The FAA’s Modernization of Special Airworthiness Certification (MOSAIC) rule fundamentally changes how the agency classifies, certifies and regulates light aircraft. Regulators originally built it to expand traditional general aviation, but MOSAIC now plays a crucial role for smaller, personal and innovative aircraft entering the Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) market.
The FAA finalized the rule on July 24, 2025, and rolled it out in two phases. Phase one took effect October 22, 2025, and reorganized light-sport repairman rules. Phase two arrived July 24, 2026, replacing the old “Light-Sport Aircraft” definition with a new light-sport category airworthiness certificate built on performance metrics rather than weight caps.
From Weight Limits to Performance Metrics
The FAA’s old framework relied on a strict weight-based classification for Light Sport Aircraft (LSA). MOSAIC shifts that foundation toward performance- and design-based metrics. Instead of applying a blanket label to light aircraft, the agency now defines these vehicles by specific operational boundaries. An aircraft must meet several core criteria to earn a special airworthiness certificate in the light-sport category:
1. Regulators removed the old maximum takeoff weight caps entirely, including the 1,320-pound limit that applied to landplanes.
2. Stall speed limits now define the category. Airplanes must not exceed a maximum landing stall speed of 61 knots calibrated airspeed (KCAS) with flaps extended, while gliders and weight-shift control aircraft top out at 45 KCAS.
3. Seating tops out at four seats for airplanes and two seats for every other aircraft class, including powered-lift designs and helicopters.
4. Maximum level-flight speed caps at 250 KCAS for powered aircraft.
5. The rule sets no categorical limits on engine or motor type, count, propeller setup, or landing gear configuration, explicitly welcoming electric, hybrid and turbine power.
That last point matters most for AAM. It legally opens the door for personal electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOLs) and powered-lift designs.
What Sport Pilots Can Actually Fly
The FAA separates aircraft certification from what a sport pilot certificate allows someone to fly. Pilots operating under sport pilot rules face their own limits:
- The aircraft’s clean stall speed must sit at 59 KCAS or below without flaps.
- Occupancy caps at two people total, one pilot and one passenger, even when the aircraft itself seats up to four.
By trading arbitrary weight restrictions for performance metrics like stall speed, and by welcoming electric motors and simplified flight controls for rotorcraft and powered-lift designs, the FAA’s updated definition lets far more capable, technologically advanced personal aircraft enter the light-aircraft ecosystem. MOSAIC officially folds powered-lift aircraft, including multi-copters, personal eVTOLs and e-helicopters, into the light-sport category, allowing up to two occupants for these configurations.
Two Certification Tracks for Two Different Markets
Commercial air taxis from companies like Joby, Archer and BETA still require rigorous, traditional commercial type certification under the transport-category rules in Part 21 and Part 23. MOSAIC does not touch that path.
Personal and consumer-focused eVTOLs follow a different route entirely. These manufacturers can lean on the Statement of Compliance (SOC) pathway instead of the grueling, multi-year Type Certificate (TC) and Production Certificate (PC) process that standard-category aircraft require.
Under the SOC framework, manufacturers demonstrate compliance using industry consensus standards, such as those developed through ASTM, rather than pursuing a traditional Type Certificate. MOSAIC explicitly clears the way for alternative and electric propulsion, distributed electric motors and novel flight-control architectures.
Because many personal eVTOLs depend heavily on computers and flight-control software to stay stable, MOSAIC also accommodates software-managed flight control. Manufacturers must prove the aircraft stays predictably controllable across the flight envelope, including single-motor-failure scenarios, without demanding exceptional piloting skill. The industry calls this approach Simplified Vehicle Operations (SVO).
What Changes on the Ground
MOSAIC carries several concrete implications for the AAM sector as it matures. Startup manufacturers building single- or two-seat personal air vehicles now have a clearer, less burdensome regulatory pathway to fly legally. They can sidestep the timelines and financial gridlock that traditional commercial certification creates.
Flight testing for consumer-focused eVTOLs has picked up pace under the finalized rule. Manufacturers can now map transition corridors, the maneuver of shifting from vertical hover to wing-borne forward flight, against standardized regulatory expectations.
MOSAIC also normalizes the presence of powered-lift aircraft in local airspace. Introducing personal eVTOLs under an accessible regulatory umbrella builds public familiarity, shapes infrastructure expectations around vertistops and charging protocols, and advances the operational acceptance the wider AAM ecosystem needs.
MOSAIC does not replace the heavy certification path that commercial passenger-carrying air taxi networks require for multi-seat commercial operations. Commercial eVTOLs like the Joby S4, Archer Midnight and BETA Alia still need to pursue type certification under 14 CFR Part 21.17(b) as special class aircraft. Because these vehicles don’t fit neatly into traditional airplane or helicopter rules, the FAA built a bespoke certification basis for each one, blending parts of existing regulations (Part 23, Part 27 and others) with dedicated Powered Lift Special Federal Aviation Regulations (SFARs).
These aircraft carry a pilot plus four to five passengers and post maximum gross weights well above legacy limits; Archer’s Midnight, for example, sits around 6,500 pounds. MOSAIC instead targets lighter configurations, largely capped at one to two occupants for powered-lift categories. It still helps de-risk the technology, supply chains and software control systems that heavier AAM developers rely on.
Why the Big Players Still Watch MOSAIC Closely
Even though MOSAIC won’t certify their aircraft, major AAM developers have reason to track the rule. MOSAIC updates light-aircraft and sport-pilot standards, fostering an SVO and digital-flight-control environment that mirrors how next-generation pilots will eventually interact with eVTOL systems.
Commercial air taxis remain the industry’s immediate priority, but executives, including leadership at Joby, have noted that a lighter regulatory framework or future rule iterations could eventually open direct-to-consumer private ownership models once the technology matures.
Who’s Building Toward MOSAIC Right Now
A handful of developers are actively working through the MOSAIC pathway for their personal eVTOL programs.
AIR, the Israeli eVTOL developer, cleared a major regulatory milestone in July 2026 when the FAA accepted the final set of ASTM consensus standards needed to demonstrate compliance for light-sport powered-lift aircraft under MOSAIC. That acceptance, effective July 24, 2026, gives AIR a clear pathway to pursue a special airworthiness certificate for its AIR ONE aircraft and move toward delivering it to more than 4,000 customers on the company’s wait list. AIR has not yet received the certificate itself.
Doroni Aerospace aligned its certification roadmap for the Doroni H1-X, a two-seat personal eVTOL, once MOSAIC’s phase-two provisions took effect. Because MOSAIC replaced rigid weight limits with performance metrics like stall speed and folded powered-lift aircraft into the light-sport category, the H1-X fits the streamlined compliance process built around industry consensus standards rather than a traditional commercial Type Certificate. Doroni’s own public statements are explicit that the H1-X “is not yet certified,” even as the company continues engineering, testing and manufacturing validation work.
Both companies illustrate the broader pattern. Rather than undergoing the years-long, expensive commercial Type Certification and Production Certification processes that heavy commercial air taxis require, these manufacturers use MOSAIC’s SOC pathway to bring personal, one-to-two-occupant eVTOLs to market faster under light-sport and sport-pilot operating rules.
MOSAIC’s Ripple Effect on eIPP Test Sites
MOSAIC and the eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP) serve entirely different tracks of the AAM ecosystem, splitting along the line between light personal aircraft and heavy commercial air taxis. Even so, MOSAIC shapes the broader environment eIPP test sites operate within, in several ways.
The eIPP test sites, spanning regions from the Northeast to the Gulf of Mexico, must integrate eVTOLs into busy or complex airspace. MOSAIC introduces a wave of smaller, personal, consumer-focused powered-lift aircraft into the National Airspace System (NAS). eIPP corridors and local air traffic controllers will increasingly manage a blended traffic environment containing both commercial air taxis and MOSAIC-certified personal aircraft.
eIPP sites test how low-altitude air traffic management, including UTAM and NextGen ATC, handles high volumes of electric aircraft. As MOSAIC enables more personal eVTOLs to fly, these test corridors must account for lighter traffic mixing alongside commercial air taxis.
MOSAIC heavily accommodates software-driven flight controls and SVO for light aircraft. Many eIPP participants test similar automated and fly-by-wire technologies. Data on handling qualities and safety margins gathered from MOSAIC-eligible personal eVTOLs should help inform broader acceptance of software-managed flight controls tested at eIPP corridors.
The eIPP sites work actively on community integration, public perception and local vertiport or helipad use. Personal eVTOLs entering the market under MOSAIC can serve as early pioneers for public familiarity. Seeing smaller consumer eVTOLs fly locally can help build the baseline acceptance that eIPP commercial routes will depend on to succeed.
eIPP cities rely on community acceptance to establish vertiports and flight paths. The rollout of consumer eVTOLs under MOSAIC gives local municipalities and residents an early, lower-stakes chance to grow accustomed to electric, vertical-lift aircraft operating in their neighborhoods.
The Bottom Line
The FAA’s MOSAIC rule marks a crucial turning point for aviation by bridging legacy light-sport regulations with the future of AAM. By abandoning rigid weight limits in favor of performance-based metrics like stall speed, and by explicitly incorporating powered-lift configurations, MOSAIC provides a streamlined, accessible pathway for personal eVTOL pioneers like AIR and Doroni to pursue certification.
Heavy commercial air taxis from Joby, Archer and BETA will keep navigating bespoke, transport-category certification paths under Part 21.17(b). For them, MOSAIC performs a complementary function. It de-risks critical technologies, normalizes software-driven SVO and lays groundwork for public acceptance in local airspace.
The rule ensures the future of electric flight won’t belong exclusively to commercial air networks. It opens the skies to a consumer-driven era of personal air mobility as well.