A Few Questions
By ANN Correspondent John Ballantyne
The following interview is an exclusive with FAA Manager of the
Light Sport Aviation Branch, AFS-610. Martin Weaver is responsible
for the overall implementation of the sport pilot and light sport
aircraft regulation.
ANN: Mr. Weaver, how goes the implementation of
the sport pilot regulation?
FAA Weaver: FAA has met this week with all of
the interested advocacy groups both individually and collectively.
We have discussed progress in the pilot program, examiner program
and aircraft certification. I think we are doing real well for the
first year. FAA also knows that we still have a lot of work to
do.
Weaver continued to say that everybody from FAA Headquarters who
attended AirVenture left the fly-in knowing the challenges they
must meet, the changes that must be made to make sport pilot more
successful and address year two and how we are really going to
address the influx of people we expect in the second year.
ANN: What are the actual numbers of new sport
pilot and examiners so far?
FAA Weaver: We have designated 31 Pilot
Examiners with six more who have completed the academic portion of
the course and should be done by end of September (2005). More than
50 examiners from the existing examiner pool have stepped up to the
plate to assume sport pilot examiner responsibilities in several
aircraft categories. There still is a shortfall in the number of
weight-shift and powered parachute examiners.
Another area of upcoming improvement will be related with the
Designated Airworthiness Representatives (DAR) who are the folks
who can convert ultralight trainers into experimental light-sport
aircraft. FAA will streamline the process for DARs and hopes that
by fall there will be enough DARs to start certifying through the
winter.
ANN: What does FAA expect in the upcoming
year?
FAA Weaver: Once we get the DARs in place, we
already have the examiners ready to go, we hope to see the
ultralight transition people come over. Since spring we have seen a
total of 289 people take the sport pilot knowledge test-and the
average score was 98 percent! Most of those folks now need to take
the practical test, so they illustrate the likelihood of increasing
activity. The program is going to continue to grow, and next year
will see exponential growth
Also, FAA is considering some rule making that, if we decide to
do it, will be put on what FAA calls the "Fast Track." We hope to
have changes out by next spring so as to affect the next flying
season.
ANN: Can you give us a sneak preview of what
FAA is considering to change?
FAA Weaver: Well, some of the issues with rule
making include that the powered parachute community thinks the
twelve hours minimum of flight training is too much. Well, that is
about the only issue brought by industry, but FAA has some internal
issues that I can't really talk about yet. I think that any changes
will be positive for the industry even though not everyone will be
happy with anything FAA does.
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