The new Sport Pilot Rule Changes

On September 1, 2004 the FAA inaugurated a new pilot certificate dubbed the "sport pilot" that makes learning to fly easier and more affordable that ever. Intended primarily for recreational use, you can now become a pilot with as little as 20 hours of flight instruction! In addition, the FAA also created a new category of affordable "light-sport aircraft"!

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drseti
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Re: The new Sport Pilot Rule Changes

Post by drseti »

Thanks for posting that link, Tim. It seems to cover just about everything anyone could possibly ask about Basic Med.
The opinions posted are those of one CFI, and do not necessarily represent the FAA or its lawyers.
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acensor
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Re: The new Sport Pilot Rule Changes

Post by acensor »

Although I could almost certainly pass a standard aeromedical III, at the time (7 years ago) when I was going to go for Private Pilot I was informed that if I ever had cancer the local examiner could not approve me... had to kick it upstairs. No matter that it was forty years ago ... FAA would probably make me take a bunch of tests to prove I was no longer cancer impaired. I was told by AOPA advisors this would take about 6 months, and if someone upstream click the wrong box I could fail the aeromedical. If so I could appeal and would undoubtedly win, but it would cost me about $1000 and take another six months.
(Today if I took the aeromedical that would NOT happen because FAA go some sense and now excludes skin cancers and a few other from the "local Doc can't approve you" box.)

But given the reality back then I opted to get a Sport Pilot certification and avoid the hassle of proving I wasn't dying of cancer.

Someone here wrote "A rated pilot who is eligible for Basic Med needs to do two things to be legal to fly under the rule"
One rule to basic med is you have to have passed a standard aeromedical in the past 10 years, so that doesn't help me or anyone who came directly into sport pilot flying (not via a Private Pilot license.

So, unless I want to take the admittedly slim chance of failing an aeromedical, I can't fly with basic med rules.

QUESTION: Am I missing something.... or is it true that IF I took and passed a standard Class III exam I COULD fly under Basic Med?
Of would I STILL be excluded.... that current Basic Med is just for Private Pilots.
Have to wait and see if FAA expands definition of what a Sport Pilot can fly.

================
All that said, I'm pretty happy flying LSA under Sport pilot. I really hardly care that I'm not supposed to fly at night or over 10,000 feet.
Only things I chaff at is currently I can't ever fly anything with more than two seats. Means I can't take a friend AND my wife up on a trip.
Also.... If I'm way away from home I can't rent an aircraft... There's hardly any FBO that has an LSA legal aircraft available for rent.

So DO look forward to the possibility of FAA cutting me slack at least to the point where I could rent a 152.
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bryancobb
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Re: The new Sport Pilot Rule Changes

Post by bryancobb »

Yes acensor...You ARE correct. If you had taken the physical 7 years ago and passed, you would now be able to do Basic Med. In hindsight however, there was no Basic Med then and you had no idea there would ever be, so stop beating yourself for decisions you made back then.

The bright side is, the FAA has a changed attitudes these days about many medical issues that were disqualifying back then. There's a good chance, an "off-the-record" visit to an AME MAY let you know that your past history is no longer an issue and you may be able to get a simple Class III physical now.

There's no harm in doing that since failing that pre-check is impossible.

Basic Med is NOT just for private pilots. It is for any pilot who wants to fly, but not for compensation or hire. An Airline Transport Pilot with Multiengine and Instrument skills can (without a medical) fly a Cessna Citation Mustang Jet on an IFR flight, in the clouds, with 5 passengers, without a medical, so long as they are not being paid to do it.
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Re: The new Sport Pilot Rule Changes

Post by 3Dreaming »

acensor wrote: QUESTION: Am I missing something.... or is it true that IF I took and passed a standard Class III exam I COULD fly under Basic Med?
Of would I STILL be excluded.... that current Basic Med is just for Private Pilots.
Have to wait and see if FAA expands definition of what a Sport Pilot can fly.
You certainly can fly as a sport pilot using Basic Med. While most people choose to use a drivers ' license, you can exercise the privileges of sport pilot with a drivers' license or a medical. There is no requirement that you have a drivers' license, just a government issued photo ID. If you don't have a drivers' license you must have a medical.
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Re: The new Sport Pilot Rule Changes

Post by TimTaylor »

3Dreaming wrote:
acensor wrote: QUESTION: Am I missing something.... or is it true that IF I took and passed a standard Class III exam I COULD fly under Basic Med?
Of would I STILL be excluded.... that current Basic Med is just for Private Pilots.
Have to wait and see if FAA expands definition of what a Sport Pilot can fly.
You certainly can fly as a sport pilot using Basic Med. While most people choose to use a drivers ' license, you can exercise the privileges of sport pilot with a drivers' license or a medical. There is no requirement that you have a drivers' license, just a government issued photo ID. If you don't have a drivers' license you must have a medical.
And a ride to the airport.
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Re: The new Sport Pilot Rule Changes

Post by 3Dreaming »

TimTaylor wrote:
3Dreaming wrote:
acensor wrote: QUESTION: Am I missing something.... or is it true that IF I took and passed a standard Class III exam I COULD fly under Basic Med?
Of would I STILL be excluded.... that current Basic Med is just for Private Pilots.
Have to wait and see if FAA expands definition of what a Sport Pilot can fly.
You certainly can fly as a sport pilot using Basic Med. While most people choose to use a drivers ' license, you can exercise the privileges of sport pilot with a drivers' license or a medical. There is no requirement that you have a drivers' license, just a government issued photo ID. If you don't have a drivers' license you must have a medical.
And a ride to the airport.
I wouldn't need a ride. :D
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Re: The new Sport Pilot Rule Changes

Post by acensor »

[quote="bryancobb"]Yes acensor...You ARE correct. If you had taken the physical 7 years ago and passed, you would now be able to do Basic Med. In hindsight however, there was no Basic Med then and you had no idea there would ever be, so stop beating yourself for decisions you made back then.......

......There's a good chance, an "off-the-record" visit to an AME MAY let you know that your past history is no longer an issue and you .......

Basic Med is NOT just for private pilots. It is for any pilot who wants to fly, but not for compensation or hire.....]/quote]

Thanks....I was already thinking about doing that off the record pre check....Thanks for the push.
Frankly, I'm 99% sure I'd pas. 20/25 vision with no glasses, blood pressure and cardiac condition better than many healthy teenagers , etc.

At the risk of reasking the obvious:
So.....
if I take and pass a class III medical I can then go right out and , if capable of flying it... legally fly quite a few aircraft that don't fit in LSA, and carry more than one passenger? As long as I stay within basic med rules? Carry my Sport Pilot license and I'm good?
If so, great.

Then the practical question:
After basic med qualified, or even now, I can get my local CFI to check me out and give me some duel time on a 172.
But when I show up to rent a 172 at an out of town FBO and they see I have A sport pilot rating and tell me "sorry..the 172 isn't an LSA", are they going to buy it when I say "don’t worry I’m flying on the basic med?"

Alex
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drseti
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Re: The new Sport Pilot Rule Changes

Post by drseti »

Alex, sorry to disappoint you. Basic Med satisfies the medical requirements for exercising Private Pilot privileges, but it does not automatically make you a Private Pilot (you are still a Sport Pilot unless and until you take the appropriate PP training, knowledge test, and practical test).
The opinions posted are those of one CFI, and do not necessarily represent the FAA or its lawyers.
Prof H Paul Shuch
PhD CFII DPE LSRM-A/GL/WS/PPC iRMT
AvSport LLC, KLHV
[email protected]
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TimTaylor
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Re: The new Sport Pilot Rule Changes

Post by TimTaylor »

In other words, Basic Med does NOTHING for a Sport Pilot. Basic Med allows a Private, Commercial, or ATP who doesn't have a valid first, second, or third class FAA medical to exercise Private Pilot privileges (more or less).
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Re: The new Sport Pilot Rule Changes

Post by acensor »

Paul...
That's what I thought all along.
The post I was responding to seemed to be maybe be saying otherwise .....

What it was saying was I could fly LSAs under Basic med.
Which there's no point to st all ....unless it would allow me do SOMEthing I couldn’t do flying as I am now (such as. maybe fly legally at higher altitude...the 18,000 feet MSL basic med limit.)

Yeah.... I could go for private pilot. .In terms of hours ...including dual CFI, cross country (except night) and I'm way over requirements. The differences in skills and knowledge between the Sport Pilot and Private requirements are to my eyes small .... That's why with hindsight wish I’d gone straight for Private.
But, although I aced the Sport knowledge test, now studying for the Private knowledge test would be a PITA....
Not for the few additional topics (night, altitude, etc): But because I have deliberately forgotten many of the "I will never in reality need this item of knowledge" things* common to both tests.

So I’ll probably just wait the year or two and see if FAA is going to cut us holders of Sport Pilot ratings some more slack.

In the meantime...I'm doing fine flying LSAs.

Alex
* For example, in reality I'm never going to plot a course on a paper sectional map and plan to fly a unknown cross country route based primarily only on dead reckoning with magnetic compass.
I am.never going to need to read a raw METAR. Things I had to reluctantly waste my time mastering for the Sport Pilot knowledge test ....and would have to do again for Private,
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Re: The new Sport Pilot Rule Changes

Post by Type47 »

But deciphering metars, drawing on paper charts, using the e6b slide-rule and the magnetic compass are all part of the hazing ritual that the in crowd uses to discourage people who won’t pay to learn the useless information.
I wonder why general aviation is dying?
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Re: The new Sport Pilot Rule Changes

Post by Warmi »

Type47 wrote:But deciphering metars, drawing on paper charts, using the e6b slide-rule and the magnetic compass are all part of the hazing ritual that the in crowd uses to discourage people who won’t pay to learn the useless information.
I wonder why general aviation is dying?
I felt the same way about certain stuff they still attempt to teach - most of the stuff you learn is timeless and vital but these things you mentioned, pretty useless but since, ultimately in the scheme of things it doesn't really matter , it is easy to learn this info for the sake of the exam and then just as easy to forget it.
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Re: The new Sport Pilot Rule Changes

Post by Wm.Ince »

Type47 wrote:But deciphering metars, drawing on paper charts, using the e6b slide-rule and the magnetic compass are all part of the hazing ritual that the in crowd uses to discourage people who won’t pay to learn the useless information.
I wonder why general aviation is dying?
Bingo!
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Re: The new Sport Pilot Rule Changes

Post by drseti »

Although I tend to agree with you, please don't blame the CFI or the DPE. We are all required to train to, and test to, the full PTS. We don't get to pick and choose.
The opinions posted are those of one CFI, and do not necessarily represent the FAA or its lawyers.
Prof H Paul Shuch
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AvSport LLC, KLHV
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AvSport.org
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Re: The new Sport Pilot Rule Changes

Post by dstclair »

drseti wrote:Although I tend to agree with you, please don't blame the CFI or the DPE. We are all required to train to, and test to, the full PTS. We don't get to pick and choose.
I think DPE's are as frustrated as the rest of us. I was talking to a DPE at Oshkosh on the instrument checkride. He has been working with the FAA on relaxing the partial panel requirement and allowing the DPE to select an alternative scenario to test the students reaction to a system failure. One of his examples was there was no way to simulate a partial panel on 90% of the Cirrus fleet. It is also not a practical scenario -- no vacuum system to fail -- and you have two alternators, two batteries and a PFD battery backup. Best emergency situation you can do is fail the PFD, then have the student do a GPS approach with only their NAV.
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