LAA and look forward to working with him to further improve the performance and standing of the Association on behalf of our members.” Next Previous

< Back New LAA Course dates released 6 Oct 2023 Dates have now been published for upcoming LAA Courses for the rest of this year. To find out about specific courses and their dates, click here . Please note, the next 'Caring for your Gipsy Major' course is on the 11th November, not 7th November, as published in the latest edition of Light Aviation magazine. Next Previous

< Back New LAA Inspector - Sam McMellon 22 Oct 2024 The LAA is pleased to welcome Sam McMellon as a new LAA Inspector for Factory Built Gyroplanes. Sam attended an Assessment Day at LAA HQ with our Chief Inspector earlier this month. Well done Sam! 🎉 Next Previous

Find a Coach All Coaches are CAA qualified Instructors and CAA 'R' Examiners. They are all highly experienced and generally able to do licence revalidations, differences training, refresher courses and any specialised training. This would be dependent on their own experience of any aircraft type on which training was requested, so please check with the Coach nearest to your location as to their availability to carry out your request. The map below can be increased in size and moved, as required. The icons represent the postal location of the Coach. Clicking on any icon will display a photo, a contact number, a preferred location or home airfield, and a short profile of the Coach you will be looking at. Most Coaches are happy to travel reasonable distances to accommodate your needs.

< Back The online Permit Revalidation System is live for Gyroplanes! 22 Jul 2025 We are pleased to announce that the online Permit to Fly revalidation system went live today for gyroplanes, both home-built and factory-built! Step-by-Step Video Guide, FAQs and Crib Sheet The step-by-step guide to the new online Permit Revalidation system in the form of an ‘ Online Permit Revalidation Explained ’ video can be found below. This was written for a fixed-wing example, but the majority of questions are the same for gyroplanes and the process for gyroplanes has the same three stages as for any fixed-wing aircraft. We have also compiled a list of ‘ Frequently Asked Questions ’ for you, which are found below. The ' Crib Sheet ' for Inspectors referenced in the video is formally called the ' Airworthiness Review Reference Guide ' and is available HERE . There is a version of the crib sheet for homebuilt gyroplanes, entitled ARR-REF (HOMEBUILT GYROPLANE) and a version for factory-built gyroplanes, entitled ARR-REF (FB GYROPLANE). The Check Flight Schedules for both homebuilt and factory-built gyroplanes have now been combined into a single check flight schedule for gyroplanes, entitled CFS-1 (GYRO). This is available HERE . Previous check flight forms for homebuilt and factory-built gyroplanes are now obsolete. The Permit Flight Release Certificate (PFRC) is now a separate document, where it was previously contained within the application form for revalidating a Permit to Fly. It can be found HERE . Key Considerations There are a few key considerations to ensure a Permit to Fly revalidation under the new system goes smoothly: Please make sure you know your username and password for the LAA website. If you have forgotten your login details, please contact the LAA Office. All aircraft using the new system for the first time will require a check flight no older than 3 months at the time of submission of the revalidation application. This is in order to provide a baseline for the online system. The 3-year check flight cycle will then apply subsequently to most aircraft types. Some aircraft will still require a check flight at every revalidation, these are: Aircraft cleared for Night/IFR. Aircraft which have flown less than 12 hours since the previous revalidation inspection. Aircraft Owners will not have to submit a CFS-1 (GYRO) Check Flight Schedule when applying through the new system. However, a CFS-1 (GYRO) will need to be completed for each check flight and stored with the aircraft’s documentation, so that it is available when needed. We will no longer be accepting old-style (paper or scanned) Airworthiness Reviews for homebuilt or factory-built gyroplanes conducted on or after 22 nd July 2025. Need Help? The ‘Revalidating a Permit to Fly’ page on the LAA website signposts you to all the information you will need and can be found HERE . If you have any problems or questions, please follow the steps below: Watch the ‘ Online Permit Revalidation Explained ’ video found HERE . Read Technical Leaflet 2.00 - 'Revalidating your Aircraft's Permit to Fly,' which has now been updated to include information for gyroplanes. Look at the gyroplane variants of the 'crib sheet' for LAA Inspectors, entitled ' Airworthiness Review Reference Guide ,' which is available HERE . Look at our list of FAQs ,. If steps 1-4 do not help you find the answer, contact LAA Engineering on [email protected] or call (0)1280 846786 20250721 - Permit Revalidation Process FAQs Issue 2 .pdf Download PDF • 198KB Next Previous

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