Sport Pilot Talk

Hello everyone. I moved to Philadelphia about a month and a half ago. Started a new job working at PHL in airport ops!

I am looking for any flight schools in the Philly area that does sport pilot training later down the road after I get settled in my new job. I might consider PPL Glider training too since I am also interested in flying gliders.

Apart from Art's AB Flight in Allentown and Liberty Sport Aviation in Lancaster, both which are over an hour drive from me, I am wondering if there is any place closer to Philly?

I can't say enough good things about Liberty Sport Aviation in Lancaster - great little town, you can do your training in multiple-day chunks if that works for you. John Rathmell is a great guy and I nearly bought a Bristell from him. They have both Bristells and a Remos for training. Great operation, nice airport ...

There aren't a lot of choices for LSA training to be honest, and at least at Liberty (can't speak about the other one) you are getting newer and very well maintained aircraft at a towered field where the controllers know what's going on ...

Good luck and keep us posted!!

Cheers

You've already named the two closest options. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend either of them. Both Art and John have been very helpful to me in getting my own business up and running. There is a wonderful sense of cooperation, not competition, in the LSA community.

drseti wrote:You've already named the two closest options. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend either of them. Both Art and John have been very helpful to me in getting my own business up and running. There is a wonderful sense of cooperation, not competition, in the LSA community.

Thanks for the advice everyone! Drseti, how is Art doing with AB Flight? I know he has the Evektor Harmony but according to the FAA Registry on the FAA website last time I checked, it seems he also owns an Interplane Skyboy.

Art has owned the Skyboy for years, but I don't think he instructs in it. I believe he provides all his training in the Harmony. I know that's the plane he flies to Expo every year (I saw him giving demo flights in it in January).

Thanks for the response drseti. Queen City Airport for AB Flight is still almost exactly the same drive time from my home in Philly compared to where I used to live in NJ, an hour and 15 minutes approximately, while Lancaster Airport with Liberty Sport Aviation is about an hour and 45 minutes from Philly. Funny thing is I live really close to PHL Airport about a 5 to 10 minute drive. If PHL had a sport pilot flight school that would be cool, but it is not going to be fun sitting behind long lines of airliners waiting to take off, especially during the morning rush hour, LOL!

[/quote]One hour +/- drive is OK. Close to 2 hour drive is too much IMHO.[/quote]

I did the ~two hour drive. It's brutal. Weather can change from the time you leave home and get to the airport. In my case the airport was in a somewhat different weather pattern than home. You can look at maps and forecasts all you want but nothing beats looking out the window (or at the windsock) when all you want to do is fly around the pattern. Twice I had planes "break" between the time I left the house and got to the airport, so 4 hours of driving for nothing. Also it restricted me to flying only on weekends as that 2 hour drive on the weekend could easily become a 3 or 4 hour drive in rush hour. This is not a reasonable way to take flying lessons.

Short and sweet: There are lots of reasons to take lessons close to home.

Ron

Having recently done a Bravo departure from KPHL in an LSA, I can assure you that you don't want to spend time there as a matter of course ... those big Boeings make our LSAs shrink up pretty quick!!!

Cheers!

I don't know if you found anything yet, there are a few choices if you are living south of PHL. There is New Garden just past Kennett Square PA, Harford County Airport has a Cessna Skycatcher, and there is an Ercoupe at Clermont that the owner will train in.

JoeM wrote:I don't know if you found anything yet, there are a few choices if you are living south of PHL. There is New Garden just past Kennett Square PA, Harford County Airport has a Cessna Skycatcher, and there is an Ercoupe at Clermont that the owner will train in.

Thanks for the help Joe. New Garden Airport has a Pipistrel Alpha Trainer that is somewhat close. Harford with the Skycatcher is a little bit too far from me. And where is Clermont in PA? Where is Clermont located and how far away from Philly is it? I cannot find it on Google Maps.

Clermont was formerly Cecil County Airport, it is just south of Elkton MD, only about 30 minutes from Philly. Harford County is not a bad drive because it is just off I-95.

JoeM wrote:Clermont was formerly Cecil County Airport, it is just south of Elkton MD, only about 30 minutes from Philly. Harford County is not a bad drive because it is just off I-95.

Thanks for the help Joe! I have one more question for you or anyone to answer. Is it true that some flight schools who have an LSA for rent wouldn't necessarily offer Sport Pilot training? Like the one at New Garden Airport, the New Garden Flight Connection flight school that has the Pipistrel Alpha Trainer. They said they have an LSA on their website but don't mention they offer sport pilot training. In that case, would you have to specifically request for sport pilot training?

The Ercoupe at Clermont is owned by Dan McCaffrey and I have flown with him as a student. The people at Clermont can give you his number. The Skycatcher at Harford County is owned by the fbo and have a couple of instructors available.

OP: welcome to the Philly area! I think I asked in the past and don't remember your answer: any particular reason you're solely going for the sport pilot license vs. your private? Not questioning your decision, but I'm just making sure you're not limiting yourself when it comes to options. I just did a checkout ride in the Grumman Tigers over at Legacy at PNE (they used to be Hortman Aviation), so that's something relatively close by...but no LSAs or sport pilot training that I'm aware of.

Timely question overall, though...I have a friend who is physically disabled (has her driver's license, needs hand controls) who wants to learn to fly, but there's no Sky Arrow around for training. Is it possible to fit hand controls into Art's plane for her to learn?

I know there were hand controls developed for the Flight Design CT.