A Little Single Place Experimental Certificated Airplane Could Be A Good Way To Build Flying Time, But There Might Be A ‘Catch 22’

Flying can certainly be fun and cheap in a little single place experimental airplane. However is this a way for a student to build flying time? The regulations don’t specifically prevented this, but there is a catch. Here’s a true story with a fictional name to make the point.

John is a student pilot who decided he would be better-off building flying time in his own airplane rather than renting from the school. So, he purchased an already flying, single-place, taildragger, experimental amateur-built airplane.

Fred knew he needed to obtain a tailwheel endorsement to fly his new plane and he had located an instructor who could provide the endorsement in a tailwheel Cessna. He figured that after receiving the tailwheel endorsement he could simply start flying the single place airplane. For any pilot above the student rating this might be a good idea. However, a student pilot needs a second make-and-model endorsement, and that caught him by surprise.

FAR 61.87 makes provisions for an instructor to endorse a student pilot to fly single-place aircraft provided the training is performed in, “…the make and model of aircraft or similar make and model of aircraft to be flown.” When Fred asked the instructor with the Cessna if he would also endorse him for solo flight in his single place airplane, the instructor said no. The instructor’s reasoning was that his Cessna did not have similar handling characteristics to the experimental airplane that Fred had purchased. This leads to a situation we call, “instructor shopping.”

If Fred can’t obtain the endorsement on his student pilot certificate for solo flight in his experimental plane, he can’t fly his plane as a student pilot. His only choice could be to park his plane, and continue his current training. After becoming a certificated pilot, he can obtain tailwheel training, receive the tailwheel endorsement, and fly his single-place airplane.

His vision was not to own a parked airplane, but it could turn out this way as a consequence of his making decisions without getting all the facts first.

(Image of single place Baby Ace from file)

FMI: www.faa.gov/regulations_policies