Received Certificate At Sebring

Flight Design and LAMA, the Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association, jointly announced at the 2008 Sebring US Sport Aviation Expo that Flight Design successfully completed an independent audit of the ASTM standards compliance.

The audits are intended to insure industry consensus standards are being followed. Such audits are voluntary and performed at the expense of the manufacturer.

At a ceremony in front of the company's new CTLS model on January 19, LAMA president Tom Gunnarson presented Flight Design USA president Tom Peghiny with a certificate of completion (shown below).

With the process complete, Flight Design may begin applying the LAMA Label, a seal authenticating that Flight Design declaration documents are valid as the company has demonstrated meeting every section of the F37 standard 2245. This ASTM standard includes sections such as Design and Performance, Quality Assurance, Maintenance, Continued Airworthiness, and more.

"We are pleased to report that our Statement of Compliance was upheld by [LAMA contractor] Aviation Services," said Flight Design CEO Matthias Betsch. The examination provides an outside review of the documentation and testing used to make the FAA Statement of Compliance required to produce fully built Special Light-Sport Aircraft.

"Flight Design's new CTLS is not just a beautiful aircraft but represents an advanced manufacturing system," said LAMA's Gunnarson, who added LAMA audits involve an intensive document review, a physical visit to the factory, and a follow-up engineering review, all by persons not employed by the company being audited.

Gunnarson traveled to Ukraine and Germany as part of the LAMA review.

EAA has also voiced strong support for compliance audits and the LAMA Label that can be applied to an aircraft. "As this program matures, we'll encourage our members to look for the LAMA Label to identify aircraft that have been evaluated for compliance with ASTM standards," said Earl Lawrence, EAA's vice president of government and industry relations.

Flight Design is a 22-year-old air sport products producer based in Germany. Over 1,000 of its aircraft are flying in 25 countries.

FMI: www.flightdesign.com, www.lama.aero