Weird Experimental Certificate wording - Normal?

This will be my last post on this. Letters are not that big of a
hassle. Let's face it, they provide no tangible value and a program
letter will not prevent the kind of accident you described.

If someone builds a home-built then yes, I can see that it might be nice
if they crash within 20nm of their home airport, but for factory built
gliders the accident rate is almost entirely pilot error.

Anyway, it would sure be nice if the SSA could eliminate program letters
for factory built gliders. Nuf said.

Mark

"Mark Zivley" wrote in message
. com...
This will be my last post on this. Letters are not that big of a hassle.
Let's face it, they provide no tangible value and a program letter will
not prevent the kind of accident you described.

If someone builds a home-built then yes, I can see that it might be nice
if they crash within 20nm of their home airport, but for factory built
gliders the accident rate is almost entirely pilot error.

Anyway, it would sure be nice if the SSA could eliminate program letters
for factory built gliders. Nuf said.

Mark


Mark.

Yes it would be nice if that could happen, but I don't see it happening.
The issue is this. You cannot operate an aircraft without an airworthiness
certificate.
You do not qualify for amatuer built/experimental for obvious reasons.
It wasn't certified in the US by the manufacturer, so the powers that be
created
experimental/exhibition&racing. At the time the law was created, sailplanes
were a very small blip
on the radar and program letters were read very closely if you were
operating a warbird,
primarily jets. The Fresno incident just about killed non-certified
aircraft op's in the country.
They are a bit of a hassle, but are necessary because of the class the
aircraft operates under.
Until the classification requirements change, the program letter is the only
thing that allows you to fly.

Scott.

We (SSA) already enjoy quite a few privileges and exemptions that power
pilots don't get. We do have some clout with the FAA, but lets not
spend it on meaningless issues. The FAR's have been written in our
favor or exemtions granted in the following areas:
+ We don't need:
Radios
Transponders
ELT's
Medicals
+ We have:
Experimental licence that allows us to:
Build & inspect our own sailplanes.
Fly factory built ships (no US type Cert)
Assemble & disassemble without sign-off.

My recommendation is to just mail in the program letter each year (the
simple one I posted works just fine). Sure it doesn't say anything, but
lets save our political muscle for really important things. If we keep
asking for meaningless things, the FAA may start to think of us as,
"Those snively glider pukes, whining about nothing again".
:) JJ