FAR Part Twenty-Two Clears the Sling and the R V for IMC Training, and What a Composite Trainer in the Clouds Means for the Flight School Down the Road

The FAA’s new Federal Aviation Regulation Part 22 now allows Sling Aircraft North America and Van’s Aircraft to deliver their long-serving two-seat trainers into instrument training service, meaning students can log actual instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) in these airplanes at a flight school. This clearance, reported by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) drawing on the manufacturers and the FAA’s own rulemaking, opens a modern, fuel-efficient path to the instrument rating that was previously reserved for the aging certified fleet. Both manufacturers say they are ready to deliver now.

What Part 22 Actually Changes

For years, the Sling and the RV family of two-seaters lived in a specific regulatory box. In many of their configurations, these airplanes came to market as experimental or light-sport aircraft - efficient, modern airframes with glass panels that fly beautifully and sip fuel compared to older trainers.

But that box came with a fence. An experimental airplane historically carries operating limitations, and light-sport aircraft under the old definition were often daytime, visual-flight-rules territory. If you wanted to teach actual cloud-penetrating, needles-and-numbers instrument flying, you were pushed back toward the certified fleet - the Cessna 172, the Piper Archer, airplanes certified under Part 23.

That created a gap: a new generation of efficient, affordable two-seaters on one side, and the instrument rating on the other, with the two not always meeting.

Part 22 is the bridge across that gap. It is a new airworthiness pathway - a modernized set of standards written for exactly this class of airplane: light, two seats, purpose-built for training. Instead of forcing a modern trainer into rules written decades ago or leaving it stuck in the experimental category, Part 22 gives it a home of its own. Critically, that home includes instrument meteorological conditions.

Why This Matters for Pilots

This is not just a technicality. The airplane is now certificated in a category that a flight school can put on its line, that a Part 141 or Part 61 school can use to train instrument students, and - importantly - that an insurance underwriter can get comfortable with.

That last part matters more than people realize. A rule change is only real when the insurance follows it.

For Student Pilots

Instrument training has grown more expensive every year, largely because the certified training fleet is old, maintenance-hungry, and shrinking. Every airplane pulled off the line for a cylinder or a magneto raises the rental rate you pay.

A modern two-seater cleared for instrument training means more airplanes available, potentially lower operating costs, and glass panels that mirror what you’ll actually fly later. You may earn your rating in an airplane burning five or six gallons an hour instead of nine or ten. Over 40 hours of instrument time, that adds up to real money.

For Flight Instructors

This widens your toolbox. Teaching instruments in an airplane with a modern integrated panel, a real autopilot, and honest, predictable handling is a better environment for the scan, for automation management, and for teaching students to fly the modern cockpit they’ll spend a career in. These airplanes were designed in this century - the avionics are not bolted-on afterthoughts.

For Flight School Owners

This is the line that hits your balance sheet. You now have a path to an instrument-capable trainer that costs less to buy, feed, and maintain than the aging certified fleet. Sling and Van’s both say they are ready to deliver - meaning this is not a rule pending future rulemaking three years out. The airplanes exist, the manufacturers are standing by, and the pipeline is open.

The Caution Light: Legal Is Not the Same as Wise

A new regulatory pathway is a living thing. Part 22 is new, and new rules get refined as the fleet grows and the FAA and manufacturers learn how the category behaves in the real world.

If you train in one of these airplanes, understand the specific operating limitations of the specific airplane in front of you. Airworthiness category is not a blanket - it’s a document. Read the airplane flight manual, know your equipment list, and know what’s required to be installed and functioning for instrument flight. IFR-legal means a specific list of gear that all has to work, and that doesn’t change just because the airframe is modern.

And here’s the honest part: certification for IMC clears the airplane, not the pilot. The clouds don’t care what category your airplane holds. Actual instrument conditions demand currency, proficiency, and judgment, and a newer, more capable airplane can quietly tempt a low-time pilot into weather beyond them. The rule expands what’s possible - it doesn’t expand what’s wise. That gap between legal and smart is where a lot of accidents live.

The Bigger Trend

For the last decade, the light end of aviation has been fragmented: experimental in one corner, light-sport in another, certified in its own expensive corner. Pilots and schools have had to navigate a patchwork that didn’t always make sense.

Part 22 is part of a broader push to modernize that structure - to let modern, safe, efficient airplanes do the jobs they were built for without being trapped by rules written for a different era. Getting proven two-seat trainers into instrument service is exactly the kind of practical, real-world win that effort is meant to deliver.

If you’re shopping for where to earn your instrument rating, the fleet you’re choosing from just got newer, and probably cheaper. Ask your flight school what they’re flying - the answer may have just changed.

Key Takeaways

• FAR Part 22 is a new FAA airworthiness pathway that clears Sling and Van’s (RV) two-seat trainers for instrument training in actual IMC at flight schools.
• The rule bridges the gap between modern, fuel-efficient trainers and the instrument rating, which previously required the certified Part 23 fleet.
• Because the airplanes are now certificated, they can be used by Part 141 and Part 61 schools and insured by underwriters - and both manufacturers say they are ready to deliver now.
• Expect lower operating costs (roughly 5–6 gph vs. 9–10 gph) and modern glass panels that better prepare students for advanced aircraft.
• Certification clears the airplane, not the pilot: know your airplane’s paperwork and operating limitations, and respect that legal IFR still demands currency, proficiency, and judgment.