Sport Pilot Talk

I teach my student that, language of the FARs notwithstanding, it's all about external pressures to fly. Ask yourself: on a scale of 1 to 10, how important is it that I make this flight? An answer of 5 or above should be enough to ground a Sport Pilot.

If a flight is important to you, you should ground yourself, even if conditions are perfect and there is no reason not to fly?

That seems to take all the joy out of flying. I have taken lots of flights above a 5 in personal importance to me because they were well within my capabilities. I have also stayed on the ground for flights of importance 9+ when it was prudent.

But you are a well-trained and highly experienced pilot, Andy. Student and new SP restrictions are commensurate with the more limited training and experience that the rating implies. We should all start out with very restrictive personal minimums, and revisit them from time to time as we gain experience.

... and those minimums change as one enters unfamiliar weather systems of different regions,
especially on very long cross-countries.

I used to fly a lot up in NY and PA.
The first time I flew in Florida coastal haze, it was like what IS this?
Now it is readily assessed and usually not an unmanageable factor.

THEN when I returned up North for Sentimental Journey it took a flight or two to reprogram myself to get back to flying the different regional marginal VFR conditions.

On the way back to Florida through the Carolinas I had three hours with NO HORIZON out the front view.
It was basically simulated IMC unless you looked out to the side. (Good training fight.)
Yet it was also legal VFR with 10 miles visibility.
Legal does not always mean safe!

There will be many different regional weather systems in Alaska.

Curious how they would enforce that on a military base...who knows, may be more strict.

Undoubtedly, no matter how cautious I am, I will inevitably run across dangerous conditions. What airplane features/configuration/instruments/ect will increase safety and stability of flight? Wish Hilander made a 4 seater.

All regulations are ultimately enforced by the pilot, not some external entity. If you are not totally committed to your own safety, nobody else can save you from your own folly. And, speaking as an educator, I believe the best equipment to enhance safety if flight is rigorous, high quality training.

drseti wrote:But you are a well-trained and highly experienced pilot, Andy. Student and new SP restrictions are commensurate with the more limited training and experience that the rating implies. We should all start out with very restrictive personal minimums, and revisit them from time to time as we gain experience.

Thanks for the kind words, but I consider myself a rank beginner with my whopping 280hrs of flying.

drseti wrote:All regulations are ultimately enforced by the pilot, not some external entity. If you are not totally committed to your own safety, nobody else can save you from your own folly. And, speaking as an educator, I believe the best equipment to enhance safety if flight is rigorous, high quality training.

I agree with all of that. There are no FAA cops in the sky to pull you over, you have to be your own cop.

You can't be a good cop without training.

MrMorden wrote:Thanks for the kind words, but I consider myself a rank beginner with my whopping 280hrs of flying.

It's not about the quantity of flight hours, Andy, so much as it is their quality.

How about a Bush cat? The price is right.

edit- er, nevermind, looks like you are not looking at LSAs anymore?

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Sport pilot limits you to sport pilot privileges, one of which is you can only fly light sport aircraft.

Light sport aircraft are simply aircraft that meet the requirements of the CFR 1.1 definition. A person with any appropriate pilot certificate can fly a light sport aircraft in accordance with the limitations on their pilot certificate and within the aircrafts limitations.

While the two kind of go hand in hand for a sport pilot, it is just another airplane to a private pilot and above.

SportPilot wrote:Again, you can fly an LSA to work, but you must be a Private Pilot or higher.

And, you must hold a current medical certificate (until that requirement gets changed).

drseti wrote:

SportPilot wrote:Again, you can fly an LSA to work, but you must be a Private Pilot or higher.

And, you must hold a current medical certificate (until that requirement gets changed).

Which I believe it made a move forward today.

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