----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any advice in this forum.]----
Randy - We are doing sport pilot instruction at our FBO in central Ohio, but not in an Ercoupe; we're using an Aeronca L-16. To start with, get a good ground school video, or better yet, a student pilot kit. Both King Schools and Gleim produce these. We use Gleim, but King is a good product too. Get the one aimed at sport pilot candidates. Then, get a copy of the FAA Practical Test Standards (you can download a free copy from the FAA web site, or it will be included in the ground school kit you buy from Gleim or King). Together, these materials will tell you what you will have to know, and do, in order to pass both the knowledge test, (formerly referred to as the written test) and the practical test (check ride). Our experience is that you won't do it in 20 hours. While that's the FAA minimum for the sport pilot certificate, almost no one who could do it, in an airplane, in that little time. Maybe one could get a sport pilot certificate in a trike or powered parachute in so little time, but don't count on it in an airplane. Figure more like 35 - 50 hours. There really isn't all that much difference between a sport pilot and private pilot certificate when training in airplanes. You still have to learn all of the same basics of flying an airplane, and very much of the same knowledge of airspace, the Federal regulations, and the general operating rules and practices. Like learning any other skill, the more often you can consistently fly, the less will be the total time required to accomplish what you have to do. Sport pilots don't have the night training, and towered airport training isn't required either. But if your Ercoupe is equipped with a radio and transponder, it would be silly not to get this training so you can fly into towered airports. Our L-16 has a 760 channel digital radio, and a Mode C transponder, so we include the towered airport training as a matter of course. Even if you think you won't be flying into towered airports once you have your certificate, the day may come when you have to land at one in a weather or mechanical emergency situation, and having had that little bit of additional training can take away some of the angst in dealing with whatever the problem is. The last real difference between sport and private certificate training is that sport pilots don't have to receive the emergency instrument flying training that private pilots do. Both have to receive cross-country training, but private pilots get just a bit more of it. I tell people that sport pilot training is very akin to the private pilot curriculum of the 1950s, before the night, towered airport, and emergency instrument training all came into the private pilot requirements. I hope that answers your questions. Please feel free to ask any more questions that you have. Good luck!!! Jerry Eichenberger -----Original Message----- From: Randy Hougham [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, March 11, 2006 8:50 AM To: Coupers-Flyin Subject: [COUPERS-FLYIN] Getting a SPORT PILOT license ----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any advice in this forum.]---- Hi All, Who out there has gone through the process of getting a sport pilot license from scratch. By that I mean not ever being a pilot befor. I have a friend who is a flight instructor so he can give me lessons. We need to know the steps to go through in order to get started. I'm not looking for somebody to point me to a page full of regulations that I have to try to figure out. I just want somebody to tell me in english how to do it in real life. I hope we have someone on this list that has done it or is doing it now. Thanks, Randy Hougham 1946 415-C NC87384 ============================================================================ == To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm ============================================================================== To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm
