The Ambiguous Amphibians May Retract/Extend... Once Each Flight

By ANN Correspondent John Ballantyne

A recent ANN report covered the FAA meaning of "Repositional landing gear" for Light Sport Aircraft. Because the Sport Pilot and Light Sport Aircraft rule is brand new, there is much interpretation and clarification going on within the aviation community and FAA itself. In fact such interpretation and reinterpretation goes on constantly even with rules that have been in practice for decades.

In the case of "Repositionable Landing Gear," FAA has written the following guidance to ANN. FAA also expects to provide additional guidance in upcoming advisory circulars.

Here is what we have now directly from FAA:

FAA intended for a repositional gear to be repositioned, typically only once during a flight. The pilot would have the ability to reposition the landing gear during a non-complex phase of flight, such as cruise, if there was need for the position to be changed to accommodate the landing site. There would not be any degradation of aircraft performance due to the landing gear remaining extended in-flight.

This is different from a retractable gear, which typically is retracted immediately after every take-off and (hopefully) extended for each landing. This activity usually occurs in the high workload phases of flight, immediately after takeoff and before landing.

The FAA does not consider the repositional landing gear to be complex from an operational standpoint. The FAA will consider the design, manufacture, and maintenance of a repositionable landing gear to ensure it meets the simplicity intended for light-sport aircraft. This is unlike a retractable gear, which is considered complex, from an operational, design, manufacture, and maintenance standpoint.

Further guidance addressing repositional landing gears will be made available through FAA guidance materials, such as the Sport Pilot and Light-sport Aircraft Advisory Circular.

FMI http://www.faa.gov/avr/afs/sportpilot/index.cfm