FAA Makes It Easier for Sport Pilots
With a valid automobile driver’s license and 20 hours of flight training, people who dream of being pilots but are discouraged by the red tape and high costs will be able to solo in a new class of light aircraft created Tuesday by the government.
The “sport pilot/light sport aircraft” regulations issued by the Federal Aviation Administration acknowledged the growing sophistication of low-powered personal aircraft weighing 254 to 1,320 pounds and aimed to encourage thousands of new pilots to take to the skies for recreation.
“Getting wings just got considerably less expensive with one stroke of the pen,” said FAA administrator Marion C. Blakey. “The typical private pilot’s license costs approximately $9,000 and generally takes months to achieve. With the new sport pilot certificate, it can be $2,600.”
Currently, the standard qualifications for private pilots are 40 hours of training and a medical certificate issued by an FAA-approved doctor. The sport pilot rules, which take effect Sept. 1, cut the training time in half and, in most cases, eliminate the medical certification.
Holders of a sport pilot certificate will be able to fly to altitudes of 10,000 feet, during the day and in good visibility, and carry one passenger.
Personal aircraft fly “low and slow” and give their owners a “wind in your face” experience. The government’s regulation is an outgrowth of the increasing sophistication and variety of these flying machines.
There are ultralights that look like giant insect wings with a basket for the pilot; powered parachutes that resemble airborne swamp buggies hanging from a sausage; gyroplanes that look like helicopters, and small fixed-wing aircraft, like miniature Cessnas.
Recreational pilots welcomed the news.
“This is going to recognize aircraft [whose names] the FAA hasn’t even been able to spell before,” said Dale Hooper, executive director of the U.S. Ultralight Assn. in Maryland.
Bob Comperini, an ultralight instructor who flies near Edwards Air Force Base, said the new rules would create a niche for personal aircraft in the heavily regulated world of aviation.
“There’s no point in training someone to go through all the hassle of learning to fly in controlled airspace over Los Angeles if the guy just wants to putter around over the desert,” Comperini said.
The FAA estimates that 15,000 people will seek the new certificate in the next few years.
Some things will not change under the rule. Aircraft that weigh less than 254 pounds will remain largely unregulated. Pilots of these entry-level aerial vehicles, including hang gliders, will not need a license. Big hot-air balloons are covered under another set of federal rules.
