LSA Questions

[W.J.Langholz]

Somewhere between the time I stopped flying in 1991 and 2007 when I started again the catagory of LSA came about. I went to my trusty FAR/Aim to read up and get educated. Like always you just can't go to 1 page and read everything there is to know in that book they got to post bits and pieces here and there so please chime in and shed some light.
I get the 1320lbs, max airspeed at level flight 120 CAS etc etc where I get fuzzy is what you need to be able to fly a LSA. I have this fear of someday not being able to pass a medical. I have been told once you fail a medical it is pretty hard to ever get it back but you don't need one to fly LSA. Which brings up another question, years back it was taboo to be on blood pressure medicine and now is acceptable, what would be some reasons today in which your medical would be in jepardy? Here's another one for you, in Minnesota I take basically the same medical for a CLASS A drivers lics, so I can drive the big riggs too. There are a few differences and a few add ons in order to fly so here is a scary thought you could pass to drive a semi and fail to fly a plane all at the same time....wow. My poor son some day will have to ask for the keys to the car, truck and plane from and old curmudgeon like me All this comes with 1 more question, do you ever think that someday they will increase the catagory high enough to include the 170?

Maybe all you learned individuals can shed some light on these multi questions

Thanks
W.

[jrenwick]

Hi Willie,

First, if you fail an FAA physical exam or the FAA denies your medical, you can't fly any aircraft as PIC until your medical is reinstated somehow, such as getting a special issuance from the FAA after resolving the medical problem to their satisfaction. However, if you simply choose not to renew your FAA medical certificate, and you have a current, valid driver's license, you can fly LSAs. As you said, you have to abide by the Sport Pilot limitations in that case, meaning no more than 1 passenger at a time, no night flight, no VFR-on-top, minimum 3 miles visibility. You're still a Private Pilot or better, so you don't need all the endorsements a Sport Pilot needs to fly different LSA types, penetrate Class B airspace, etc, but you're restricted to aircraft that qualify as Light Sport Aircraft.

There's a lot more information at http://www.sportpilot.org.

For medical information, including drugs and conditions that are disqualifying, go to the AOPA web site.

If you subscribe to Minnesota Flyer, Dr. William Schmidt has a monthly column in that magazine that covers a lot of the issues. In fact, he's an excellent resource, and if you have a medical issue that you're concerned about and you can't get the information you want from your regular AME, you might call Dr. Schmidt and ask him about it. His office is in his hangar at Anoka County Airport (ANE). The AOPA web site will have a listing for him.