Originally Posted by
IO540
Against that I see a high proportion of homebuilt accidents involving structural failure which is extremely rare on the CofA scene. One needs only to walk around any homebuilt show to see how flimsy a lot of them are. To get the weight down, something has to give somewhere...
Actually not really true - all aeroplanes are necessarily fairly flimsy, but the structural standards for CofA and PtF aeroplanes in the UK are identical (they aren't incidentally in Germany or France.) However, where there are significant differences is in burdens of proof, oversight of manufacture, minimum flying qualities standards and requirements for operating documentation.
There are a reasonable number of PtF aeroplanes - the Zenair CH601 for example, with handling qualities that would not make it too hard to pull the wings off because of the very low stick forces. Whilst there are a few, there are only very few CofA aeroplanes with those sort of handling characteristics.
However, yes, there are plenty of PtF aeroplanes that would be fine to learn to fly in - and you can so long as either you're the sole owner, it is a type-approved microlight or gyroplane, or the instructor does it for free. The rules are however unfortunately set for the minimum standard permitted of a PtF aircraft, rather than necessarily the highest or even average standard, and we aren't going to change them very easily.
G