Zodiac CH601XL and 650 Update

The Zodiac CH601XL has had a rough few years. There have been six in-flight structural failures resulting in an effective grounding of the fleet and mandatory modifications to all aircraft. The FAA recently released an official report on the situation.

While an AOPA article has links to several stories and reports about the situation, it's the EAA that published an in-depth review and discussion of the FAA's report.

This report and a previous Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) seem to address the issues pretty well. However, a December survey conducted by the EAA shows that, even fairly recently, there were a lot of owner/operators unconvinced that the FAA had identified any common threads in the accidents that could point to a factual cause of the accidents. The survey is pretty interesting to read and can be found here.

The Zenith Aircraft website didn't have a response to the FAA report. Their most recent comment on this issue was an announcement of the SAIB and a recommendation to adhere to it. I'd be interested to know how this is affecting Zenair's sales. I hope the fixes they've been able to develop do enough to keep people buying, building and flying their aircraft.

One significant outcome of all this is that it brings into question some of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards used for Light Sport Aircraft. The LSAs governed by the Sport Pilot rule are unique in that they don't have to conform to the FAA's rigorous standards for normal category and higher aircraft. Instead, the FAA allowed the LSA industry to work together to develop their own standards under the ASTM. The idea was that this would allow development of new aircraft to be significantly cheaper and quicker, while maintaining levels of safety that were beneficial to the industry as a whole. I think this plan has been largely successful; however, some provisions of this are being challenged as a result of the CH601 accidents. The FAA is proposing that some aspects of LSA design be required to adhere to 14 CFR Part 23...the section governing normal category aircraft.

While this may be necessary to ensure proper safety of aircraft design, I'm a bit worried that it could set a precedent. It would seem stupid for designers to be required to adhere to the ASTM for some things and the FARs for others. This could also give the FAA free reign to force LSAs to adhere to 14 CFR 23 for other aspects of designs...whether it's necessary or not.

What do you think, is this worry justified or am I blowing things out of proportion? Are we starting down a slippery slope or is this an isolated situation that will serve us well?