Re: Light-Sport Aircraft Yahoo group Wants to fly

"This way all your instruction can count towards a PPL."

What John writes is correct.

The downside to using a regular CFI for your sport pilot training can be this. He/she is used to taking a student through 40 to 60 hours of time (compared to the 20 to 35 hours a sport pilot instructor probably expects to spend.
I used a regular CFI and he in my opinion out of habit and not being used to training sport pilots (me and my co-owner were his first and to date only sport pilot students) dragged our training out longer than necessary and signed us off to solo significantly later than he could safely have done so.

The other downside you may run into is this:
Many regular CFI's and FBOs will say "sure, we can train a sport pilot" but will train you in a non-LSA aircraft (a Cessna 172 or 150).
Then when it's time for you to do your cross country and take your exam they don't have an aircraft that you can legally fly for those required parts (let alone one your familiar with that's legal).

Another downside is many regular CFIs, even with much skill and many hours of experience, are not used to flying very light sport planes such as a challenger and you will spend money and time on them learning to get mastery of that aircraft if it's new to them.
Some CFI's won't charge you for the time for them to get familiar with a new-to-them LSA. Others will charge you for them learning on your nickle.

In short, if you use a regular CFI make sure he/she addresses these issues clearly with you.

Finally: A regular CFI has _generally_ invested more time and money in getting his/her certification than a Sport Pilot Flight Instructor ... so may cost significantly more per hour.

Another two cents. ;-)

Alex

Alex

--- In Sport_Aircraft@yahoogroups.com, John Weber <Ransfly@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Curt,
> At this point make sure that your instructor is a regular CFI, not a CFI-sport instructor. This way all your instruction can count towards a PPL. EAA and AOPA have a petition with the FAA to allow light sport instructors hours to count as well, but we will have to see what the FAA decides. As I am a light sport instructor I feel that I can counsel someone in this regard. If you are only interested in light sport, the a CFI-sport would be fine. On a lighter side, for a fun morning you might consider attending the Fall Fly-in at Gator Field in Groveland on November 19th. Use the following link for more info. Sincerely John Weber(Leesburg, Fl)
> http://www.flyinggators.com/fly-in.htm
> On Oct 23, 2011, at 7:09 PM, rugbugus wrote:
>
> > My wife and I live in Ocala, FL. and would like to begin flying, I have looked into a couple flight schools in the area, I prefer to earn my PPL, although one school nearby offers the LSA cert.
> > If someone lives near us and flys we'd like to get the chance to go up
> > sometime. I am very willing to learn to fly.....who wouldn't lol
> > Thanks
> > Curt
> >
> >
>

------------------------------------

Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Sport_Aircraft/

<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Sport_Aircraft/join
(Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
Sport_Aircraft-digest@yahoogroups.com
Sport_Aircraft-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
Sport_Aircraft-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/