Light Sport

Wednesday morning was one of those mornings I was “living the life.” At 0800 John Moreland, the southeast rep for SWT Aviation, a certified CubCrafters sales center, picked me up at Orlando-Apopka in a Sport Cub for a leisurely flight over to Deland and back so I could get a feel for the airplane. I […]

Last Friday morning at 1130, three LSAs departed from Apopka, Florida’s X04 for a long weekend in Franklin, North Carolina. Another sport pilot and I flew the Remos while the SportCrusier (formally a PiperSport) and Gobash each had a sport pilot (one working on his private) and a CFI. Pilots and passengers of a Cessna […]

The Sport Pilot certificate turned out to be my perfect re-entry to flying. Here’s how it worked for me. Would it work for you?

(March 2011) — I’M ONE OF THOSE people you might have heard about who’ve made their first certificate a Sport Pilot certificate. I wasn’t new to flying either. I had taken a break from the beginnings of a passion that, as a teenager, I thought would blossom soon enough. The day of my first solo […]

I had the opportunity to ride along with Tecnam demo pilot Andrew Jones in the P92 Eaglet out of Winter Haven (KGIF), where it was based, during one of the company’s Showcase Fly-Bys at Sun ‘n Fun last week. If the term Showcase Fly-By is unfamiliar, I’m certain that if you’ve ever been at the […]

The alphabet groups have petitioned the FAA to allow training time that Sport Pilot students acquire with a CFI-S to count toward a private certificate or higher. Specifically, the Letter of Petition calls for amending 14 CFR Part 61.99 and 61.109 to “permit the instruction time received in pursuit of a sport pilot certificate to […]

Five manufacturers of Light Sport Aircraft (LSAs) will launch a statewide “roadshow” tour following the U.S. Sport Aviation Expo, which opens today in Sebring, Florida. Bill Canino of SportairUSA said, “We wanted to create an intimate atmosphere for purchasers to see planes, without the noise of a show.” Jim Julius of Sport Planes Florida said, […]

Chris Esposito is co-founder of First Landings Aviation, a central Florida sport pilot flight school, and holds both CFI-ASEL and CFI/CFII-H ratings. Chris has given more than 1,200 hours of flight instruction, 600 of which have been in light-sport aircraft. “Flying both the PiperSport and Remos, two fairly well-known light-sport aircraft, I am often approached […]

Q: I would like to get my Sport Pilot Certificate and have a lot of questions about the training requirements. But first, I have an opportunity to purchase a Luscombe 8E. Can a sport pilot fly this airplane? A: Congratulations on your goal to become a sport pilot! But don’t buy the Luscombe 8E. Other […]

This past weekend I called upon a friend (who happens to be a private pilot working toward his instrument rating) and invited him to join me for a late afternoon leisure flight in the Remos G3. He would be my third passenger since certification. Admittedly, it’s more fun for me to have someone along so […]