jindoguy(at)gmail.com
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 Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 5:55 pm Post subject: A quick overview of how sport pilot came to be |
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First. The call for a simple class of aircraft with a simple set of rules was made by Paul Poberezny as early as 1954, just after the EAA was formed and just after the experimental amateur built category was established. It's nothing new.
This call was issued again in the late 90's. By now U.S. law said that where jobs could be done by private industry they had to be. But how to cast it as something political will could get behind? Nobody cared about using driver's licenses as a medical, nobody cared about "fat ultralights", although the term was around. Nobody cared about the escalating cost of flight instruction. Let them fly cake, or whatever.
Then came 09-11-2001 and someone came up with the idea of letting Congress (the opposite of Progress, as Mark Twain noted 100+ years before) in on the "secret".
Hey guys and gals, step away from the money buffet for just a second. There are upward of 30,000 aircraft, UNREGISTERED and UNACCOUNTED for, out there SOMEWHERE!
Holy Cripes, somebody has to do something.
So into this nexus stepped the ASTM. They formed committee F37 and those who stepped up to join were veterans of the hang gliding and ultralight communities. Self regulation had worked reasonably well for those two, why not here? Many of those who joined up also knew there were a bunch of cheap European aircraft waiting just across the pond.
I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but that's the reason, the Cessna 120, 140 and 150 were snubbed with the 600 Kg upper weight limit. If they had been included, LSA would have died right there and a big opportunity to make a little cash would have died with it.
These same people had also seen the gaggle of Quicksilver clones come and go in the early eighties. They had seen the USHGA create a rating system and an observer / examiner system in the late 70's and ultralight organizations attempt the same with the same results. One guy got a card, rated all his buddies, who rated all their buddies, ad infinitum.
So the plan became, first transition the instructors, then the pilots, then the aircraft.
We are three days away form the end of that progression now. With the exception of the recently announced extension of the time to get E-LSA certification, provided you started the process by having your aircraft put on the registry by the original date. According to my DAR the deadline for certification is now 1-31-2010, again provided your aircraft is on the registry by midnight Thursday.
Many of you have raised the issue of why not having E-LSA extended indefinitely. It was those Quicksilver clones, pure and simple. No more backyard engineers. Want to sell an E-LSA? Now there is an organized plan. FAR 21.191(i)2.
First create an S-LSA. Why? Because the two pieces of documentation you have to actually show someone are a flight manual and a maintenance manual. The rest is by the delegation option, unless your aircraft starts hurting or killing a lot of people. Then someone will come knocking to look over your documentation.
Notice there is no 51% rule. Leave off the radio knob and let the new owner put it on. You can even give him the screwdriver. It's an E-LSA. Solves a lot of headaches the growth of builder's assistance companies have caused.
Why have the option to make an S-LSA an E-LSA, ala FAR 21.191(i)3? Because there will be orphaned fleets. Originally the FAA just wanted to pull their airworthiness certificates if the manufacturer or distributor bit the dust. Talk about watching your dreams turn into a nightmare. Dear Sir, Your airplane is no longer legal, please stop flying it. So that's the reason for that.
Most of this has been covered by Earl Lawrence of the EAA, some has been extemporized by me. But it's mostly accurate and you got it for free. What the heck.
Rick Girard
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