PRA Chapter 5 News: June 2002

Hello fellow club members our meeting will be June 23, 2002 at 1 PM. The location will be the Marysville Airport. The topics to be discussed will be a report on the PRA convention in Texas including the sport pilot meeting with the FAA, the possible loss of our CFI in spring of 2004 ( Gary's moving) and last on the agenda, should we/ can we host the PRA National Convention in 2004? Recently there has been a discussion of regulations involving our members with two seat gyros. I have researched through EAA, the FAA and Aero Sports Connection and I have learned the answers to the following questions.

1) Can a BFI sign off a person to fly a two place machine?

A) No, a two place machine is either experimental or an ultra light trainer. In order to fly a experimental, you must be signed off by a CFI for solo flight or you must hold a rating for carrying passengers and be signed off by an examiner. A BFI can only sign off a person to fly solo in an ultra light. An ultra light is a single place aircraft per part 103. A two place aircraft that is registered through ASC or EAA as an ultra light trainer can only be used for training. It cannot be used for rides, demo flights, or logging solo time required for a BFI, only for training future ultra light pilots.

2) Can a BFI sign off or recommend another BFI?

A) No, only a CFI can sign off a qualified person for a recommendation for a BFI endorsement through ASC, EAA or USHGA.

3) If I'm already a BFI in fixed wings can I train in Gyros also?

A) No, it requires 100 hours of experience in type.

4) If the sport pilot regulation goes through can I just register my gyro as a sport trainer?

A) No, a Sport trainer must meet industry standards and be reviewed and OK'd by the FAA prior to start of construction. After a sport trainer is OK'd by the FAA, a kit based on the sport trainer can be built but is a experimental requiring a pilots license. The sport trainer cannot be altered without permission of the manufacturer and only after paper work has been sent to the FAA and approved. If your machine is not a sport trainer you cannot fly it legally without at least a student pilots license. The sport pilot license only allows you to fly a sport trainer/ aircraft that is approved. Remember, the sport pilot regulation has yet to include gyros and is not enacted as of this writing.

In other news, the RAF factory is moving to Oklahoma where it will take over three hangers and will begin a flight school, builders assist program and an R&D department. They anticipate being all moved in by fall 2002.

Bill Wilson is nearing completion on his two place trainer. Bill is a CFI Rotorcraft and perhaps we need to encourage him to obtain an add on to his CFI for gyro's. This would benefit the club and allow us to continue with our passion. Let's ask Bill what it would take to spark his interest in completing this task.

In the future we will have our machines inspected by DAR's and not the FAA. Bob Aspegren is interested in becoming one of these fellows. In order to assist him we should amend his title from safety officer to Technical Counselor. This slight change could assist us.

Happy landings and we will see you at the meeting!