Sport Pilot Rules Allow A Student To Choose Whether Or Not To Receive Controlled Airport Training

The regulations state that a sport pilot may not operate in class B, C, or D airspace, or at any airport with an operating control tower unless he or she meets the training requirements of FAR 61.325. Lets review what this means.

In a nutshell, FAR 61.325 states the training must include flight and ground instruction regarding using your radio, understanding radar service, and using navigation systems. It also requires you to make three takeoffs and landings at an airport with a control tower, and you must receive training about the airspace rules. This training and endorsement may be received during student pilot training, or it may be received after becoming a certificated sport pilot.

The rules don’t state how much ground and flight training is required, and actual flight training in each of the classes of airspace also not specified. It is legal for your flight instructor to have you make your required three takeoffs and landings at a simple Class D airport and provide ground training only regarding operating at airports in Class B and C airspace. However, when your instructor issues the endorsement, it counts for all control tower airspace.

The sport pilot question is, does being endorsed to fly in all control tower airspace necessarily mean you are safe to buzz off and head for a complex Class B airport even though you have never been near one before? The answer in this case is, probably not.

The solution for this safety question is to get some additional training if you intend to fly into airports that are more complicated than you experienced in your previous training. More training is not required but common sense tells us not to take chances. If you get messed-up while operating at a complex airport, your endorsement is not an FAA “get-out-of-jail” card.

One last point about sport pilots and control towers; if you are rated as a private pilot or higher, but operating under sport pilot limitations, you do not need the FAR 61.325 endorsement to operate at a tower controlled airport.

Test time: The control tower pictured above is the busiest tower in the world for one week during a year. Where is it located?

(Image from file)

FMI: www.faa.gov