Some confusion over the new LSA rules

[tyconnell]

Greetings,

Being a lover of all things that fly, I'm also engaged in learning to hanglide. I receive a daily digest from another forum, and in it I ran across these two items:

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I am very very happy to see ... and issues such as the aging of the pilot population and the owners of hang gliding businesses, the upcoming new FAA rules and their effect on towing gliders (which are having and going to have a disastrous effect on small operations) and ...
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Towing hangliders to altitude with Ultralites (not sure what we call them now) is a fairly common practice. Wallaby ranch near Orlando, FL operates exclusively this way.

The poster elaborates on the the new FAA rule here:

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Well I could be wrong, but essentially they are creating a new class of aircraft called sport flyer or something like that. Anyway, this now requires existing tow operators to submit to an exhaustive series of inspections, certifications, unnecessary courses and other things that would cost a pilot tens of thousands of dollars per year, as well as the risk of severe penalties in case of non-compliance. Basically a pile of bureaucratic red tape and a money grab. That's all I know. I also understand that many operators are pissed because the USHPA kinda let the ball drop and did not push for exemptions for towing. Nothing like a government solution to a non existing problem. So this may and probably will translate to higher risk and costs to flight parks.
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This sounds a bit off to me, but I'm so new to all of this, I couldn't speak anything less than gibberish about it. If someone would like to set the record straight:
http://www.hanggliding.org is the site, and
http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=3242 is the thread.

This might be a good opportunity to introduce ourselves to a group that already likes to fly and might like what we do (GA is looking for more pilots, no?). Also, you might find some interest hangliding yourself. Hangliding numbers have been on the decline, and having taken a few lessons, I can't figure out why (I have a few marbles loose, but other than that).

A little community cross pollination never hurts.

regards,
-ty

[osxuser]

Doesn't make any sense to me. The new Sport Pilot certificate has no effect (IE it doesn't replace) any current rules. It's a new set. Therefore, even the completely worthless Recreational Pilot certificate still can be issued. I think they are considering that Sport Pilot rules will supercede Ultralite rules, which is simply not the case. The only thing it allows is some of the bigger 'ultralites' which weren't allowed into the ultralite category after the weight limits changed in the 80's (I think) to be operated as LSA's instead of experimental amatuar built.

[pierre smith]

Ty,
As Stephen points out, the new rules are established for aircraft that don't come in under the 254 Lb. limit set for ultralights. If the towplanes are over 254 # and/or have more than the requisite 5 gallon fuel tank, then they never were legal ultralights anyway. The hammer is now coming down on those guys who've been flaunting the laws from day one. Stick to a legal ultralight for towing and nothing's changed.

Regards,
Pierre

[tyconnell]

Great explanations. Thanks folks!

-ty