FSDO says I can't land at any other airport but my home during Phase 1.

ArVeeNiner · #1 04-22-2012, 12:20 AM

My FSDO says I can't land at any other airport but my home airport during Phase 1. He says that he is positive about this but I can't find this stipulation anywhere. Does anybody know where this limitation exists at?

turbo · #2 04-22-2012, 04:26 AM

for my gyro i got 25 miles from a gps waypoint. any airports in that range were fair game except if they were class c n b. that gave me about 5 airports. what is written in your limitations? you might still be able to get them amended.

pierre smith · #3 04-22-2012, 04:59 AM

He's dead wrong.

Best,

s24789 · #4 04-22-2012, 05:08 AM

My area was 66 nm one leg, 63 and 45 nm the others. These were picked by the DAR so we could one get cheaper gas (although we get a great price in sua) and so we could go eat at different airports. Either he is wrong or our DAR is wrong. My bet is your guy is wrong.
Phelps

TSwezey · #5 04-22-2012, 05:12 AM

I got a 70 mile square but I couldn't fly over this one area because it was "congested." It wasn't but somebody in the authorization line lived there. We landed at many different airports.

Ironflight · #6 04-22-2012, 05:39 AM

Hey Kelly, did you politely ask him to show you the reg so that you could learn something? I'd love to hear his citation. Sort of like when I was told last week that I HAD to have an ELT, even in a single-seater....the FSDO inspector didn't read the whole reg. I only pointed this out to him when I had the reg in front of me an was absolutely sure I was right - no use poking the bear unless you are armed! Getting a FSDO guy to admit he's wrong is not easy, unless you can prove it in black and white.

I know that inspectors/DAR's have lots of latitude on granting test areas (they are somewhat arbitrary within certain guidelines) - unfortunately, that same latitude might extend to restricting them..... have you already been granted your ops Lims and airworthiness? If not, it might be time to go DAR shopping....

Paul

Vern · #7 04-22-2012, 07:11 AM

I typically assign an area and allow operations at all airports contained within that area. One area I assign probably has 8-10 airports within that area.

machineman · #8 04-22-2012, 07:38 AM

My FSDO (Boston) also started out telling me I would have to conduct Phase I from a single airport KPYM.
Wasn't easy but had to politely, yet firmly (with the help of my DAR Jon Ross) point out the safety concerns of such a restriction along with pointing out that no such regs exist.

Remember... You are the customer (the bureaucracy forgets this)
don't be afraid to push back.

Rich M.

ArVeeNiner · #9 04-22-2012, 07:49 AM

He hasn't issued my certificate or limits yet. He will be back in a week so I do plan to ask him about this again.

He was pretty adamant about this. He said the reason that he's so sure about this was that he has fought this battle before. It really took me by surprise.

I tried to make a case for going to other airports with crossing runways for some crosswind practice. He said that was pilot proficiency practice and I could do that in a Cessna. I explained to him that a Cessna handles differently than an RV and exploring that envelope was important. No joy. I will push this further.

There were other things he said about the Phase 1 area like:

-it couldn't extend beyond the local FSDO's area because they would have to coordinate with other FSDOs and

-that I couldn't make a case regarding the area of Phase 1. I came up with a couple of Phase 1 suggestions with areas nearly as large as an area with a 25 NM radius. My logic was that if I were in a location that had no densely populated cities around that I would get the entire 25 NM circle. Basically, I want to move the area that I can't access due to population to a non-populated area.

He did tell me that I could have an area with a 50 NM radius so I won't push these items. I'm ending up with a decent area.

I want to share my entire experience but I'm holding until I get my ticket. Stay tuned.

carlrai · #10 04-22-2012, 09:09 AM

I had a 25 mile radius for first 15 hours, fifty mile radius for the remainder. No Class B or C. D was okay. No real count but at least 20 airports in that radius and landed at most of them. Never a mention of restriction to main airport.

Seems this fellow is a bit over zealous....