Light Sport Pilot Rule

[thayne]

Yay! the FAA published the Sport Pilot Rule today!

For those who don't know what it's about, it means you can get a license to fly light sport airplanes for a lot cheaper now, and no medical

I only have 4 more flight training hours before I can solo

Here are the published training requirements:

Airplane, Gyro, weight-shift-control, and airships

20 Hours – Total
15 Hours – Flight training
5 Hours – Solo
2 Hours – Dual Cross Country
1 Solo Cross Country
3 Hours – Prep

(Registered ultralight pilots with FAA-recognized ultralight organizations may be given credit until January 31, 2007
Other requirements for powered parachutes, gliders, balloons)

[Will Hay]

Gotta love those US regulations, letting any idiot fly without proper checks.
Neeeeeeeeevvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeer happen in the UK, thankfully.
W.

[thayne]

Gotta love those US regulations, letting any idiot fly without proper checks.
Neeeeeeeeevvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeer happen in the UK, thankfully.
W.

Um, what do you mean? 20 hours of flight training and 3 hours classroom isn't enough????? Flying an airplane isn't rocket science. Not much harder than driving a car, you just have another dimension to work with...

I can also assure you than *any idiot* can't just go fly a plane. You have to get signed off by an instructor as being competent. Idiots would never make it...

[tekkieman]

Don't take this personally thayne, but it would make your case stronger if you spellchecked your post before saying something like that...... :P

[thayne]

Yeah, yeah... Can't remember the last time I had a surprise spelling bee in flight!

[tekkieman]

Yeah, yeah... Can't remember the last time I had a surprise spelling bee in flight!

So how do you know which bin the p-a-r-a-c-h-u-t-e is in? :P

[thayne]

tekkieman,
You'd like this! No traffic (well, very little) and no speed limit (well, not one that you could go over. I think it's 250 knots, or 287 MPH, under 10,000 feet)

Screw driving!

[thayne]

Here's an example of why this is so practical:

My GF lives 139 road miles away. It take 7 gallons of gas and 2.5 hours to drive there.

Same trip in the air is 79 NM.

The plane I'm going to get cruises at 120MPH and uses 4 gallons per hour. So, I can get there in under an hour and use less than 4 gallons of gas.

Not only do I save more than 3 gallons of gas and get there more than twice as fast, but I don't have to deal with traffic, road rage, stop lights, etc.

[The village idiot]

What about flying at night? And what about the cross country requirement? Flying a powered chute across the Rockies would not be fun

IEspellchecker!

[thayne]

What about flying at night? And what about the cross country requirement? Flying a powered chute across the Rockies would not be fun

IEspellchecker!

cross country means flying from one airport to another.


No night flying. You need to get an instrument rating for that. This is VFR.
I don't think flying a powered chute across the Rockies would even be possible!

[tekkieman]

tekkieman,
You'd like this! No traffic (well, very little) and no speed limit (well, not one that you could go over. I think it's 250 knots, or 287 MPH, under 10,000 feet)

Screw driving!

You're right, I would probably love it, provided I could get over my irrational fear of heights! I don't think it would work for me though. It's 5.0 miles to work from home. From home it's 8.5 miles to the airport. From the airport to work is 6 miles (with no place to land).

Now, after I put away the money for my kids college tuition, I might think about a small plane, but where is the best place to mount the machine gun?

[thayne]

Screw work, I'm talking about fun places to go!

I used to be afraid of heights too, but I forced myself to get over it. It's weird, but the higher you go the less it bothers you. Take off and landings are the worst for me. Once I get above 1000 feet it doesn't bother me. 5000 feet is even better....

Landing is the hardest. I fly maybe 200 feet above a residential area on base and final approach and let me tell you, it gets bumpy as hell that low over houses in 100 degree weather! 200 feet sounds like a lot, but it isn't! I turn final right over a church with a tall ass steaple and I swear I could reach out the door and grab it! Taking off isn't as bad cause I fly over pretty much flat ground. There's a freeway about 1/4 mile past the runway, but by the time I get there I'm over 800 feet high.

In the wings, duh..... I was thinking it would be cool to mount some paint ball machine guns then go hunt down some paint ballers and blast their asses into next week!

[rallynavvie]

There are going to be a lot of bitter "real" pilots :P

I don't like it as it can be one more obstacle that doesn't have a radio or a transponder. It's bad enough cropdusters don't have to pay attention to the airwaves, but now folks that can't even throw their plane around like the crazy duster pilots? I don't know... On the plus side there's now a caste lower than the rec pilot

[DVD_Ripper]

Yay! the FAA published the Sport Pilot Rule today!

For those who don't know what it's about, it means you can get a license to fly light sport airplanes for a lot cheaper now, and no medical

I only have 4 more flight training hours before I can solo

Here are the published training requirements:

Airplane, Gyro, weight-shift-control, and airships

20 Hours – Total
15 Hours – Flight training
5 Hours – Solo
2 Hours – Dual Cross Country
1 Solo Cross Country
3 Hours – Prep

(Registered ultralight pilots with FAA-recognized ultralight organizations may be given credit until January 31, 2007
Other requirements for powered parachutes, gliders, balloons)

When you say weightshift controlled ... those are the ones you lie down and and control via your body movemens to the left and right and a single 'pole' you are holding on to that controls up and down... is that right?

If that is the case what are those requirements ... .I'm not sure I understand 2 Hours – Dual Cross Country with one of those

[vitualis]

Um, what do you mean? 20 hours of flight training and 3 hours classroom isn't enough?????

In Australia, you need more documented hours than that to sit for your DRIVER'S LICENSE... And I don't know about you, but IMHO, most new drivers on the road are crap...

Regards.

[rallynavvie]

Problem is here in the States people feel it is their right, rather than a privelege, to have a driver's license so we've never gone into as strict a testing regimen as most other places have. I feel sorry for the Brits when some of our number come over and rent a car and try driving on B roads with locals

[thayne]

Yay! the FAA published the Sport Pilot Rule today!

For those who don't know what it's about, it means you can get a license to fly light sport airplanes for a lot cheaper now, and no medical

I only have 4 more flight training hours before I can solo

Here are the published training requirements:

Airplane, Gyro, weight-shift-control, and airships

20 Hours – Total
15 Hours – Flight training
5 Hours – Solo
2 Hours – Dual Cross Country
1 Solo Cross Country
3 Hours – Prep

(Registered ultralight pilots with FAA-recognized ultralight organizations may be given credit until January 31, 2007
Other requirements for powered parachutes, gliders, balloons)

When you say weightshift controlled ... those are the ones you lie down and and control via your body movemens to the left and right and a single 'pole' you are holding on to that controls up and down... is that right?

If that is the case what are those requirements ... .I'm not sure I understand 2 Hours – Dual Cross Country with one of those

I don't know. I copied this directly from the FAA's web site. Not sure what they're talking about there. I don't see how powered parachutes are covered under this either as they qualify as Ultralights...

[thayne]

There are going to be a lot of bitter "real" pilots :P

I don't like it as it can be one more obstacle that doesn't have a radio or a transponder. It's bad enough cropdusters don't have to pay attention to the airwaves, but now folks that can't even throw their plane around like the crazy duster pilots? I don't know... On the plus side there's now a caste lower than the rec pilot

The way I see it is probably 75% or more of the people this is going to affect are already flying Ultralights anyway, or are older private pilots that can no longer pass an FAA medical.

I think radios should be required, but most people don't need transponders.