The Sport Pilot Rule

Sport pilot has changed everything! In August of 2004 the FAA unveiled the long awaited Sport Pilot rule.  The EAA and other organizations had lobbied for many years to convince the FAA to create a new category of aircraft and a new, easily obtainable pilot's license.  They argued that a private license was too expensive and difficult to achieve therefore hindering many aspiring aviators from getting into the sport.  The FAA had attempted once before to create an easier way for people to enter the world of flight.  They called it the Recreational Pilot's License.  However, this was a dismal failure for many reasons.  So, this time they listened more closely to the EAA,  really trying to understand this foreign concept of flying for fun, and the long awaited Sport Pilot Rule has now, finally, created.... a lot of confusion!

The Sport Pilot License. This is a whole new type of Pilot Certificate issued by the FAA.  This license allows a person to fly any aircraft that meets the criteria of Light Sport Aircraft (LSA).  These can be existing certificated aircraft such as a Piper Cub, Experimental Amateur Built (EAB) such as a two seat Challenger, Special Light Sport (SLSA) explained in detail later, or an Experimental Light Sport Aircraft (ELSA) explained in detail later.  To obtain a Sport Pilot License, you must log at least 15 hours of dual instruction, at least 5 hours of solo, fly some cross country hours, take a written test and a checkride.  There is no requirement to have a medical, just a valid driver's license.  BUT... if you have ever failed an FAA medical, you cannot fly as a Sport Pilot until you get that cleared up.  So, that sounds easy right!  Well, it really isn't too bad now that more flight instructors and schools are beginning to warm up to the idea.  However, we were promised that it would be less expensive to obtain a sport pilot license, right?  In my area, a Cessna 150 (way to fat to be an LSA) rents for $70 hr. wet.  A shiny new SLSA rents for $95 hr. wet.  The 20 hours of flight time required usually creeps up to 30 or 40 hours.  By that time most people are have either given up, or are so far in the hole they figure they might as well take a couple more hours, get a medical and go Private Pilot.  So it seems to have ended up so far that most Sport Pilots out there are people who were Private Pilots and let their medical lapse, or people who are afraid to attempt to get a medical.  But in the end, I guess this rule will help a lot of people into the air that may not have otherwise been able to.  The people who really have gotten thrown under the bus by this rule are the ultralight pilots.  This rule did not affect part 103 directly, but it did eliminate the training endorsement for part 103.  Once the Sport Pilot Rule is fully phased in, there will be no more ultralight instructors.  They will all have to become Sport Pilot Instructors.  Which is not a terrible thing I suppose.  But what has really hurt ultralight aviation is that no longer can a person legitimately accept money for training in a two seat ultralight or an experimental aircraft.  Only SLSA aircraft can be used for hire for training.  At $95 hr to rent an SLSA, ultralight training becomes cost prohibitive to most people.  And even if some people can afford that, the SLSA's being built today have totally different flight characteristics than an ultralight.  This will most likely result in many more people attempting to fly an ultralight without any training resulting obviously in many accidents and fatalities that never should have been.  I mean really, is getting training from a qualified instructor in an experimental aircraft more dangerous than flying without training?

The Light Sport Aircraft. There are four types of aircraft a Sport Pilot may fly.  Special Light Sport Aircraft (SLSA), Experimental Light Sport Aircraft (ELSA), Experimental Amateur Built (EAB) provided it meets the light sport criteria, and Standard Aircraft provided it meets light sport criteria.  Light sport criteria is spelled out in detail on EAA's Web site, but essentially it is any aircraft that is one or two seats, weighs 1320 lbs max takeoff weight, stalls at 51 mph or less, and max level speed is 138 mph or less.  Many standard aircraft meet this criteria such as a Piper Cub, Aeronca Champ, Ercoupe, etc.  Also many Experimental aircraft  qualify such as my personal favorite, the CHALLENGER!   Of course there are many Special Light Sport aircraft available today, but since most are crowding six figures on the price tag, they are not really practical for most people.  There will be many fat Ultralights that are able to transition into ELSA up until the deadline of January 31 2008.  After that, becoming an ELSA is a bit more complicated.  To be eligible for ELSA you must have a statement of compliance to the consensus standards from the manufacturer. This becomes the road block for ELSA.  If a person builds a new kit airplane, let's say a CHALLENGER for example, he may have two options for an airworthiness certificate.  He could go ELSA, or EAB.  The benefits to both are nearly equal.  He can do all the maintenance on it either way.  If he goes ELSA, he will have to take a 16 hour course to get an inspection authorization to do his own annual.  If he goes EAB, he gets a repairmen certificate for that airplane.  Now he can do everything an A&P can do on that airplane including the annual.  So in reality there is no benefit to certifying it ELSA.  The Challenger factory has foreseen this and not invested the considerable amount of money necessary to create the mountain of paperwork necessary to satisfy the FAA.  Therefore, all Challengers built after January 31, 2008 will be either a legal ultralight or will be registered EAB.  There is, however one drawback to this situation.  With ELSA, there is no 51% rule.  This means a dealer could actually build an ELSA for his customer.  In the current situation, we will not be able to do that.  However, we do have a good deal of liberty to provide builder assistance to help a novice builder get into the air quickly and safely and have a nicely built aircraft.  Here at Heavenbound I have a friend who is an experienced full time A&P who is providing this service.