The very idea of a sport aircraft seems the antithesis of IFR flying. These are fun-to-fly two-seaters, not foul-weather traveling machines. The biggest share of buyers right now are folks with fat log books and thinning hairlines who have a "don't ask, don't tell" relationship with their medical certificates—or owners of larger aircraft who just got tired of $4000 annuals. Flight training is the other target market. Light-sport aircraft (LSAs) can be used to train private pilots and instrument pilots. In fact, they are doing it right now. But because we believe in taking private and instrument students in the soup, a good IFR trainer must be IMC-capa-ble. Capable means legal and safe. Could a sport plane do this? Yes and yes ... with a few caveats.
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