Sport Pilot/Light Sport Aircraft Comes To Life (Sort Of)
By ANN Correspondent John Ballantyne
Well, here it is again. Another year's end. Those who were
turning blue from holding their breath for FAA to release sport
pilot and light sport aircraft are now breathing: shallowly, maybe,
but breathing.
Below you can find the specific items that the FAA has
accomplished after releasing the Sport Pilot regulation. The list
is impressive and the FAA folks involved are really pumping out the
"rolling" implementation plan. The plan contains milestones for
completion of the specific guidance, policy, and infrastructure
necessary for the public to conduct operations and seek
certification under Sport Pilot and Light Sport Aircraft.
At the end of 2004, however, it is not yet possible to become a
sport pilot. Nor is it possible to purchase a Special
(factory-built) Light Sport Aircraft. Therefore the rule's actual
success, or lack thereof, will not become clear for some months to
come. The FAA has taken the big leap by publishing the rule, but
many individuals continue to breathe shallowly as they wait to see
if the rule really fulfills their needs and expectations.
Quick History Lesson
The FAA regulations for Light Sport Aircraft and Sport Pilot had
been in development for, ahhh, very long. Actually, sport pilot
history reaches back to the 1980's when the FAA painfully produced
the Recreational Pilot certificate program, then Primary Category
aircraft airworthiness program for "Advanced Ultralights." Many do
not even remember those regulations because of the non-impact. A
core issue in Recreational Pilot was the proposal to stop requiring
third-class FAA medicals for recreational pilots. The final rule
did require all pilots to pass the FAA medical which, many said,
had defeated the main purpose. Sport Pilot actually has succeeded
in deleting the FAA medical for sport pilots (sort of), but let's
not get ahead of ourselves...
Approximately four years after releasing the ineffective
Recreational Pilot and Primary Category Aircraft, the FAA was still
unable to provide reasonable alternatives for "Fat Ultralights"
(illegal experimental aircraft, technically). Of special challenge
to the FAA were 2-place weight-shift controlled trikes and powered
parachutes for which the FAA had no functional pilot certificates.
So, the FAA formed a formal study group (Aviation Rulemaking
Advisory Committee-ARAC) on Aug 17, 1993. More than 7 years later
there had been dozens of meetings by all interested aviation
groups. On December 21, 1999, the group concluded and a series of
recommendations were forwarded to the FAA.
The FAA turned the recommendations into a Notice of Proposed
Rule Making (NPRM) and published it for public comment on January
25, 2002. The proposal contained very few of the actual
recommendations made by the ARAC working group. One suggestion ARAC
did make to the FAA was that the pilot could simply have a driver
license in lieu of an FAA medical examination. The public notice
created a flurry of discussion and comments through out the light
aircraft community. Nearly 5,000 individuals, companies and
organizations commented ? a historic number. On May 6, 2002, the
FAA took the proposal back in-house to fix it based on the public's
comments. The FAA promised that every comment would be
addressed.