Welcome to
FLY-UL.com
Bob Comperini's Ultralight And Sport Pilot Web Page
Sport Pilot And Light Sport Aircraft
How Can I Become A Sport Pilot
To earn a Sport Pilot license, you must:
- Be at least 16 years old to become a student pilot (14 for glider)
- Be at least 17 years old to test for a Sport Pilot certificate (16 for glider)
- Be able to read, write, and understand English
- Hold a current airman's medical certificate or a current and valid U.S. driver's license, as evidence of
medical eligibility (providing the FAA didn't deny, revoke, or suspend the pilot's last medical certificate application)
- Pass an FAA Sport Pilot knowledge test (written)
- Pass an FAA Sport Pilot Practical test (oral, flight)
Minimum training requirements, are (from 14 CFR 61.313):
- 15 hours flight time
- 5 hours solo
- 2 hours cross country flight training
- 10 takeoffs and landings
- 1 solo cross country flight of at least 75 nautical miles total distance (with one leg of the cross country trip at least 25 miles in length)
- 3 hours flight training in preparation for the practical test
- Training must include those items listed in
61.309 and
61.311
The requirements for other types of Light-Sport aircraft are:
- Powered Parachute: 12 hours
- Weight-Shift Control (trikes): 20 hours
- Glider: 10 hours
- Rotocraft (gyroplane only): 20 hours
- Lighter-Than-Air: 20 hours (airship) or 7 hours (balloon)
What Are My Privileges As A Sport Pilot?
As a Sport Pilot, you may:
- Operate as pilot in command of a sport pilot eligible aircraft
- Carry a passenger and share expenses (fuel, oil, airport expenses, and aircraft rental)
- Fly during the daytime using visual flight rules (VFR), with at least three statute miles visibility and visual contact with the ground
- Cross-country flying anywhere in the U.S.
- Fly up to 10,000 feet above mean sea level (MSL)
- Fly solo or with one passenger
- Share operating expenses with another person
- Fly in Class E and G airspace (and B, C, and D airspace with appropriate training and CFI endorsement)
- Privileges to fly additional "Sets" of planes, with proper training and CFI endorsement
- Privileges to fly additional "Class and Categories" of planes, with CFI training/endorsement, and passing a "proficiency check"
What Are My Limitations As A Sport Pilot?
- Prohibited from Class A airspace
- Prohibited from flying in Class B, C, or D airspace until you receive training and a logbook endorsement from an instructor
- No flights outside the U.S. without prior permission from the foreign aviation authority
- May not tow any object
- No flights while carrying a passenger or property for compensation, hire
- Prohibited from flying in furtherance of a business
What Is A "Light-Sport Aircraft"?
A Light-Sport Aircraft is any airplane, glider, lighter-than-air (airship or balloon),
rotorcraft (gyroplane only), powered parachute, or weightsift control aircraft (trike)
that meets the following definitions:
- Maximum of one non-turbine engine (includes rotary or diesel engines)
- Fixed or ground adjustable propeller
- Unpressurized cabin
- Fixed landing gear, except for an aircraft intended for operation on water
- Two-place maximum (pilot and one passenger)
- Maximum gross takeoff weight: 1,320 lbs (1,430 lbs for seaplanes. Lighter-than-air maximum: 660 lbs)
- Maximum stall speed: 51 mph (45 Knots)
- Maximum speed in level flight with maximum continous power (Vh): 138mph (120 Knots)
- Will have an FAA registration N-number
- Aircraft can be certificated in any category (such as Standard, Primary, Amateur-Homebuilt,
Experimental Light-Sport, Special Light-Sport, etc.)
Back to my instruction page