Podcast: How MOSAIC Will Shake Up AAM And Bizav

Aviation Week's Jeremy Kariuki, Molly McMillin and Ben Goldstein discuss the FAA's finalization of MOSAIC—the game-changing rule set to bring larger flexibility to light sport aircraft, flight training and more.

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Jeremy Kariuki: Hello and welcome back to the BCA Podcast by Aviation Week Network. I'm your host, Jeremy Kariuki, and today I'm joined by my colleagues Molly McMillan and Ben Goldstein to discuss MOSAIC. It's been a large point of conversation over the past week or two given that while we were at Oshkosh, Molly and I were watching as U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that it was coming out that very day. So without further ado, let's jump right into it. Molly, what's going on with MOSAIC in terms of the light-sport aircraft category?

Molly McMillin: Right, you're right. We were both there at the announcement and it was a hot afternoon and there were probably, I don't know, 500 people shoulder to shoulder listening to Secretary Duffy saying that the rule had been finalized and signed. So it was people were cheering and it created quite the news for Oshkosh. But basically it modernizes the light aircraft category and it expands the sport pilot privileges by quite a bit. For one thing, it expands the definition of what light-sport is so that it will enlarge the amount and the kind of aircraft that qualify for sport pilots to fly them. They can have — used to be formerly there was a weight limit and it could only have two seats and not four. Now it can have four seats, which is a big thing, although a sport pilot can still take only one passenger, but the scope of it — new entrance can include rotorcraft and powered-lift, and Ben will talk about what it means for his part of the world with AAM and eVTOL, but like a Cessna 172 is included. Retractable landing gear pilots can fly at night where they used to not be able to, again with extra training in that. So it really is a huge change in this category.

Jeremy Kariuki: So I haven't personally read all 700-odd pages of MOSAIC, but it sounds like it opens up a lot of flexibility for manufacturers in terms of aircraft on the smaller side. Ben, are we seeing that same sort of reaction on the AAM side of things?

Ben Goldstein: Yeah, absolutely. So this is really huge for advanced air mobility by enabling larger and higher performance designs as well as novel propulsion types and architectures. The FAA, what they've done is they've really opened the door for a lot of developers of AAM aircraft, be they eVTOLs or even electric conventional or short takeoff and landing aircraft or hybrid or even potentially hydrogen electric. So lots of possibilities to potentially qualify under this MOSAIC rule. And that's huge because many of these companies are startup companies who are operating on very tight budgets, and it's extremely expensive to get a clean sheet type certification, especially of a novel aircraft type. So in many ways, the previous light-sport aircraft roles were kind of holding back innovation in the smallest category of airplanes, which is really actually where a lot of the AAM developers have set their sights because battery aircraft are sort of limited in their capabilities.

So a lot of people are looking at those smallest segments of the market as a place to begin innovating. So this is a really big deal. In addition to what Molly said about increasing size and allowing for more seats, it also lifts an explicit previous ban that had restricted propulsion types. Now under MOSAIC, we can have any number of engines, motors, and that's huge because this enables distributed electric propulsion and a lot of really cool architectures be they lift plus cruise or tilt-rotor type designs. So there's really an explosion of possibilities for propulsion, and that can be electric, hybrid or hydrogen or really anything now. And having heavier aircraft means you can have more room for batteries which are very heavy also. So that's really, really key here. If I can go on Jeremy, just in terms of certification, right, there's a lot of flexibility here now because a lot of these companies, these AAM startups are also developing their own electric motors, battery packs and other components and systems.

And what they can do under MOSAIC is they can certify in a more flexible, modular, incremental way that kind of streamlines and simplifies the process in many respects. So I guess just to sum it up, what I would say is they lift previous prohibitions on propulsion and novel architectures, which is huge. And the other really key aspect to keep in mind is that by not having to do a very costly type certification, a lot of startup companies that are really trying to innovate are going to be able to get to the market much more affordably, and hopefully we'll have a lot more sustainability and innovation coming.

Jeremy Kariuki: Awesome. Yeah. So I'd like to talk more about some of those roadblocks that have been effectively removed. Molly in particular, there were two aspects that received a pretty raucous applause at Oshkosh, and they were the changes in weight limits and maximum stall speeds. Could you talk more about that?

Molly McMillin: Sure. Previously, an airplane could weigh no more than 1,320 pounds, or I guess for seaplanes it was a little more than that, 1,430. So it eliminates that weight limit and it increases stall speeds to 59 knots clean. That adds a lot. It's more performance based than very strict needing this or that. As a personal note, my dad was a private pilot for years and he had light-sport pilot or being a sport pilot, you can fly with a valid driver's license, U.S. driver's license, but you couldn't have lost your medical certification to fly. And he was getting older and he had to take his medical every year and he wanted to become a sport pilot, but he owned a 1956 Piper Tri-Pacer, which was not Sport Pilot certified, but he had talked about, well, what if I take out the back seats and I take out the weight?

But it still wouldn't have qualified under a previous requirement. So I was just thinking about my dad. He could have been flying that Pacer under these new sport pilot rules. But basically beyond that, people are excited because for the training benefits, now you can go to a flight school down at the local airport and you can train to become a sport pilot in a 172, they will have airplanes that fit this category to learn to fly in, which will bring more people into that category. And the hope is once you start feeding the food chain even at the lowest of levels, then they can go on and get their private pilot's license, get their multi-engine commercial and start feeding that food chain, and that will bring more people, plus it will lower the cost of training like in half if now you need fewer hours, and that means fewer, less cost, and it will just make aircraft more accessible to train and to rent to fly. So there's a lot of opportunity I think that people are excited about in this change.

Jeremy Kariuki: Absolutely. And I think sustainability is also going to get a bit of a boon here because thinking in the vein of maybe like the Velis Electro, a fully electric trainer aircraft. So my question to either of you is are we going to see more aircraft from OEMs that are suited for this category that are either hybrid electric or fully electric, or just have some sort of non-conventional propulsion? Are we going to see more of that coming up soon?

Ben Goldstein: I would hope so, Jeremy. There's a number of companies that had been hoping to certify under MOSAIC. I'll give you an example. There's a company AIR, A-I-R, which is an Israeli startup that's also now has a U.S. presence as well. And they were trying to aspiring to certify under MOSAIC. However, with all the uncertainty around the FAA's process, they were also simultaneously doing at the same time in parallel a type certification. And now they're relieved. They don't have to do the TC, they can just go to market easier with MOSAIC. Some other companies, single-seat eVTOLs like Pivotal, Jetson, which are really for personal private ownership. So most of these aircraft that would be under MOSAIC, we're not talking about Archer and Joby and other commercial air taxi companies that people think about. We're talking about aircraft that are a little more niche for private ownership, maybe high net worth individuals.

And there's a lot of companies, small companies chasing after those markets. In addition, you mentioned the Velis Electro. It's not only eVTOL if that's a trainer and there's other companies like a company Bye Aerospace, B-Y-E, Colorado-based, they're developing a two-seat electric trainer. They've mentioned MOSAIC before. I don't know 100 percent if they're going to qualify under MOSAIC, but I'm pretty sure they designed. So potentially they can. And that's really the hope here, is that we can start getting some sustainable battery-powered aircraft under MOSAIC, and that would offer a stepping stone, right? We can start doing more lower, lower hurdle, lower hanging fruit applications like flight training and personal ownership. And then as technology matures, as these companies and the industry matures with public adoption, etc., we will have opportunities for larger and more higher performing electric and hybrid electric aircraft to enter the commercial segment too. But the MOSAIC represents a valuable opportunity for developers of these kinds of aircraft to really get a foothold in the market without spending too much money.

Molly McMillin: And I think that brings back what Secretary Duffy said at this announcement, that the rules have not been updated for 20 years, and a lot has changed. Previous rules that were outdated, they really held back pilots and builders and they held back innovation. So this opens that door up has been so well noted for new programs, new innovations. So I think there's a lot of excitement surrounding this new ruling.

Jeremy Kariuki: Yeah, I think so too.

Ben Goldstein: There is, and I would also add JoeBen Bevirt, the founder and CEO of Joby was really thrilled about the MOSAIC ruling. He issued a public statement that was very positive. And while Joby won't obviously qualify under MOSAIC, I think a lot of the visionaries of the eVTOL industry, the real prize they have in the back of their mind is eventually enabling private ownership, personal use. So a lot of these founders are really excited that this is going to be a real paradigm shift in in-person mobility.

Jeremy Kariuki: Absolutely. And Molly, even though that there's a lot of focus on lighter aircraft and about the categorization of certain things, does this finalization have any impact or measurable impact on the business aviation side of things?

Molly McMillin: Well, I think anytime, I know the business aviation companies are really excited about this. Anytime you can start bringing more people into the industry and get that spark ignited and going, it's good for everyone, right? Because a certain number will stick with it and go beyond light-sport. And Jack Pelton, who is chair of the Experimental Aircraft Association, he said this is the biggest change that he has seen in his entire career. And he was previously CEO of Cessna Aircraft now Textron Aviation, he's been in aviation his whole career. And he said, this is the one biggest change that he's seen. So it will have trickle-down effect. And I think right now people are studying this to analyze it and see where it really falls within their own organizations and what they want to do with it. It will take a little bit of time to kind of figure it all out probably, but they're very excited.

Jeremy Kariuki: Absolutely. And we haven't really seen the last of that MOSAIC actually, because there's things that are going to be changing over the next couple months, is that correct?

Molly McMillin: Right. The changes to the pilot privileges are effective 90 days after the final rule's publication and the aircraft certification rule changes will take effect in a year. So it'll be rolled out as we go.

Ben Goldstein: I would just add maybe that to summarize, there's always a tension between trying to regulate prescriptively for safety and also doing so in a way that doesn't stifle innovation. And I think what the FAA is doing here is just trying to strike a better balance. I think the old rules, they worked well for a while, but they were not keeping up with the pace of innovation in the industry. So we need a more flexible set of rules, and I think that's what the FAA has done.

Jeremy Kariuki: And the FAA has delivered it seems if the applause at Oshkosh has anything to go by. Unfortunately, that's all the time we have for today. Molly, Ben, thank you so much for joining me. Thanks for listening to the BCA Podcast by Aviation Week Network. If you enjoyed the show, please make sure to subscribe or follow us on your podcast app of choice. If you'd like to support the show, please give us a rating wherever you listen. Thanks again, and we'll see you next time.