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.

FMI: http://afs600.faa.gov/AFS610.htm