Sport Pilot vs. Private Pilot...What's the Difference?

I have mentioned on this blog that my flight training is designed to obtain a Sport Pilot Certificate (SPC), as opposed to a Private Pilot Certificate (PPC). So...what's the difference?

In order to become a pilot, traditionally the only way to do so (unless you want to fly an ultralight) was to obtain a PPC. The major requirements for the PPC are pretty straightforward:

1) Have a minimum of 40 hours of flight experience, including at least 20 hours of dual instruction and ten hours of solo flight, including three hours of night flying and a cross-country flight of at least 150 nautical miles.

2) Pass written, oral, and practical tests on flight skills and aeronautical knowledge in numerous fields including aircraft systems, flight theory, weather, and FAA regulations.

3) Ability to obtain an FAA Class III medical certificate (every five years for those under 40, every two for those 40+), which requires an exam and disclosure of any existing and some past medical conditions.

In 2005 the FAA codified the SPC, after a long lobbying effort by organizations like the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) and Aircraft Owners and Pilot Association (AOPA). The idea is to provide a way to get more pilots into the air in a less expensive and time-consuming manner, while maintaining the high standard of safety and proficiency the FAA expects of all pilots. To that end, the major differences in requirements between the SPC and PPC are:

1) Roughly half the flight experience requirements: a minimum of 20 hours of flight experience, including at least 15 hours of dual instruction and five hours of solo flight, and a cross-country flight of at least 75 nautical miles.

2) No medical certificate required. Instead, a sport pilot may "self certify" that he/she is medically fit to perform any flight, as long as he or she holds a valid state driver's license and has not failed an FAA medical (and not subsequently gotten a pass on the medical).

The idea with the medical requirement is that if you are healthy enough to legally drive a car, you can make the determination if you are healthy enough to fly. This is not a blank check; you are expected by the FAA to ground yourself if you have any medical condition that would impair your ability to safely conduct the flight in question. Failure to do so could, if you then caused an accident, result in suspension or revocation of your SPC, and other fines and sanctions as well.

And while the flight training requirements are roughly half of the PPC, in the real world that's not the case. The skills needed to fly any airplane are mostly the same, and the fact is those skills can't be rushed. My instructor told me he has yet to see a student that took any less time to solo for an SPC than for a PPC. So in reality I'd be surprised to see many students getting an SPC in less than 40-50 flight hours. The national average for PPC flight hours is about 60-70.

Okay, so what are the disadvantages of the SPC? Well, there are several limitations on where/when you can fly:

1) Flights must be conducted in clear VFR conditions (3 miles visibility, 1000ft ceilings).

2) Flights must be conducted during daylight hours (no night flights).

3) Flights must be conducted at 10,000 feet or below.

4) Cannot fly in tower-controlled airspace (class A, B, C) without additional training and a logbook endorsement.

5) Cannot fly in an aircraft with a faster level flight speed than 87 knots without additional training and a logbook endorsement.

6) Must only fly Light Sport Aircraft (LSA).

7) May carry no more than one passenger other than the pilot.

That looks like a long list, but in reality many of them are not limitations that are significantly painful. Most General Aviation (GA) pilots spend most of their time below 10,000 feet, and most spend very little time flying at night. And most can count on one hand the number of times they have filled more than two seats in their airplanes. Since logbook endorsements can remove some of the other restrictions, in reality there are few very onerous limitations. One tough one is the requirement to fly only LSAs.

What's an LSA? It's a plane that has a stall speed less than 45 knots, a top speed no more thna 120 knots (138mph), and weighs less than 1320 pounds. That is a tough requirement for a plane to make, but there are some really nice planes that do meet that definition. Look at the sexy planes pictured below:




So there you have it, the differences between a sport pilot and private pilot in a nutshell. And you got to see pictures of airplanes, too!

Flight Scrubbed

My scheduled flight today was canceled due to weather. Rain, low visibility, and lowering ceilings combined to make it nowhere near a VFR day. I went to the flight school anyway hoping against hope things would clear during the 40 minute drive, but no dice.

I knew this would happen sometimes, and is just one of the aspects of flying VFR. It's mildly frustrating, but I'd rather miss a few lessons than go up in unsafe conditions.

The bad news is that my next scheduled flight is not until a week from today. But the good news is that at that point I'm taking a week off from work. During that time I'm going to be flying twice a day, to really knock out some hours.

Assuming the weather holds, of course...

Lesson 2: Standard Turns and Descents

My second lesson was on Monday, the MLK holiday. It was significantly warmer than the frigid first flight last Saturday, but overcast. But the ceiling was 8000 feet, with almost no wind and no precipitation forecast, so the flight was still a "go."

Eric let me pre-flight the plane this time, under his watchful eye. I didn't rush, and just followed the pre-flight checklist. I paid close attention to all of the Zodiac-specific items Eric had shown me to look at last lesson. There was only about nine gallons of fuel in the plane, so I was able to take my time while we waited for the fuel truck to arrive. I basically went through the pre-flight twice to make sure I didn't miss anything.

We boarded, got the engine started and got a taxi clearance from the tower, then headed to runway 25 (runway numbers are based on their direction to the nearest ten degrees and dropping the final zero, so traveling down runway 25 is roughly 250 degrees, or 20 degrees off due West). Eric let me go through the runup and pre-takeoff checklist, making sure everything was working properly before geing airborne.

After takeoff we turned eastward and climbed to 5500 feet, then started practicing turns. This time Eric specified "standard rate" turns, which are 30 degrees of bank. At that bank angle a little back pressure is needed on the stick to keep from descending in the turn; I mostly held altitude well, but did sink or rise up occasionally as I worked on getting the stick forces just right. We did some 360 degree turns in both directions then went on to descents.

We set up for a simulated descent to landing. At Eric's direction I cut the throttle from 2300rpm to 1700rpm, which caused the nose to drop 5-10 degrees and the plane to enter a gentle 600 feet per second descent. I added some nose up trim to bring the descent to 500fpm, and this bled our speed down to about 65-70 knots. Eric then had me lower the flaps as if preparing for a landing.

That's when I had my first "oh shit" moment in an airplane. When the flaps are added in the Zodiac, the nose pitches down sharply. Since the Zodiac's flaps don't create a large amount of drag as they do in some planes, speed can build up quickly. Since I was not prepared for the attitude change, the nose fell quickly and we sped right up. "My controls," Eric said immediately and took over, leveling us out. We actually hit 90 knots before slowing back to 65 knots to continue the descent. The maximum designed flaps down speed of the Zodiac is 80 knots. Oops.

Eric just made sure I understood what happened, and how to make sure it didn't happen again. We tried it again, and I did much better, though I had to hunt around a little for the right amount of pressure to counter the pitch change when adding the flaps. So okay, I'll have to keep working on that one...

We did a few more turns, then headed back to base. We called in to the airport at ten miles out, and were told to make a straight in approach back to runway 25. Eric let me run the descent until we were on the extended final about three miles out, where he took over and made the landing, then had me taxi back to the school.

It was a good lesson, and I am starting to appreciate how challenging some of these pilot skills are going to be to master. I'm both looking forward to and dreading the lesson where I'll have to try my first landing! That's a way off though, and the next lesson is stalls, which should be both harrowing and fun. That will be next Saturday. I wish I could get back in the air sooner, but the airport is a half hour from me, and I work 8am-5pm, so weekday scheduling is a little tough. I'm looking into a way around that -- if it works out I'll post about it.

It All Starts Somewhere

After about nine months of preparing to begin flight training, this weekend I finally got started! I had been trying to decide whether to go for my Private Pilot Certificate (PPC) or my Sport Pilot Certificate (SPC). On a vacation last week to Cabo San Lucas, I forced myself to weigh the options and make a choice. The decision, as you probably guessed from this blog's title, was to go with the SPC.

Once that decision was made, there was no reason to delay the training any longer. I scheduled a first lesson with CFI (Certified Flight Instuctor) Eric Jacobson of The Flight School of Gwinnett, the only school in the area offering Sport Pilot training. I had not been to the school before, but I had taken a ride with Eric before. I was a little nervous as most folks are in an unfamiliar situation, but I was excited to be working on my lifelong dream of being a pilot.

The airplane I'll be flying for my training is an AMD Zodiac CH601XL, which is a two seat, low wing LSA (Light Sport Aircraft). It uses a 100 horsepower Continental engine, and cruises at about 110 knots (127mph) at 75% power. I was surprised at how well-equipped and modern the school's Zodiac (FAA registration N130AW) is. It has a "glass" instrument panel, using two Dynon LCD displays instead of traditional dial instruments, a Garmin 496 moving map GPS with weather and air traffic reporting (through the Garmin GTX330 transponder), and a two axis autopilot with altitude hold. That's much better equipped than most tired old trainers.

So how was the actual flying? Cold! The Zodiac is a drafty plane, with vents that don't seal completely and a very marginal cabin heater. It was below zero on the ground, and only got colder as we went higher. We could see our breath the entire time, and by the time we landed my face and hands were numb!

Other than the temperature, the flying was great. Eric let me taxi and take off, and we climbed to about 4500 feet and then did some turns. I kept most of the turns shallow, around 15-20 degrees. I didn't have a lot of trouble holding altitude, but I found that holding a heading, or rolling out on a heading from a turn, was much harder. The Zodiac has such sensitive controls, that it's just too easy to wander off the desired heading. I do think it's much easier to hold a heading by picking ground references to head to, rather than trying to "chase" the heading around on the instruments, so that's now my official technique (and the correct one, based on Eric's and other pilots' comments to me).

After we landed we had a short debrief session so that Eric could tell me what I did right and wrong, and we could talk about the next lesson. I left the flight school very satisfied and excited to have the next lesson. Since the following Monday was MLK Day and I had the day off, I decided to fly again two days later...