Sources tell ANN that the Driver's License Medical option may only available if your medical has not already been denied

As previously reported; ANN has learned that the Sport Pilot rule is to be announced tomorrow morning at 10:30am at FAA headquarters. ANN will be represented in person at the press conference by former USUA president John Ballantyne.

ANN has also learned (from multiple credible sources in and outside of the Beltway) that a principal measure of the rule, the much vaunted and overhyped driver's license medical provision, may have a catch. While the driver's license medical can apparently be used in lieu of an FAA medical, it may be only applicable to those who have not had their FAA medical certificate denied, suspended or revoked. With the current wording, we're not sure if this also applies to those with a special issuance medical, since the need for such is predicated upon an initial denial.

Heavily promoted in some circles as the "old man's pilot's license," these rumored exceptions may well obliterate much of the good news from the rule for a great many people who were looking to Sport Pilot as a way of mitigating the very high expenses and frustratingly long process of obtaining and maintaining a regular or special-issuance medical certificate.

Such an exception might also have a devastating effect on an entire aviation industry that has closed ranks behind the Sport Pilot rule in the hopes of partaking of what could very well be the general aviation renaissance of the new millennium. We'll have lots more information shortly after 1030 EST... stay tuned.

FMI: www.faa.gov