Van's Air Force
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New Sport Pilot Rule
- Thread starter Peterk
- Start date
Mike S
Senior Curmudgeon
An S-LSA may be re-certificated as an E-LSA under part 21.191(i)(3). After this, it may no longer be used for compensation, but the owner may perform all maintenance and/or modifications just like any other experimental.
10,000 MSL or 2,000 AGL
I'm confused about a different aspect of the new rules. I live in the mountains. The peaks east of me are between 11,000 and 12,000, and there are some high plateaus around 9,000. Currently I fly using private pilot rules, so flying east I climb to 11,500 and follow canyons so as to avoid the peaks, and I'm fine.
But if I were to fly with the new light sport rules of 10,000 MSL or 2,000 AGL, whichever is higher, it seems like I couldn't do this. Flying up the canyons, I'd never be above 2,000 AGL, so I guess I'd have to stay under 10,000 MSL. Then I suppose when I came to the 9,000 ridge, I'd have to watch my altitude pretty carefully, exactly following the terrain, so that I never exceeded 2,000 AGL. Sometimes the slope of the terrain might exceed the climb (or descent) capabilites of a light sport aircraft, so I guess I might have to break the rules and start my a little early and exceed 2,000 AGL before I got to the ridge.
Does anyone know how these rules are really supposed to work? If you follow them exactly (as lawyers are liable to do), they seem to be quite unusable. This is a question that concerns me regarding a decision to build an RV-12 or not (because then I'd want to let my medical lapse and need to follow these strange rules).
I'm confused about a different aspect of the new rules. I live in the mountains. The peaks east of me are between 11,000 and 12,000, and there are some high plateaus around 9,000. Currently I fly using private pilot rules, so flying east I climb to 11,500 and follow canyons so as to avoid the peaks, and I'm fine.
But if I were to fly with the new light sport rules of 10,000 MSL or 2,000 AGL, whichever is higher, it seems like I couldn't do this. Flying up the canyons, I'd never be above 2,000 AGL, so I guess I'd have to stay under 10,000 MSL. Then I suppose when I came to the 9,000 ridge, I'd have to watch my altitude pretty carefully, exactly following the terrain, so that I never exceeded 2,000 AGL. Sometimes the slope of the terrain might exceed the climb (or descent) capabilites of a light sport aircraft, so I guess I might have to break the rules and start my a little early and exceed 2,000 AGL before I got to the ridge.
Does anyone know how these rules are really supposed to work? If you follow them exactly (as lawyers are liable to do), they seem to be quite unusable. This is a question that concerns me regarding a decision to build an RV-12 or not (because then I'd want to let my medical lapse and need to follow these strange rules).
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