MOSAIC is a Game Changer for Pilots with Disabilities
We’ve waited a long time, and it’s finally here! MOSAIC, or Modernization of Special Airworthiness Certification, is a dramatic expansion of Light Sport privileges for pilots.
First, What is Light Sport?
Light Sport was created in the early 2000s to make it easier for pilots to fly and to help older pilots continue flying. Normally, pilots have to complete a medical evaluation before being allowed to fly and then renew it periodically. This is broken into three “classes” of First, Second, and Third Class, with the last one being the entry-level class. Even though it was entry-level, the requirements were and are stringent. If you had a disability, you had to go through a lengthy and sometimes expensive defferal process. There wasn’t a guarantee that you would pass the deferment.
Light Sport changed the game by adding a lower, even more entry-level category and allowed pilots to fly recreationally so long as (medically speaking) they had a driver’s license and had never been denied a medical in the past. Pilots were limited to slow, light-weight, two-seat aircraft, just like the Ercoupe that Jessica has flown without arms for years.
The main focus was on allowing older pilots who had a minor health issue to continue flying. Rather than being forced out, Private Pilots could transition to Light Sport so long as they flew qualified aircraft and followed the restrictions on when and how they flew. But, new pilots with disabilities also qualified and began to take advantage of the new rules. Able Flight, one of our friends helping pilots get their license, primarily focuses on Light Sport training.
Jessica qualified as a Light Sport pilot in 2008, though she is now pursuing her Third Class Medical in order to fly The Impossible Airplane.
Getting started pre-2025
For many aspiring pilots with disabilities, they had a pathway, but finding the right aircraft was a challenge. LSA aircraft, being smaller and lighter than the majority of general aviation aircraft, were rare and hard to find. There was also the problem that not every airplane would accommodate every disability. There were a few options:
Get lucky that an LSA airplane was at a local flight school and that airplane could accommodate your disability,
Scour around trying to find someone teaching in an LSA airplane and then travel to where that training was taking place (with no guarantee you could find a similar plane at your home airport when you’re done),
Buy an airplane and then find a local flight instructor to train you in it, or
Give up on the dream.
It took Jessica three years to overcome these challenges before she found an Ercoupe being used at a local flight school. A few months later, she had her license.
Enter MOSAIC
Soon after it was created, advocates noticed a challenge: most existing pilots liked to fly their four-seat airplane, but when it came time to transition to Light Sport, they had to switch to a smaller LSA aircraft. This transition is always risky. Old habits take time to break. It takes dedicated training and time to switch.
So, within a few years, advocates like EAA, AOPA, and others began pushing to expand LSA rules to include larger aircraft so that people could continue to use their existing airplanes. In July 2025, after years of pushing, the FAA announced the adoption of the MOSAIC rules at AirVenture.
The new rules
Like before, people with disabilities can become pilots using their driver’s license in place of a Third Class Medical. Now, instead of a two-seat airplane with a max weight of 1,320 pounds, Sport Pilots can fly four-seat aircraft with a clean (flaps retracted) stall speed up to 59 knots (calibrated). This opens up the opportunity to popular airframes such as the Cessna 172 and the Piper PA-28.
This part is confusing: MOSAIC also changed the definition of an LSA aircraft to allow E- and S-LSA aircraft to have a dirty (flaps extended) stall speed of 61 knots (calibrated). The thing to remember is that Light Sport pilots won’t be able to fly all Light Sport aircraft. In essence, pilots and aircraft have been decoupled. We think this was done for easier certification and maintenance, but time will tell. Here’s a preliminary list of aircraft that qualify under MOSAIC: https://wingwise.io/
LSA pilots will still have to get a sign-off to fly in controlled airspace, which isn’t difficult. There is a new allowance to do some simple commercial flying, but there’s still confusion on whether the pilot can actually get paid for the flight. Sport Pilots are still limited to a single passenger, even in four-seat aircraft. Retractable gear and constant speed props are allowed. Best of all, with additional sign-offs, Sport Pilots will be allowed to fly at night and use high-performance aircraft (that still meet the 59 kt clean stall speed).
Do you need the Third Class?
Here’s a simple way for aspiring pilots to understand if they need a Third Class Medical and differentiate between LSA pilots and LSA aircraft:
Step 1: How do you want to fly?
Are you planning to progress onwards to work for the airlines or other commercial (read: get paid to fly) operation? Then you will need the Third Class to start and go higher down the road.
Are you planning to fly for fun, an occasional $100 hamburger, or so you can visit friends and family in the next state with only one passenger? Then you might be just fine with Light Sport certification.
Step 2: Can you fly it?
Is the official clean stall speed 59 kts or below, with no more than four seats? Then you can probably fly it Light Sport (double-check the rest of the rules)
Is it listed as a Light Sport Aircraft, but the clean stall speed is above 59 kts? You’ll need the Third Class Medical and a Private Pilot License to fly it, even though it’s officially LSA.
The Impossible Airplane
For our team, there now appears to be a pathway to get The Impossible Airplane registered under the new Experimental Light Sport Aircraft (E-LSA) rules, but it probably won’t matter to Jessica’s goals with the airplane. RV-10s are in the unique spot where the clean stall speed doesn’t qualify for Light Sport pilots, but the dirty stall speed qualifies it for the Light Sport category. So, either way, she will continue through the process of getting her Third Class Medical.
Going forward with a disability
The new MOSAIC rules open the door for more people to learn how to fly. With so many aircraft now available in the category, the logistics issue is much easier to navigate. Cessna 172s are ubiquitous, and other aircraft like the Piper PA-28 are nearly as common. We’ve also noticed that a number of the aircraft listed in our Pilots & their Airplanes page now qualify, like the Cessna 177, which has a massive door that makes it popular among wheelchair users. Also, all Ercoupes now qualify!
The Experimental category is also significantly expanded. For example, Van’s Aircraft (one of our sponsors) previously had only one airframe that qualified under LSA: the RV-12. Now, it appears that their entire line could qualify for the category, and LSA pilots can fly nearly all of them, which includes the aerobatic RV-7 and RV-8.
There’s still the challenge of figuring out if a particular airframe can accommodate a disability. That may never be overcome. If you’re an aspiring pilot with a disability, you can check out some examples in our list of pilots and aircraft linked above. There are also additional resources in our Knowledge Base.
Still have questions about flying with a disability? Send it to us at rightfootedfoundation “at” gmail “dot” com!
Disclaimer: We are not lawyers or aviation authorities. Do your diligent research for your individual situation before risking life, limb, or money.
