VINTAGE INSTRUCTOR
THE
DOUG STEWART
Sport pilot is here! Well, it finally happened. The moment that so many pilots had been waiting for arrived a few days before the opening of EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2004. It had been in the works for several years, undergoing a variety of revisions and changes. Many of us in the pilot community had given up hope that it would ever happen at all. But a few short days before the beginning of that wonderful gathering of pilots and airplanes in Oshkosh, the FAA announced that the final ruling for the new sport pilot/light-sport aircraft had been signed. The sounds of jubilant cheering could be heard in hangars, in airport lounges, in EAA Chapter rooms all across this great land of ours. I, too, joined in that cheering. I know many folks who would now be able to fly once again, or for that matter for the first time ever, as certificated pilots. However, I did have some reservations. During the run of EAA AirVenture I had many opportunities to meet with the movers and shakers of the sport pilot rule to answer my growing list of questions, but one nagging problem still remained. I’ll get to that problem in a moment, but first let’s look at the rule as I understand it. The new ruling became effective September 1, 2004. On that day any certificated pilot who had a current flight review (a flight review signed off within the previous 24 calendar months) could now fly an aircraft that qualified under the rules as a lightsport aircraft, without a medical certificate, provided that the pilot held a current driver’s license, and also that the pilot had not had his or her last
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NOVEMBER 2004
application for an FAA medical certificate denied or revoked. This meant that any pilot who had let his or her medical certificate expire, without renewing it, could once again take wing. If the pilot was not current, he or she could fly once again as soon as a flight review had been completed. The ruling, as finally published, also increased the maximum gross weight limit from 1,230 pounds, to 1,320. With that increase of 900 pounds to the weight limit, several more vintage aircraft entered the fold of the light-sport aircraft envelope. The rule now allows pilots to fly, without a medical certificate, the following certificated airplanes: (This list is not 100 percent all inclusive, but it does include almost all of the vintage aircraft I am aware of that can be flown as light-sport.) Aeronca: everything from the C up to and including the Champs (7AC, BCM, CCM, and DC), the L3s, and the Chiefs (11AC & BC); Ercoupe: 415 C and CD; Piper: J-2 and all the J-3 variants, the L-4s, J-4 and J4F, the PA-11, -15, and -17, and the NE-1 and 2; Taylorcraft: virtually all of them except the F series (19 and up); Porterfield: CP35, 35 – 70, 35V, CP 40, 50, 55 and LP – 65; and Interstate: S-1A, S-1A-65F, 85F, 90F, and the S-1 Cadet. This is a rather substantial list, and whereas it does leave out some wonderful aircraft that we would all have loved to see included, like the Cessna 120, 140, and 150 and the J-5 (not only because it is too heavy, but also because it seats three people), it certainly allows pilots with a sport pilot certificate (or the private pilot
with a “driver’s license” medical) to take to the sky in some of the neatest and available aircraft in our aviation heritage. And all of them, save for the Ercoupes, have the little wheel in the back. Now to get to the nagging problem that I have. I know that some of the aircraft that can now be flown might have been sitting idle for a while, in some cases quite a while. And we all know that one of the worst things we can do to an airplane is to let it sit idle (never mind what sitting idle does to pilots). But that is not the problem. I know that there are some mechanics out there who might paper whip an annual inspection, but when it comes to tube and fabric I really don’t think there are any mechanics who would risk their livelihood by signing off a vintage airplane that wasn’t airworthy. Here’s where my problem lies: many of the pilots that are eager to take to the air once again might have accrued more rust than those longeron tubes hidden by some resilient Ceconite. The skills a pilot needs to keep a light aircraft going straight on the ground, when the wind is blowing from the side, and the little wheel is in the back of the airplane, might have atrophied, not to mention that there has probably been an increase in the reaction times of many of these pilots. All pilots need, to fly, is a current flight review (still referred to by most as a BFR). The review, as mandated by the FAA, is merely one hour of flight, and one hour of ground. While there are some instructors who might sign some continued on page 24