Sport Pilot Talk

LarryP · Joined: 30 Apr 2011 Posts: 4

Just joined the forum. Private pilot ASEL/VFR/day only (colorblind) went inactive after ~200 hours in various Cessnas due to rental costs and minor medical issues (hypertension, etc.) that made it a hassle. Now fully retired, wondering if sport pilot is a way back into recreational flying. Are there places that rent light sport aircraft? If so, how much per hour? Are there people out there looking to partner up on buying an LSA? ($40K is still a lot of money!) Not seeing much LSA action anywhere near Tucson or Ruidoso, our summer home. Yooo hooo, are you out there?

jnmeade · Joined: 30 Nov 2010 Posts: 144 Location: Iowa

I'm almost as new here as you, Larry, but welcome. I'm sure you'll get plenty of good assistance and lots of advice.

It sounds like you are considering flying under your private pilot certificate exercising sport pilot privileges. That lets you fly LSA and any standard certified aircraft that always has met LSA criteria under sport pilot rules.

For $40k you can buy your own standard certified category airplane, such as a J3 Cub, some Ercoupes, some Luscombes, some Taylorcraft and more that meet LSA criteria. Be careful that they have not been modified and now don't fit in the LSA category. You can not bring them back once they are out.

Here is a URL.

http://www.sportpilot.org/learn/lsa/standard_certificate_aircraft.html

Of course, these are not the new, sexy, fast and aviionics loaded planes we see like the Flight Design, Cessna Skycatcher and so forth.

zaitcev · Joined: 05 Jan 2010 Posts: 256 Location: Albuquerque, NM

The nmsportaviation.com in Santa Fe rents Remos GX for $99/hr wet, I fly with them, although they are a bit far for me to drive. But the price can't be beat, everyone else in the area rents a C-172 for $135 and Cherokee for $130! I break even on an hour of flying + driving up there in a 18 mpg jeep. Fly two hours and it's pure advantage to LSA.

I am pretty certain I saw a number of FBOs and one-man operations renting LSAs in Phoenix area. It is a real hotbed of LSA activity, compared to our backwater. Unfortunately, I'm about 7 hours drive from you, Larry. It would take a major XC to recoup the costs of a raid of Arizona for LSA purposes :-) So I did not study it closer.

-- Pete

LarryP · Joined: 30 Apr 2011 Posts: 4

Yeoww! When I first qualified ASEL C152 rentals were in the high 20's; by the mid-90's they had gone up to $60-70, and I decided it wasn't THAT much fun. Had hoped maybe LSA would help keep it affordable, but $100/hr wouldn't leave me enough for the divorce lawyer. Looks like I need to either buy a used ultralight or just flap my arms real hard.

rfane · Joined: 26 Apr 2006 Posts: 214 Location: Sunnyvale, CA

LarryP wrote: Are there people out there looking to partner up on buying an LSA? ($40K is still a lot of money!) Not seeing much LSA action anywhere near Tucson or Ruidoso, our summer home. Yooo hooo, are you out there?

There are quite a few LSA owners that are based at Ryan Field (KRYN) in Tucson. One of them is a good LSA mechanic as well, who also is a member of this forum. Look up Roger Lee on here, and contact him.

LarryP · Joined: 30 Apr 2011 Posts: 4

Ryan's one of the last fields I flew in and out of before I hung up my headphones. Will contact him and ask a few questions, maybe beg for an hour or so in the right seat just to get a feel for it, motivation check so to speak.

roger lee · Posted: Tue May 03, 2011 5:15 pm Post subject: Tucson LSA

Hi Larry,

I'm always here lurking. You can always find me on the www.ctflier.com or the Matronics Rotax forum. I'm one of the techs there. I live in Tucson and fly and work out of Ryan Airfield. Give me a call and your welcome to come fly. I have a 2006 CTSW. As a matter of fact there is one for sale there for about $78K and my partner is looking to reduce his financial obligations. So 1/2 my plane is for sale for about $39K.

Roger Lee
Tucson, AZ
520-574-1080

p.s.
I'm in Mexico until Friday afternoon so call Saturday or later.

LarryP · Joined: 30 Apr 2011 Posts: 4

Thanks for posting. Am in Ruidoso at the moment, due back in Tucson NLT Saturday, and will be coming up here around June 10th for the whole summer. Will see if we can connect some time before then. The number$ I'm seeing for LSA are considerably higher than I hoped, may have to downgrade my ambitions to an ultralight!