FAA Approves Sport Pilot License

steveha writes "The FAA has just approved regulations creating a new class of pilot's license. (FAA press release here). The Sport Pilot license allows you to fly Light-Sport planes. It is much, much easier to get than a normal pilot's license; for example, you don't need to get a medical exam, and the training requirements are minimal." Read this overview, as well as some more details below.

"Light-Sport airplanes will be limited in size and power: maximum weight 1,320 pounds, maximum two seats, maximum airspeed 120 knots, single non-turbine engine, fixed landing gear. If it's a Light-Sport, it should be one of the easiest planes to fly."

This has the potential to dramatically increase the number of people owning and flying planes. Not only is it easier for a person to become a Sport Pilot, it is easier and cheaper for a company to sell a Light-Sport airplane. (For years, people have been building "kit" airplanes just so they will fall under the looser "homebuilt" rules. Now, there will be no need to build a plane unless you actually want to do so.) Several airplane companies have promised to produce Light-Sport planes that will cost no more than a luxury car."

Comments

This being slashdot

[Timesprout]

How long before we see F22 Raptor mods for the garage built kit plane ? (I say F22 because the first Enterprise or X-Wing/TIE mod attempts will likely see a Darwin award winner)

Great for Terrorists...

[fuzzybunny]

...now we'll have wave upon wave of ultralights smearing themselves ineffectively across the sides of NYC skyscrapers.

Who knows, this may cause thousands of dollars of damages to our nation's economy through skyrocketing window cleaning costs.

As for fears that small planes might be used to carry weapons of mass destruction, I can't imagine any hostile states currently having the technology to produce a nuke weighing under a ton. I have a mental image of a fanatic-piloted sport plane hopping along a runway, frantically trying to get airborne despite the huge black ovoid labelled "ACME BOMB" in bright red letters, before plummeting dramatically off the side of a cliff. "Allah Ackbar, take off you piece of s***!" *Boom*

Wile E. Coyote, eat your little heart out.