The FAA has got it right this time with publication of its sport pilot and light-sport aircraft rules. These new rules finally recognize the crucial differences in the type of general aviation airplanes people want to fly, and how they want to use them.
Categorizing airplanes and pilots by intended use is actually an old, not a new, idea. Not long after the end of World War II the Civil Aeronautics Board, forerunner of the FAA, split airplane certification standards into major groups, with normal general aviation and transport categories encompassing most airplanes.
