General Aviation - Redefining the Rules

The SP/LSA ruling will drastically reduce the cost of developing general aviation in nations lagging behind in the sector. Some consider its impact to be as significant as that of the advent of the jet engine.

For many decades, piloting personal aircraft has been out of the reach of the common man. There are many reasons for this. Private airplanes are expensive to own, maintain and operate. Besides, learning to fly them was a tedious and extremely expensive procedure. However, recent exciting developments in the US herald new hope.

In the US, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which regulates the largest body of aircraft, pilots and airspace in the world, introduced dramatic new regulations in 2005. The Sport Pilot/Light Sport Aircraft (SP/LSA) Rules aim to ease the burden for light aircraft manufacturing and make flight training easier. This ruling has resulted in lowering the cost of aircraft ownership and flight training, creating a new paradigm for entry-level enthusiasts into aviation.

Everyone accepts that in spite of the tremendous increase in air travel, the safety of flight operations has remained paramount. Notwithstanding the technological advances over many decades to foster flight safety, government agencies around the world continued to apply the same level of strict technical standards to small airplanes as they had to jumbo jets. The FAA, over a period of time, has recognised that there has been overregulation in certain areas of aviation particularly related to smaller aircraft and private pilots. In essence, these rules have stymied the growth of general aviation for decades.

For instance, a private pilot flying a two-passenger single-engine propeller airplane at 100 mph was subjected to similar levels of testing and proficiency as a captain of a 300-passenger commercial airliner flying at 700 mph. The manufacturer of a 600 kg airplane was subjected to regulations as highly restrictive as those applied to the manufacturer of Boeing or Airbus. The rules escalated the costs of the smaller aircraft so much that they seemed to be out of reach, making it difficult and unaffordable for anyone who wanted to learn to fly.