Oz Report

Sport Pilot - listen up (from issue 10.234)

Make sure you understand what you need to do.  Get your Sport Pilot license first. (Quest Air)

Jim Rooney <jimrooney> writes:

By the end of January 07 (NOT 08!), those wishing to transition to Sport Pilot from Ultralight Pilot need to be done.  The January 08 deadline is for the planes, NOT the pilots.

After January 07, to get a Sport License you have to log the 20 hours of instruction in an N-numbered plane.

To transition your Ultralight BFI to Sport CFI, you have till the end of January 08.  You can not just get the CFI, you must have the Sport License to get the CFI license and you can not do them at the same time.  So if you miss the 07 deadline for Sport, you have to do the 20 hours.

Getting a Sport License before the deadline is technically a written test, an oral/practical test and a flight test.

There are some great study guides that make the written test nearly impossible to fail.  You can certainly fail it if you don't at least read the study books, but with the books the test is literally cake.  As with all FAA stuff, it will cost you to take the test about $90.

The oral test and practical test are an other story.  The oral test takes HOURS,  it is no joke.  Make no mistake, you will need ground schooling for this.

The flight test is easier since we're already comfortable flying a plane, but it's not trivial.  A lot of it revolves around maintaining altitudes, airspeeds, flying XC courses (within tolerances).  Expect to do some flight training.  It's not much, but you will fail without it.  A short flight test will take a bit over an hour, a long one will take more like two.

So why bother with Sport Pilot when you need Private Pilot to tow?  Sport Pilot hours count towards Private Pilot, so you're not losing anything.  Sport planes rent for far less than Private Planes.  (We're talking about thousands of dollars by the time you're done) The process is a great eye opener and is great preparation for the Private tests (I can't emphasize this enough).  You can build hours solo straight off the bat (far less expensive) since Sport Plane hours count.

Post 2008, Ultralight trainers ("fat ultralights"), will no longer be legal.

Only aircraft that are transitioned to ESLA by January 2008 are eligible for the 2008-2010 grace period.  Post 2010, if you transitioned your plane, you can still fly it, you just can't teach with it, charge for it's use or make money flying it.  If you didn't transition it, you won't be able to.  Post January 2008, you will not be able to certify ESLA.

Post January 2008 You might be able to convince Bailey-Moyes to get the design certified.  I'm not sure if the certification would provide an avenue for existing aircraft.

If you built the plane yourself, and can provide documentation including build photographs as to such, you might be able to certify as amateur built.  I'm not sure this is possible, and I've been told it's not.

If you did not build the plane, you have to find the person that did and convince them to have it certified.  Again, I'm not even sure this can be done.

If it is possible, keep in mind, you can't use amateur built's to tow/teach/whatever.  They're strictly recreational: http://www.eaa.org/education/homebuilt_faq.html.

Those that are waiting for the last minute to N-number will be taking a huge risk.  If you fail to succeed by the deadline, you will have a very expensive lawn ornament.

Bear in mind that corrections to paperwork can take six months to straighten out (I'm not kidding).  This is the FAA bureaucracy at it's finest and they have no sense of humor.

More information here: http://www.sportpilot.org/news/040831_timeline.html.

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