Yes, I think that's a good point XXX. I had a very illuminating conversation with a helpful CASA guy about the merits of LSA vs VLA. It'd be academic for most people but a bit more interesting for me, with the aircraft as it is. In addition to the picture you paint, there's an equivalent GA twist. Put simply, if your LSA manufacturer goes bust, and you're VH registered, you're back to 'experimental' and all that entails. Another reason to choose your manufacturer carefully, I guess. While 60 years of Tecnam gives a bit of confidence in their corporate longevity, the discussion was enough to curtail any thoughts, however academic, of (possible?) re-certification to LSA.
That said, one downside with the VLA certified version is that new installations come with all the change order requirements etc that we know and love on other GA aircraft.
I didn't buy the aircraft new but the particular model and outfitting ticked a few boxes in terms of what I wanted as my Sunday afternoon puddle-jumper, so I was prepared to give the VLA world a go. So far, so good.
To answer your other question, yes the JF model tacho reads prop rpm, rather than Rotax engine rpm. I've always presumed it's to make pilots see more traditional numbers in GA training applications. I guess it's just a case of re-scaling the tacho face appropriately. JF also has Hoffman prop, btw.
Last edited by tecman; 2nd Jul 2013 at 09:17.
Reason: added info