A nest of orphaned geese inspired Ana Thwaits to learn to fly. Her landings–low and fast on a grassy field–would make any waterfowl proud.
Thwaits, 19, recently joined the growing ranks of motorized ultralight pilots. Cruising at speeds up to about 70 m.p.h. in the bucket seats of open-air craft that look like flying lawn chairs from a distance, these aviators are barnstorming back to a simpler time before instrument gauges and electrical systems.
“My love for ultralight flying started after I saw the movie `Fly Away Home’ about a girl who taught some goslings to fly and led them on a migration in her ultralight,” Thwaits, of Merrill, Wis., said while participating in a flight demonstration at this year’s AirVenture in Oshkosh. She saved her babysitting earnings for seven years to buy an ultralight, which is like a hang-glider with landing gear and propelled by an engine about as powerful as the motor of an old Volkswagen Beetle.
“I can’t stop smiling,” said Thwaits, a nursing student at the University of Wisconsin-Marathon County, removing her helmet to show her face. “I’m the happiest when I am in the air.”
This year, the Federal Aviation Administration is expected to issue a long-awaited final rule creating new categories of sport pilot and light-sport aircraft, regulating a long-ignored segment of aviation. The rule will cover a variety of craft, including not only ultralights but also planes that to laymen might look similar to Cessnas and Pipers, but are lighter, produce less power and are easier to operate.
Advocates say the move will open recreational flying to thousands of people who might not want to invest the time and money to become a certified private pilot, yet yearn to feel free as a bird.
“This is one of the most important initiatives for general aviation in the last 40 years,” FAA Administrator Marion Blakey said while touring the Oshkosh air show.
Existing private pilot rules for obtaining a license require students to learn a lot of information that many people operating light-sport aircraft would never use, said Earl Downs, a veteran pilot who is a volunteer with the Experimental Aircraft Association, which holds the annual Oshkosh show.
Some future pilots may have no higher ambition than hovering 100 feet over their favorite fishing lake and dropping a baited line into the water.
“There are a lot of people who would just like to fly in the old-style, lightweight airplanes with two seats for the sake of flying. They want to go up, turn around, maybe fly to a weekend fly-in,” said Downs, a commercial pilot who flies high-performance jets but prefers the “more natural feel” of handling a small sport plane.
“In the 1960s when airplanes became more complex, the FAA adopted the attitude that since the manufacturers were creating technical airplanes, we had to create technical pilots. But the simple pilot doesn’t need or want all that. We just accidentally regulated out the ease in which people used to be able to go to airports and have fun,” Downs said.
Under the proposed rules, light-sport aircraft would be limited to a maximum takeoff weight of 1,232 pounds. They could carry up to two occupants and be powered by a single non-turbine engine operating at up to 115 knots (about 132 m.p.h.). Two new airworthiness certificates would be established.
Students seeking the new sport-pilot license would be required to take a minimum 20 hours’ training, half the minimum time required for a student pilot seeking a private license, said Sue Gardner, FAA manager of the sport-pilot program. The only medical requirement would be to possess a state driver’s license or a third-class FAA medical certificate. Sport pilots would be allowed to fly only during the day in clear weather.
The FAA has sent the final proposed rules to the Department of Transportation and the Office of Management and Budget for review. If approved, the rules are expected to take effect next year.
Though some weekend aviators expressed apprehension about the regulation of their hobby, experts said the partnership between government and private industry would enhance safety by setting standards for flight instruction and light-sport plane manufacturing. Accident reporting also would improve. Under the existing rules, the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board do not investigate all crashes.
And airports where general aviation activity is light also may benefit from the new rules, which are expected to prompt a flurry of new low-cost aircraft models built for pilots discovering recreational aviation.
In addition, a generation of aging general-aviation pilots who have been grounded by FAA medical requirements will have an easier time transitioning to the less-rigorous sport-pilot rules, experts said.
Stephen Rankin lost his ticket to fly in 1991 when he was diagnosed with high blood pressure and later with diabetes. Rankin, 55, a car dealer-turned-minister in Tulsa, formerly flew his Cessna to auto auctions. He now anxiously awaits the rule change so he can get back into the cockpit.
“As far as my regular doctor is concerned, my health situation is under control with medications,” said Rankin, who was taught to fly at age 14 by his father. “But I can’t pass the FAA medical exam. I did 365 hours in the last year I flew. Then the next day I was suddenly no longer qualified for medical reasons.”
Rankin and his two sons, Richard, 32, and Bobby, 17, attended the Oshkosh air show to shop for a home-built light-sport aircraft kit that will enable Rankin to fly again. Richard Rankin got his private pilot’s license last year.
“He is my means to get back into the air,” Rankin said of his eldest son. “Not as pilot-in-command, but at least to pilot the aircraft and knock off some of the dust from my long hiatus. Flying has been in my family’s blood for a long time, and it’s pretty painful being out of the air for 12 years.”
Jan Carter, an instrument-rated pilot who lives in Canton, Mich., said she was urged by her husband to give ultralight craft a try, which she did for the first time at the Oshkosh air show. Her spouse switched to sport piloting after he lost his medical rating to fly general-aviation planes.
“He wants me to get hooked on ultralights, and I think his strategy worked,” Carter said after taking an introductory flight with an instructor. “He knows that if I get the bug, all of a sudden we will have a plane again to fly to breakfast and stuff that we used to do with our old Mooney.”
What attracted Ken Snyder to ultralights 23 years ago was “the seat-of-the-pants flying.” Snyder is an advanced flight instructor who builds and sells ultralights at the business he created in Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.
“It might not be much faster to fly an ultra-light than to drive,” said Snyder, who recently flew 200 miles from Wisconsin Rapids to Moore, Minn., taking about three hours and several refueling stops.
“But if you are looking at your watch all the time, you have missed all the beautiful scenery around you,” Snyder said, “and you’re missing the fun.”
