www.PSFmagazine.com | December 2016-January 2017 | 39 38 | December 2016-January 2017 | Powered Sport Flying Better Times A very dramatic election season is finally behind us. Some people are ecstatic and others are very depressed, probably more so than I remember after any election. Worse, people have decided that friends and acquaintances who voted for the wrong candidate are now somehow lesser people. Vickie follows Facebook and it has been pretty amazing to look over her shoulder as she peruses that corner of the interwebery. With emotions as high as they are, I have pretty well stayed out of political conversations with friends and family. And before you start to worry, I’m not about to begin now! But what I do want to report on is a general optimism for our sport. 2016 has been a great year for aviation in some significant ways. Third class medical reform is now law, as is a revision of the aircraft certification process. Both of those reliefs affect GA pilots more than they do us. But importantly, both of those reforms are at least partially an outgrowth of the success of the Sport Pilot and Light Sport Aircraft rules. And of course those decade-old rules are a result of the success of Part 103, the ultralight rules. It seems, from my point of view, that innovation is springing from the aircraft that we enjoy flying! But of course there are always things that need changing or improving. Situations change, technologies change, even pilots change. And it is good to report that I feel that there is reason to hope for improvements in the rules that govern our sport. For a couple of years now, Dan Johnson (representing the Light Aircraft Manufactures Association) and I (representing the United States Ultralight Association) have embarked on a mission to improve the lot of our industry. We realized a couple of years ago that the big organizations simply had too much on their plates to be able to focus a lot of their attention on topics like electric ultralights, gyroplanes, and aerial work for special light sport aircraft. Instead of hoping for other alphabet organizations to take on missions that they would have to fit into an already busy agenda, we opted to step up and more actively campaign for improvements for ultralight pilots, sport pilots, and the industry that supports them. We began pretty humbly in 2014 by just trying to identify all of the areas that needed regulatory improvement. Over twenty items were identified, which everyone explained to us were too many to work on at the same time. Working with industry, we narrowed down the list to four items, three of which you see us talk about in this magazine. The fourth was the Letter of Deviation Authority (loda) process for flight instructors teaching in experimental aircraft. While we deemed it as important as the other three items, we discovered that our friends at the eaa were making strides in that area. We gratefully left that work to them and have focused on the other three areas. We have made progress during the two years that we have been committed to these issues. Key to our approach is to work collaboratively with not only faa, but also with our sister organizations. Technically, our big sister organizations, I guess. And to be completely honest, we have received a lot of help from advocacy people in the eaa, aopa, astm, gama and others. Even the faa has given us positive feedback on our approaches. Everyone understands that we are the unpaid amateurs working on these issues. Another important thing for us has been to be creative and approach the subjects with original solutions. Not all of them work, but we have been grateful to be able to present our ideas to top executives within the faa. I can report some progress, but until we reach a specific goal, it is better to not talk too publicly about the feedback we are getting. Happily, people in the industry are beginning to get wind of some of the things we are doing and we are getting support. Some is volunteer, some is financial, and some is offering ideas and insights. It is all welcome! So I’m optimistic for 2017. I’m hoping for a breakthrough or two this coming year. Even better, I believe that more people are going to get involved in sport aviation. Manufacturers are reporting an uptick in inquiries during a time that is usually not very busy. Subscriptions to the magazine and memberships to usua also seem to be improving. Even inquiries for pilot training are doing well over what is usually a slow period. And I’ve found through life that sometimes being optimistic is half the battle. I’m going to do my part and keep a good attitude for 2017! 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