Flight Design expects FAA certification of F2

Flight Design USA President Tom Peghiny reported at the Sun ’n Fun Aerospace Expo in Lakeland, Florida, that the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA—the European aviation certification body) has submitted a validation request to the FAA Small Aircraft Standards Branch in Kansas City, Missouri, which puts the new two-seat aircraft a step closer to FAA certification. (Validation is the process by which EASA and other civil aviation authorities submit certification packages for aircraft certified under their authority to the FAA for acceptance.)

The F2 was certified under EASA’s CS-23 certification (the equivalent of the FAA’s FAR Part 23) standards in December.

“The recent update and rewrite of both Part 23 and CS-23 has improved the harmonization of the two standards and is generally accepted around the world,” Peghiny said.

“This is the important first step in bringing the F2’s CS-23 version to the United States,” he continued. “We expect the certified version of the F2 to be even more popular than the S-LSA version that was accepted by the FAA in June 2021.”

Flight Design believes FAR Part 23-approved CS-23 F2 will prove to be an affordable way for flight schools to bring a new-technology trainer into their fleets. The company plans to import an IFR-approved version of the F2 to the United States and Canada—to be sold along with the F2’s day/night, VFR-approved S-LSA.

Flight Design has been severely impacted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine; one of its factories is located in Kherson, Ukraine, under Russian occupation since early March.

“The factory is intact and a small crew is present daily to manage the site and produce spare parts,” Peghiny said. “Flight Design is moving rapidly to begin F2 production in Sumperk, in the Czech Republic.”