FAA Sport Pilot instructor Privileges and Responsibilities
By ANN Correspondent John Ballentyne
Jay Tevis, FAA Aviation
Safety Inspector, gave a presentation discussing Sport Pilot
instructor Privileges and Responsibilities in a well-attended
seminar on the south end of Wittman Field. The crowd was mostly
mature gentlemen (I fit right in).
Our speaker, Tevis, is from FAA AFS-610 in Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma. Backing up Tevis was Larry Clymer, also a FAA Aviation
Safety Inspector from ASF-610.
Jumping right in, Tevis handed out a copy of the (CFR 61.303)
matrix (chart) of sport pilot instructor privileges and
responsibilities. Projecting the FAA PowerPoint slide program on a
screen, he followed the chart from top to bottom, but not without
interruptions.
After only about 10 minutes of presentation, Tevis was receiving
questions from the audience. Everyone seemed to be trying to follow
along and understand all of the details. [You may download this FAA
handout from: http://afs600.faa.gov/documents/pdf/61.303Handout.pdf
]
The discussion got hung up a little with questions about sport
pilot instructors who may use weight-shift and powered parachutes
to teach those who seek private pilot privileges. Sport pilot
instructors for three-axis airplanes may not instruct students for
initial private pilot.
(Personal note: I have never heard FAA point out that a powered
parachute pilot [or weight-shift trike] with private pilot
privileges is not limited to two-seaters. That is to say a private
pilot-powered parachute [or trike] may fly a 3, 4 or more seat
amateur-built experimental powered parachute, for example.)
Some participants got lost in the meaning of a "Set" of
aircraft. Tevis explained how the Set was illustrated by comparing
groupings of aircraft with tricycle gear three-axis airplane versus
tail wheel, three-axis airplanes.
The phrases "Sub-part H instructors" and "Sub-part K
instructors" make a lot of sense to those who know that Sub-part H
are the traditional Flight Instructors (CFI) whereas Subpart K
instructors are sport pilot instructors. However, some of the
audience got lost in the legal-eze of such regulatory
references.
When Tevis was asked about overall acceptance of sport pilot, he
indicated that approximately 260 people had taken sport pilot
written tests, and there are approximately 100 initial sport
pilots. FAA expects to have 100 or so designated pilot examiners by
September, one year after the rule became active. FAA concluded
that participation was pretty good for this very early stage of the
new programs.
For a free copy of the FAA Power Point Presentation, go to http://afs600.faa.gov/afs610-Pilot.htm.