Sport Pilot Talk

Does anyone have a link or a report with an updated review of the loss trends for 2012?

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http://zaitcev.mee.nu/

Just as a pilot experienced in heavier aircraft tends to overcontrol when transitioning to LSA, you can expect experienced LSA pilots to undercontrol when stepping up to heavier. But there will also be a tendency to be behind the plane, when moving up to a faster aircraft. All this is easily mitigated in transition training. I've trained pilots in both directions, and as a rule stepping up is less problematic than moving down the ladder.

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The opinions expressed in this post are those of one CFI, and do not necessarily represent the position of the FAA or its lawyers.
Prof. H. Paul Shuch, Ph.D., CFII, LSRM-A/GL/WS
AvSport of Lock Haven
http://AvSport.org fly@AvSport.org

I guess I will offer my 2 cents as a sport pilot of about 15 months with about 225 hours. I trained at a school that specialized in only LSA's and LSA training. My instructor, and she is one of the best, has over 1000 hours in LSA's training. I think this makes all the difference. That school has recently merged with a "traditional" flight school. The upside is that the club now has over 25 aircraft to choose from that range from really nice LSA's to twins and a Cirrus. I will tell you though the mindset amongst the old school at the new school as it were is that LSA's are easy to fly and that they are real pilots so how hard can it be. I really dislike this mindset.

I have had this debate with a friend of mine who is a private pilot. His school says they do sport training. They in fact have a CTLS. They have a range of instructors but none of them even ref that they provide SP training in their bios. They do ref all of the other certificates for which they provide training. This is red flag number one. I am sure they would love to provide training in the CTLS but mostly to get folks to go PPL as they get more hours and also get follow-on instruction business from them. Some of us really only want to get our SP certificates.

I have flown a 172, Cardinal, Zlin (aerobatic bird), Cirrus Sim and also had right seat time in C-130's and RC-135's in the AF all with an instructor or friend in the left seat. All planes follow rules of physics and aerodynamics but all planes do not fly alike. It may just be my perception but the LSA is a challenge to control in landings much more so than those previously mentioned planes. At altitude I find the 172 and larger planes much easier to hold altitude in.

Carl

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Sport Pilot and RV-12 Builder

I would bet that you will find that most of the LSA pilots have their PPL or were PPL and let the medical go. I doubt there are few pure LSA licensed pilots compared to the PPL group and PPL pilots that had prior experience in heavier planes. Looking at the stats most of the pilots in incidents were PPL pilots and not just an LSA licensed pilot. The incidents stem more from lack of education and transitional training for their plane. This trend does seem to be changing. Those I would bet are the majority with the 10% on the bottom and the 10% on top of the scale with an incident that was out of their control.

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Roger Lee
Tucson, Az.
Light Sport Repairman - Maint. Rated
Rotax Repair Center - Heavy Maint Rated
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