
Home Sport Pilot Shop Eligibility Requirements for Sport Pilots Medical Requirements for Sport Pilots Sport Pilot Privileges and Limitations Light Sport Aircraft Definition of LSA S-LSA / E-LSA Categories, Classes, and Sets Vintage Aircraft and Sport Pilots Production LSA Find a Sport Pilot Flight Instructor Links Flight Training Materials	Welcome to Fly Sport USA This site is dedicated to the thousands of people across the United States who have been able to realize their dreams of flying through the FAA's new Sport Pilot Rule. All across America, people who always wanted to learn to fly, but who were discouraged by the time, expense and difficulty required to obtain a Private Pilot certificate, have found the Light Sport Pilot program to be their ticket to the air. Can I really become a Sport Pilot? We sure hope so. Like many, many others, the primary author of this site dreamed for decades of learning to fly, but something or other always got in the way. If this sounds like you, then the Sport Pilot program may be your chance to make that dream a reality. Sport Pilot Information Briefly, the FAA Sport Pilot Rule provides a faster, easier, and less expensive way for individuals to learn to fly very light, very simple aircraft under daytime, good-weather conditions. Although many aviation professionals had doubts whether the program would catch on, the Sport Pilot program is proving very popular. In fact, Sport Pilot candidates account for as many as half of all new enrollments at many flight schools, for several reasons: Reduced Flight Training Time Sport Pilot training requires a minimum of 20 hours of flight training, compared to 40 hours for a conventional Private Pilot license. This dramatically reduces the expense of earning your wings. No Medical Exam No medical examination or medical certificate is required for a Sport Pilot license, provided that the candidate possesses a valid drivers' license. (There are some caveats, however, which are explained here.) Cool Aircraft Aircraft manufacturers are beginning to produce sporty, well-equipped, comfortable aircraft that are custom-designed to meet the FAA's definition of a "Light Sport Aircraft." These aircraft are designed to be easy to fly and inexpensive to maintain, but many have the look and feel of more conventional aircraft. The Time Counts The Sport Pilot certificate is a real, honest-to-goodness, FAA pilot certificate. Therefore, all flight training and flight hours accumulated by Sport Pilots count toward meeting applicable requirements for more advanced pilot certificates and ratings. The one catch is that your primary SP training must be provided by a CFI who's also qualified to instruct at the higher level in order for your dual instructional hours to count. Or in other words, if your primary instruction is provided by a CFI-LS who is only authorized to instruct at the Sport Pilot level, then the hours you spend doing dual instruction with that instructor can't be counted toward a higher-level certificate. So what are you waiting for? Read on to learn more about how you can make your dream of flying come through!

Light Sport Aircraft

Welcome to Fly Sport USA

This site is dedicated to the thousands of people across the United States who have been able to realize their dreams of flying through the FAA's new Sport Pilot Rule.

All across America, people who always wanted to learn to fly, but who were discouraged by the time, expense and difficulty required to obtain a Private Pilot certificate, have found the Light Sport Pilot program to be their ticket to the air.

Can I really become a Sport Pilot?

We sure hope so. Like many, many others, the primary author of this site dreamed for decades of learning to fly, but something or other always got in the way. If this sounds like you, then the Sport Pilot program may be your chance to make that dream a reality.

Sport Pilot Information

Briefly, the FAA Sport Pilot Rule provides a faster, easier, and less expensive way for individuals to learn to fly very light, very simple aircraft under daytime, good-weather conditions.

Although many aviation professionals had doubts whether the program would catch on, the Sport Pilot program is proving very popular. In fact, Sport Pilot candidates account for as many as half of all new enrollments at many flight schools, for several reasons:

Reduced Flight Training Time

Sport Pilot training requires a minimum of 20 hours of flight training, compared to 40 hours for a conventional Private Pilot license. This dramatically reduces the expense of earning your wings.

No Medical Exam

No medical examination or medical certificate is required for a Sport Pilot license, provided that the candidate possesses a valid drivers' license. (There are some caveats, however, which are explained here.)

Cool Aircraft

Aircraft manufacturers are beginning to produce sporty, well-equipped, comfortable aircraft that are custom-designed to meet the FAA's definition of a "Light Sport Aircraft." These aircraft are designed to be easy to fly and inexpensive to maintain, but many have the look and feel of more conventional aircraft.

The Time Counts

The Sport Pilot certificate is a real, honest-to-goodness, FAA pilot certificate. Therefore, all flight training and flight hours accumulated by Sport Pilots count toward meeting applicable requirements for more advanced pilot certificates and ratings.

The one catch is that your primary SP training must be provided by a CFI who's also qualified to instruct at the higher level in order for your dual instructional hours to count. Or in other words, if your primary instruction is provided by a CFI-LS who is only authorized to instruct at the Sport Pilot level, then the hours you spend doing dual instruction with that instructor can't be counted toward a higher-level certificate.

So what are you waiting for? Read on to learn more about how you can make your dream of flying come through!