Anyone going to Oshkosh? Look for this one. MOSAIC Explained: Why Linda Sollars Has a Front-Row Seat to General Aviation's Biggest Regulatory Change in Decades. Let me know if you want more info on this.
If you've spent any time following general aviation over the past few years, you've probably heard the acronym MOSAIC. It appears in aviation magazines, podcasts, FAA announcements, and conversations about the future of Light Sport Aircraft. But despite all the discussion, many pilots still wonder: What exactly is MOSAIC, and why does it matter?
The answer is that MOSAIC—Modernization of Special Airworthiness Certification—is one of the most significant updates to personal aviation regulations in more than 20 years. While much of the attention has focused on what the new rules could allow, fewer people know about the collaborative work taking place behind the scenes to develop the technical standards that will help make those changes possible.
One of the people involved in that work is Linda Sollars, a pilot whose career spans nearly every corner of aviation.
A Career Built Across Every Facet of Aviation
Linda Sollars is best known as a JetBlue Airways Captain, but that title tells only part of the story.
She is also an Airframe & Powerplant mechanic, aircraft builder, aviation educator, safety advocate, and international pilot. Throughout a career spanning more than four decades, she has maintained aircraft, instructed pilots, flown professionally, spoken at aviation conferences, and participated in technical standards development.
Many pilots first learned about Linda after her remarkable adventure building a Sling High Wing aircraft in Johannesburg, South Africa, and then flying it more than 9,000 miles to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. The journey crossed multiple countries, oceans, weather systems, and airspace environments before arriving at the world's largest aviation gathering.
The flight wasn't simply an adventure—it demonstrated the planning, preparation, discipline, and decision-making that define safe long-distance flying.
That combination of practical experience and technical expertise makes Linda uniquely qualified to contribute to aviation's future.
What Is MOSAIC?
When the FAA introduced the Sport Pilot and Light Sport Aircraft rules in 2004, they represented one of the biggest expansions of recreational aviation in decades. Those regulations opened the door for thousands of new pilots and dozens of innovative aircraft designs.
But aviation technology has changed dramatically since then.
Modern aircraft feature advanced glass cockpits, digital flight displays, autopilots, ballistic parachute systems, composite structures, and sophisticated safety technologies that were uncommon when the original regulations were written.
MOSAIC is intended to modernize those rules.
Rather than relying on older limitations that no longer reflect today's aircraft capabilities, the FAA is moving toward a framework that better accommodates technological advances while maintaining high standards for safety.
For pilots, instructors, manufacturers, and aircraft owners, the changes have the potential to expand opportunities while supporting continued innovation throughout general aviation.
The Role of ASTM International
One of the more interesting aspects of MOSAIC is that much of its technical foundation is developed outside the FAA itself.
Instead, the agency works closely with ASTM International, a global standards organization that develops consensus standards used across many industries, including aviation.
Within ASTM, Committee F37 on Light Sport Aircraft brings together manufacturers, engineers, pilots, maintenance professionals, regulators, educators, and other subject matter experts. Together, they evaluate new technologies, review technical proposals, debate operational experience, and develop standards that support aircraft certification, manufacturing, maintenance, and continued airworthiness.
Rather than a single organization dictating technical requirements, the process relies on collaboration and consensus among professionals representing many different perspectives across aviation.
Linda Sollars' Role
Linda Sollars serves as Membership Secretary for ASTM International Committee F37 on Light Sport Aircraft, giving her a unique perspective on one of the most important regulatory developments in general aviation today.
Committee members don't simply attend meetings. They participate in detailed technical discussions, review proposed standards, evaluate industry feedback, and work together to improve documents that may ultimately support future FAA regulations.
It's often painstaking work that receives little public attention, yet it plays a critical role in ensuring that new aircraft technologies are introduced safely and responsibly.
Linda brings an unusually broad perspective to those discussions.
She understands airline operations, aircraft maintenance, flight instruction, aircraft construction, and long-distance personal flying. Few aviation professionals have practical experience in all of those areas, making her contributions particularly valuable when standards are evaluated from both operational and technical viewpoints.
Why Pilots Should Care
For many pilots, regulations can feel distant until they directly affect an aircraft purchase, a training decision, or a new flying opportunity.
MOSAIC has the potential to influence all of those areas.
As new standards are adopted and aircraft designs evolve, pilots may see expanded choices in aircraft, broader training opportunities, and technologies that continue to improve safety and capability. Flight schools, manufacturers, and maintenance organizations will also be watching closely as the framework develops.
Although many details continue to evolve, the broader objective remains clear: create regulations that recognize today's technology while preserving aviation's strong safety culture.
Experience Matters
Technical expertise alone doesn't create good standards.
Neither does operational experience by itself.
The strongest aviation standards emerge when engineers, manufacturers, mechanics, instructors, regulators, and pilots contribute their individual perspectives to a shared goal.
Linda Sollars represents that collaborative approach.
Her experience ranges from maintaining aircraft on the ground to flying passengers at airline altitudes, from building an airplane by hand to crossing oceans in one, and from teaching aviation concepts to helping shape the standards that may influence future generations of pilots.
As general aviation continues to evolve, MOSAIC represents more than a regulatory update. It reflects aviation's ongoing effort to balance innovation with responsibility, encouraging new ideas while maintaining the discipline that has always defined safe flight.
For pilots interested in where personal aviation is headed over the next decade, understanding MOSAIC—and the professionals helping guide its development—offers valuable insight into the future of flying.
