Do Light-Sport Aircraft Need Annual Inspections?

Yes. A light-sport aircraft must pass a recurring inspection to stay flyable - but it is a condition inspection, not the "annual inspection" that type-certificated airplanes get, and the rules differ between the two flavors of light-sport. The interval is the familiar once every 12 calendar months.

Experimental light-sport (E-LSA)

An E-LSA aircraft is inspected under its operating limitations, like any experimental - a condition inspection at least every 12 calendar months, to the scope and detail of Appendix D to Part 43, certifying the aircraft is in a condition for safe operation. The distinguishing feature is who may sign it: the owner can earn a light-sport repairman certificate with an inspection rating (LSRI) under 14 CFR 65.107 through a short FAA-accepted course and then perform the condition inspection on an E-LSA they own. An A&P may also perform it.

Special light-sport (S-LSA)

S-LSA aircraft are factory-built to a consensus standard and are operated under 14 CFR 91.327. They require an annual condition inspection, performed in accordance with the manufacturer's maintenance and inspection procedures, by a light-sport repairman with a maintenancerating (LSRM), an A&P mechanic, or an appropriately rated repair station. The owner-inspection privilege of the LSRI rating does not extend to S-LSA. Aircraft used for flight instruction or rental also pick up 100-hour inspection obligations.

What MOSAIC changes - and what it doesn't

The FAA's MOSAIC final rule (Modernization of Special Airworthiness Certification), published in 2025, is the biggest light-sport overhaul since the category was created. It redefines which aircraft qualify as light-sport by a stall-speed limit rather than a fixed maximum gross weight, expands sport-pilot privileges, and updates certification and maintenance provisions. The changes phase in: provisions expanding sport-pilot privileges took effect on October 22, 2025, and the airworthiness certification of new light-sport category aircraft applies to certificates issued on or after July 24, 2026.

What MOSAIC does not do is eliminate the recurring condition inspection. Light-sport aircraft still need their 12-calendar-month inspection. If a specific MOSAIC provision affects your aircraft, your privileges, or who may inspect it, read the rule and current FAA guidance directly - it is recent and interpretations are still maturing.

MOSAIC also reaches beyond light-sport. It expands the light-sport repairman privileges so an owner with the inspection rating (LSRI) can perform the condition inspection on an experimental amateur-built aircraft they own- not just an E-LSA - which gives non-builder owners a new path to inspect their own airplane (subject to revising the aircraft's operating limitations). That change is covered in who can perform a condition inspection.

Sport pilot vs. light-sport aircraft

One common mix-up: sport pilot is a pilot certificate level, while light-sport aircraft is an aircraft category. You do not have to be a sport pilot to fly an LSA, and the inspection rules attach to the aircraft and its airworthiness certificate, not to your pilot certificate.

Tracking it

Whichever category you operate, the 12-calendar-month clock and the inspection scope are the same kind of recurring obligation this app is built to manage - see what a condition inspection is and who can perform one.