There is a nervous cloud hanging over this week's ASTM Sport Pilot F37 Consensus Standards meeting in Salt Lake City. When the light sport aircraft community decided to climb onboard with ASTM International, (originally known as the American Society for Testing and Materials), in order to deliver the mandated industry consensus standards demanded by the FAA for a full Sport Pilot program, the fear was that there was no way that such a standard could be delivered soon enough after the expected rule to avoid months, or even years, of chaos.

ASTM International is one of the largest voluntary standards development organizations in the world and has become a trusted source for technical standards for materials, products, systems, and services -- ultimately, an inspired selection for the burgeoning Sport Pilot industry.

A few years later; the situation the industry finds itself in is far more precarious than what first concerned them. The ASTM F37 committees, made up of sport aircraft airframe, equipment, engine manufacturers and other industry personnel (including ANN's Jim Campbell) did something amazing... they put together dozens of standards with a minimum of rancor and conflict, and did it so fast and so well that ASTM's senior organization is now pointing to F37 as a model of efficiency and professional cooperation...

This would have been all the more impressive had there actually been a Sport Pilot rule to take advantage of the extraordinary work done by this amazing assemblage.

Interestingly; one of the pivotal partners in this program has been the FAA itself... who while usually having no lack of things to be criticized for, actually supported this program with great enthusiasm and zeal... and may have single-handedly saved the program at least once along the way when it might otherwise have been killed off by other government interests.

For now, though, the Sport Pilot rule stands in bureaucratic limbo and may be in more trouble than the industry has here-to-fore let on. Problems laid at the doorstep of OMB have stalled and nearly killed off the much-promised and over-hyped rule. Senior members of the ASTM program, who have directly consulted with OMB seem to think that the problem lies with OMB's previous inability to understand the need for the rule and the ability of the government to administer a new aircraft certification and licensing program. While no one is actually saying that the rule is in danger of getting killed off, there is a very nervous undercurrent this week among many of the ASTM attendees who have patiently waited for a rule whose absence has crippled sales and industry growth due to the sense of expectation that has come about through the over-promotion of what was promised (for years) as an imminent rule.

In the meantime, though, it's business as usual... while many of the more comprehensive standards have been worked out quite well, attention is now being paid to the minutia that will need attention in the not too distant future. Committees dedicated to emergency parachute recovery equipment and programs are not only working on sport pilot matters but developing materials that may have an effect on certificated use of such systems, as well. The weight-shift community is working through a number of objections to various proposals in order to deliver a set of completed standards for this growing portion of sport aviation. The sport rotorcraft/gyroplane groups have been pretty much absent from the latest meetings, though we know that a lot of work is going on via online communications and some progress is being made.

Much off the primary documentation for basic fixed wing aircraft standards and powered parachutes is long completed, so a lot of attention is now turning to more specific aspects of the industry. Powerplant standards are being worked on though recent attempts to develop new working groups for diesel and engine conversions have been tabled until sufficient interest develops to allow for their staffing. New proposals involving potential standards for airparks are being circulated and have met with a positive and interested response from much of the group at the SLC meeting.

A potentially important development are the discussions being undertaken over noise issues. With the mess up in the Northeast USA (and elsewhere, I regret to note) over such ridiculous assaults on aero-civil liberties such as those proposed by those "Stop The Noise" clowns, the Sport Pilot industry is well aware that idiocy like that is going to continue to be a problem in the future. Building consensus standards for noise emissions may turn out to be an important defense tactic in the future against those who would attack aviation for their own selfish purposes.

Other programs looking at insurance and industry promotion issues are being discussed and developed as well...

More info to follow...

FMI: www.astm.org