Coupers--
The following question and answer is from an EAA website
(www.sportpilot.org) focused on the Sport Pilot rule. It gives a pretty
clear explanation of why and how the 1320 lb weight limit was
established and IMHO provides a pretty good indication that the limit is
pretty firmly fixed. Other questions on the same web site indicate that
there are aircraft whose gross weight is as little as 5 lbs over the
Sport Pilot max gross that are not eligible. While it would be nice to
raise the limit or to allow planes converted back to C or CD models to
be Sport Pilot eligible, it is really doubtful (and unfortunate) that
the rule will be changed by the FAA.
John Roach
N 2427H
*Question :
*I am curious as why no provisions were made to attempt to include
aircraft such as the Cessna 150 in the Sport Pilot rule?
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*Answer :
*The rule was never intended to specifically allow (or disallow) any
existing type-certificated aircraft. In fact it is indeed a bonus that
pilots operating at the sport pilot level are allowed to fly standard
category aircraft at all. The FAA could have just as easily narrowed the
focus of the rule to only include aircraft certificated specifically in
the LSA categories. Instead they have allowed sport pilots to fly any
aircraft that meets the definition of a light-sport aircraft regardless
of what category the aircraft is actually certificated in. We should
appreciate this opportunity and take advantage of it where possible,
rather than complaining that one aircraft or another doesn't fit the
category.
The limits imposed by the LSA definition were based on several
internationally-recognized light aircraft certification standards, and
were actually raised from what was originally proposed. If the FAA had
decided to stick with the limits talked about at early stages of the
discussions, we wouldn't even be able to fly Piper Cubs as sport pilots
because the initial discussions involved weight limits of less than 1000
lbs gross weight. By the time the notice of proposed rule making (NPRM)
was published the weight limit had been raised to 1232 lbs, and the
final rule actually raised the limit even more, to 1320 lbs. Again, this
was not in any way directed toward any existing standard category
aircraft, but was instead intended to broaden the availability for new
production aircraft as well as allow a wider variety of unregistered
"ultralight" aircraft to be certificated in the LSA categories.
