‘Sport Pilots’ Taking Off, Leaving Critics Worried
Imagine being legally able to fly a place with little more than a valid driver’s license and only half as much in-the-air experience as a private pilot, writes Kathy Goolsby.
“It’s true,” she says. “The seemingly minor change opens the filed to sport pilots, whose only required medical certification is a valid U.S. driver’s license.”
Sport pilot certification was created to fill a gap between those who fly ultralight vehicles, which are not FAA certified, and heavier aircraft used by recreational and private pilots, said Larry Clymer, the FAA’s light sport aviation branch manager in a recent interview. “Most incapacitations are not caused by medical problems.”
Sport pilots are authorized to fly light sport aircraft, which have a maximum of two seats and a maximum speed of 120 knots, about 138 mph, according to a recent article.
But some people are concerned about sport pilots who are off the FAA’s radar, the article stated.
FAA spokesman Roland Herwig told Goolsby it’s impossible to know how many private pilots are flying as sport pilots because recertification is not required.
FAA rules state that a sport pilot must not have been denied his or her most recent application for a medical certificate, according to literature.
“Many pilots probably could pass the physical even with medical problems, ” said North Dallas doctor Gabriel Fried, who has been doing FAA medical exams for more than 30 years . “When I started doing these, anyone with coronary or diabetes was automatically grounded.”
Fried said he does 3,500 to 4,000 aviation exams annually.
“Ken Wiegand, head of Collin County Regional Airport in McKinney, said he feels safer among pilots than among drivers,” writes Goolsby.
“There’s a conception that a pilot will have a heart attack and come down on my house, and yet we let 16-year-olds drive, and there are millions of people on the highways every day trying not to bump into each other,” Wiegand stated. “I know there are folks out there with weak hearts and minds going down the highway doing 80.”
In the ten years that the FAA has been certifying recreational pilots only 271 pilots have opted for that certification, according Clymer.
You can experience a flight in a light sport aircraft via video, too.
