January 2004 -- Headline Archive

Sport Pilot/LSA Rule Moves on to OMB
Sue Gardner, the coauthor of the FAA's sport pilot/light-sport aircraft (LSA) proposal, has confirmed to LAMA President Larry Burke that the rule has been passed from the Department of Transportation to the OMB for final review before public disclosure of the new rule that is expected to revolutionize recreational flying in the U.S.
Gardner said that the FAA is prepared to brief OMB on the FAA's changes to the proposal since OMB reviewed the original document. By law, OMB has up to 90 days to complete its review. Speculation was that the rule may be announced at the EAA's annual Sun 'n Fun fly-in at Lakeland, Florida, in April. Certain parts of the rule could be effective immediately (currently licensed pilots flying aircraft that meet the LSA definition, for example).
The effective date of other parts of the complex rule may be delayed until more of the LSA infrastructure is in place. This could include the aircraft consensus standards and sport pilot license features including flight instruction, test standards and licensing. The final rule will of course be found here when it becomes public.

Wright Flyer Replica Qualifies as LSA
But due to uncooperative weather, The EAA's Wright Experience Flyer exact replica--licensed in the amateur-built Experimental category--failed to clear its rail at the First Flight Centennial celebration at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina on December 17.
LAMA board member Dave Martin was there. "The event was completely successful at educating the public about the Wrights' accomplishment, " he said. "I've thought for years that it would be close to miraculous if weather on the centennial day allowed duplication of Orville Wright's first brief airplane flight."
The Wrights waited for exactly the right conditions in 1903, and that included a steady headwind of more than 20 knots. On December 17th this year, the wind never achieved the required steady 12 knots needed to launch from the 200-foot runway rail.
EAA Proposes LSA Promotional Board
At the Tampa consensus standards meeting, EAA Vice President Earl Lawrence opened a discussion on forming a national board to promote LSA programs and products. The idea is based on the dairy industry's "Got Milk?" campaign, but Lawrence acknowledged that the anticipated LSA industry will never have the assets for a national ad blitz. Rather, the idea is to consider a particular target audience in one or more geographic regions where the infrastructure will be available for training, aircraft sales and support.
One possible primary target for LSA training and sales is believed to be those attracted to motorcycles and personal watercraft. But promotion within the aviation community--particularly for inactive licensed pilots--was also recognized as important.
The question at the end of the session was: Should the recreational aviation industry gather data and consider some sort of a coordinated national promotional program?
Contact LAMA with your thoughts.
FAA proposes Make/Model grouping of aircraft for self-endorsement (Read more)
FAA reports on progress of sport pilot/light sport aircraft rule
ASTM Activities:
ASTM to present awards to LSA industry for exemplary service (Read more)
Board Members Honored
LAMA President Larry Burke and board member Dan Johnson were presented with awards at the Tampa ASTM meeting for their work toward consensus standards. Dan Johnson was presented ASTM's Outstanding Leadership Award for his rapid and effective organization of a subcommittee to consider emergency recovery systems within the LSA consensus standards. His committee completed its task in less than six months. Larry Burke has donated thousands of work hours and paid his own expenses in recent years toward the LSA consensus standards process. For his work as Secretary of the LSA consensus standards executive committee and also secretary of the airplane subcommittee, he received ASTM's Standard of Excellence Award.