Brian Carpenter Goes To School

By Jon Thornburgh

The FAA Sport Pilot initiative became effective on September 1, 2004. Throughout 2005 many provisions of the Sport Pilot rule will be implemented, such as developing the criteria for aircraft factories to manufacture sport aircraft, and the publication of the "Practical Test Standards" that sport pilot applicants must meet in order to pass their flight tests.

 
There is also a need for Sport Pilot Examiners (SPE), and the FAA recently began the process of creating them. Brian Carpenter was selected by the FAA to attend the first Sport Pilot Examiner class, held in Sebring, Florida, from January 17th to the 24th.
 
Brian and his wife Carol own Rainbow Aircraft in Corning, CA. Brian is an FAA commercial pilot and flight instructor, as well as an ultralight instructor. His is also an A&P aircraft mechanic with an Inspection Authorization. Carol is a private pilot, an ultralight instructor, an FAA advanced ground instructor, and manages the daily operation at the FBO and flight school.
 
Brian sent the FAA his Examiner application at the end of 2004. On December 10th he received a letter from the FAA inviting him to take the Sport Pilot Examiner test as the next step in the certification process. The FAA specified that the deadline for taking the test was December 17th. Unfortunately the letter did not indicate what material Brian should study in order to prepare for the test.
 
Carol started calling FAA officials in order to find out more about the test. She learned that the test was available on the FAA web site at . The test is titled "Sport Pilot Instructor/Examiner Airman Knowledge Test Question Bank," and can be downloaded. It consists of 464 questions, and requires 60 pages when printed out on a computer. However, the FAA does not supply the answers to the questions. Through diligent research, Carol found out that the Examiner test questions were similar to the 2005 Certified Flight Instructor test questions. Carol obtained a Gleim compact disk containing the questions and answers, which Brian had only a few days to study.
 
Brian called the "CATS" computerized test center at Chico Aviation, about 30 miles away, in order to make an appointment to take the test. It was then that Brian learned what it's like for an aviation pioneer to be the first to participate in a new FAA endeavor. The CATS center told Brian that they didn't have the Sport Pilot Examiner test available. Carol had to make more phone calls to the FAA in order to arrange for CATS to obtain the Examiner test electronically. However, the handout material had to be sent to the center by overnight Federal Express.
 
In spite of the delays and confusion, Brian was able to take the test on December 15th, only two days before the deadline. He received an outstanding score of 96%, especially remarkable considering the lack of time to study. Carol had to FedEx the test result to the FAA in order to meet the December 17th deadline.

On December 21st Brian received a telephone call from John Riffey of the FAA AFS610 Branch. John congratulated Brian on passing the Examiner test and told him that he had been selected to attend the first Sport Pilot Examiner seminar. Shortly thereafter Brian received a package from the FAA which explained more about the upcoming seminar. It suggested that Brian study the Sport Pilot Practical Test Standards guide and the Sport Pilot Examiner's Handbook, both available on the FAA website. It also included nice features, such as MapQuest directions to the Chateau Elan hotel in Sebring, where the seminar would be conducted.
 
Carol made the hotel and airline reservations. Unfortunately, the Chateau Elan was booked up, so Carol had to make reservations at the Kenilworth Lodge, about 6 miles from the seminar site.
 
Saturday, January 15th was a long day. Carol and Brian drove from Corning to Sacramento, boarded a United Airlines flight to Chicago, made connections to Tampa, rented a car, and drove an hour and a half to Sebring. They had a day to rest on Sunday, and Brian started the first day of his seminar on Monday.
 
The seminar was held in a conference room in the Chateau Elan. There were eight students and five FAA instructors, lead by Marty Weaver, Manager of the FAA's Light Sport Aircraft Branch. Including Brian, the students consisted of two trike pilots, two powered parachute pilots, and four airplane pilots.
 
The weightshift control (trike) pilots were John Beaman from Portland, Oregon, and Eric Johnson from Chandler, Arizona.
 
The powered parachute pilots were Roy Beisswenger from Greenville, Illinois, and Larry Littlefield from Boynton Beach, Florida.
 
The airplane pilots were William Bardin from Sacramento, California, Bob Bleadon from Selma, Oregon, Brian Carpenter from Corning, California, and Romke Sikkema from Sebring, Florida.
 
The FAA instructors were Mark Aldridge, Larry Clymer, Tom Eldridge, Bob Hlubin, and Marty Weaver
 
The first day of class consisted of an orientation and overview of the upcoming week, along with a Power Point presentation of regulations and Examiner's duties. Much to Brian's surprise, he learned that he would undergo an oral exam the very next day and a flight test on Wednesday. Brian was scheduled to take his flight test in a Maxair Drifter, which he had never flown before.
 
The Drifter is owned by Lockwood Aviation, which is located on the Sebring airfield, next to the Chateau Elan. One of the students in the Examiner class, Romke Sikkema, is an instructor at Lockwood Aviation. Brian arranged for a flight demonstration in the Drifter with Romke. Brian flew about a half an hour with Romke on Tuesday afternoon, following his oral exam earlier in the day.

It's interesting to note that the FAA did not provide the aircraft without charge. The cost to fly the Drifter was $90 per hour. Later in the week Brian flew a CT2K, which cost $110 per hour. Airplane enthusiasts might also be surprised to learn that the seminar itself is not free. The FAA charges $150 to attend the Examiner's course. For those readers who aspire to be Examiners, be aware that there is a substantial financial outlay to the meet your goal, if you factor in the transportation cost to the seminar, the rental car, hotel, meals, knowledge test, cost of study material, the course fee and airplane rental.
 
Future Sport Pilot Examiners will have to consider these costs in order to determine how much to charge pilot applicants for their practical tests. It is expected that Sport Pilot Examiners will charge several hundreds of dollars for each practical test. They are only allowed to administer a maximum of two tests per day, so their income will be limited in that respect. An Examiner's authorization is only valid for one year, and must be renewed annually.
 
Since the Examiner class consisted of weightshift, powered parachute, and fixed wing pilots, the FAA was required to provide all three types of aircraft for the students to take their flight tests. The problem was that the aircraft had to be "N"-numbered, light-sport aircraft -- not ultralights. The week prior to the examiner's seminar there was a flurry of activity at Sebring, while the FAA transformed trikes, powered parachutes, the Drifter and the CT2K into Experimental Light-Sport Aircraft (LSA.) These aircraft thus became the first ultralights to transition into LSA.
 
The first LSA powered parachute was a Powarchute, and the first weight-shift LSA was an Air Creation trike.
 
On Tuesday, the first half of the day was devoted to class-room exercises and preparation for the oral quiz that the Examiner applicants would take in the afternoon. The oral exam was similar to the test that a CFI applicant would take to initially become an FAA instructor. 
 
The FAA personnel administering the oral exam were Mark Aldridge and Bob Hlubin. Each SPE applicant was asked different questions and requested to teach a specific subject to Mark or Bob, who acted as if they were inexperienced flight students. In Brian's case, he was asked to demonstrate how he would teach landings to a new student. Brian emphasized the low mass, high lift/high drag characteristics of ultralights, which result in landing idiosyncrasies different from conventional general aviation aircraft.
 
Brian passed his oral exam and flight test with "flying" colors. Now that the FAA had determined that Brian and the other applicants knew how to fly and how to instruct, they would next learn how to examine. The agenda for the next several days included lectures on how to use the Examiner's Handbook, how to scrutinize the student's application and logbook, how to administer the practical test, and how to fill out the necessary paper-work to send to the FAA. An interesting sideline is that the FAA eventually plans to use the Internet so that Examiners can send the results of the practical test via computer.
 
At the end of the course the DPE students were required to create a "Plan of Action," which is an outline of the sequence of tasks that an applicant must accomplish during the practical test. ("Practical test" is the FAA's terminology for the combined oral exam and flight test.) The Plan of Action needs to be thorough and logical. The class was advised that an excellent re-source for creating the Plan of Action is available at the "Plans A Plenty" web site at www.planesaplenty.com. Another re-source was the FAA's "Practical Test Standards" handbook.
 
The culmination of the SPE seminar was at the end of the week, when Brian presented his Plan of Action to Marty Weaver. Marty pretended that he was a Sport Pilot applicant. Brian conducted a simulated practical test, which included the oral questions and series of flight maneuvers in the sequence dictated by the Plan of Action that Brian had devised. Brian also completed the forms that the FAA requires to be submitted when an applicant concludes his practical test.
 
Marty Weaver pretended he was a student pilot during the flight test portion of the simulated practical test. Brian and Marty flew a Flight Design CT2K, provided by Lockwood Aviation. The day before the flight with Marty, Brian checked out in the CT2K with Romke Sikkema.
 
Brian stated that the entire seminar was very well presented by the FAA. The instructors were personable, and willing to accept suggestions for possible changes in the future. The SPE students must absorb a great deal of material in a short time. On some days the classes extended from seven o'clock in the morning until seven in the evening.

 
Although Carol was not permitted to attend the classes with Brian, she took photos of the students and instructors, helped Brian calculate his total flight time by adding up his various logbooks, and participated in the creation of the Plan of Action.
 
She and Brian returned to their home in Corning via Tampa, Chicago, and Sacramento on United Airlines. They are now back at Rainbow Aviation, where Brian is fully prepared to administer the first practical test to a Sport Pilot applicant. He even has a supply of student pilot certificates for aspiring pilots who want to begin their training.

(Jon Thornburgh is an FAA CFI, an ultralight examiner and a welcome ANN contributor)

FMI: http://avinfo.faa.gov, www.faa.gov/avr/AFS/SportPilot/faq.cfm