Sport Pilot rentals with medical required?

jcwCT said:
Capt. Thorpe,

Your "simple fact" is simply not based on facts. LSAs are not "falling from the sky" and LSA accidents due to medical issues that would have been detected by a flight surgeon haven't just been statistically insignificant... there haven't been any.

Before you make blanket statements, I suggest you review the LSA safety studies the folks at Aviation Safety (and other flying magazines) have done over the last three years. The accident rate for LSAs has been higher than that of certified GA single engine piston aircraft. Take out a few trouble-prone models, and that rate drops to being only slightly higher... and the majority of the accidents that make that accident rate slightly higher are comparatively minor RLOC, collapsed nose gears due to hard landings etc.

One thing that has stood out in all of the safety reviews is that newly minted Sport Pilots have a better safety record than experienced Private Pilots "trading down" to LSAs. Those who approach LSAs with a "Hell, I've flown ____________ and __________ (fill in the blanks) for years... flying this little thing will be a piece of cake" attitude quickly find out that LSAs can be much less forgiving if one's (actual) "stick and rudder skills" are rusty or if one flares even a bit too high on landing and runs out of energy.

Finally, the legacy LSAs in your chart are not representative of the fleet as a whole -- you need to include the modern composite and aluminum LSAs sold by Flight Design, Jabiru, Tecnam and the like as well as the modern interpretations of the classics by CubCrafters, Rans, etc.
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Ok, did you actually read what I wrote, or did you stop at the first sarcastic sentence?

Did you notice that I pointed out that the current accident rate is almost half of what it was in the 80's?

Did you notice that the data presented shows that the number of accidents per year did not increase when the sport pilot rule was enacted (the big vertical line on the graph) for the same population of aircraft?

Did you notice that the graph provides a comparison of before vs. after? And showed that for the SAME airplane, there is no significant increase in the annual accident rate? How can you show that comparison with S-LSA aircraft that were not around in significant numbers before the LSA rules?

As someone pointed out, the annual accident rate corresponds strongly to economic conditions - not to the change in medical requirements. (Non-LSA aircraft show the same trends).
 
Sorry. I missed the sarcasm entirely. It's also my first day back at work after vacation; I guess I'm grumpier than I thought. :redface:
 
I just skimmed the rest of the thread, but there is a Skycatcher for rent at KHEF. Aviation Adventures rents it out. I fly with them at JYO and have flown the Skycatcher there. Not sure about the medical requirements. I got my sport and private at Chesapeake Sport Pilot at Bay Bridge W29 on the Eastern Shore. It's a real hike from Fredericksburg, so it probably doesn't make a difference to you, but they run a top-notch operation. Excellent planes, excellent instructors, excellent prices. I really can't say enough good about them. Post back or PM if you want anything more specific. And they definitely don't require a medical to rent as a sport pilot.
 
jpower said:
I just skimmed the rest of the thread, but there is a Skycatcher for rent at KHEF. Aviation Adventures rents it out. I fly with them at JYO and have flown the Skycatcher there. Not sure about the medical requirements. I got my sport and private at Chesapeake Sport Pilot at Bay Bridge W29 on the Eastern Shore. It's a real hike from Fredericksburg, so it probably doesn't make a difference to you, but they run a top-notch operation. Excellent planes, excellent instructors, excellent prices. I really can't say enough good about them. Post back or PM if you want anything more specific. And they definitely don't require a medical to rent as a sport pilot.
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Scheduling both CTLS and Tecnam Eaglet discovery flights next week. :yes:
 
jnmeade said:
Curious about the medical. Did you get the impression the person meant an FAA physical? Did anyone ask about a CDL medical, a sports or school medical, maybe a routine check up from a doctor, maybe simply a doctor's statement of medical sufficiency?
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I didn't know enough to ask follow up questions. I assumed he knew personally of LSAs that wouldn't rent because of medical restrictions. I did neglect to mention that this person may have a stake of some sort in a flight school that didn't offer Sport Pilot training. I'm trying not to read too much into how motivated he may or may not have been to discourage me from pursuing the Sport Pilot certificate, which is why I originally inquired about the experiences that others have had renting LSAs around the country.
 
There is a thread over on the red board where several people claim to know of FBOs that won't rent an LSA without a medical.
 
valittu said:
Scheduling both CTLS and Tecnam Eaglet discovery flights next week. :yes:
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Excellent! :) A quick glance of the schedule shows the Eaglet down until late next week, but hopefully you can sneak a flight in soon. Unfortunately they're down to one for the moment, though last time I checked in they were hopeful that another might come back online. They're fantastic airplanes to fly, and I trained in them for my sport and private licenses. Going from them to a 172 was.....something of a disappointment :). I've never flown the CT, but I've only heard good things from those who have.

valittu said:
I did neglect to mention that this person may have a stake of some sort in a flight school that didn't offer Sport Pilot training.
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Should have made it clear that I have no affiliation with any flight schools including CSP. I'm just an extremely satisfied customer!
 
Does make me wonder if perhaps you might be able to talk an insurance company into a better rate if you required a medical.

Or perhaps there is just a blanket "all pilots shall have a current medical" in the policy left over from pre SP times?
 
The charge of the FAA is/was to "promote, and regulate". That means, in a capital intensive culture, to "make insureable". All Sport Pilot did for the medical was remove the insurance floor for medical situations. So all FAA did was say, "okay, we'll let the insurors do their thing...."
 
Henning said:
I no longer have access to the red board, could you get the number or website of this (these) FBO(s) for me? Thanks.
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"The CPC (Cessna Pilot Center) Insurance program required it for all LSAs."

"From my rather rudimentary research, it is the Cessna schools only."

"Our CPC (Troy Air Experience - Troy, MI) doesn't use Cessna's insurance and we don't require medicals for Sport Pilots (students or renters). "

"My home airport , Leesburg Va, (KJYO) has 3 flight schools. One school has 2 new Skycatchers and requires no medical for Sport training. Another Company has 3 schools at different airports in Northern Va , all with Skycatchers and require medicals for ALL flying. The other flight school has 1 Skycatcher and requires no medical."
 
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