| The airplane is the nearest thing to animate life that | | | | Gloucestershire, England, Sport Pilot Licenses. |
| man has created. In the air a machine ceases indeed | | | | The exhilaration of flying is too keen, the pleasure too |
| to be a mere piece of mechanism; it becomes animate | | | | great, for it to be neglected as a sport. |
| and is capable not only of primary guidance and | | | | - Orville Wright |
| control, but actually of expressing a pilot's | | | | Sport pilots fly smaller and lighter planes. The idea is to |
| temperament. | | | | enable a pilot to fly a light, small plane for pleasure. To |
| - Sir Ross Smith, K.B.E., 'National Geographic Magazine,' | | | | fly as a sport pilot, you have to get a sport pilot license |
| March 1921. | | | | which consists of 20 hours of flight time, getting a |
| There are many kinds of pilot licenses that you can | | | | medical examiner's certificate, and passing a |
| receive. This book primarily deals with private pilot | | | | knowledge test. |
| licenses and certifications. Pilot licenses are issued by | | | | A sport pilot license allows you to fly for pleasure. It |
| the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA.) They are | | | | does not teach you how to fly into an air traffic control |
| divided into two categories: certificates and training. A | | | | strip at a busy airport like Chicago O'Hara or New |
| certificate defines the various levels of flying privileges | | | | York's La Guardia airport. Many private pilots flying |
| that the pilot has earned. A rating defines the various | | | | around today though primarily fly planes as sport pilots |
| categories and classes of aircraft in which the pilot | | | | do and hence do not need to have taken all the |
| may exercise the privileges of their certificate. | | | | certifications and flight time which they do not use. |
| Certificates are: | | | | Sport pilots are not allowed to fly higher than 10,000 |
| - Student pilot | | | | feet above sea level nor are they allowed to fly more |
| - Sport pilot | | | | than 2,000 feet above the ground level, whichever |
| - Recreational pilot | | | | being higher. Sport pilots do not have to acquire the |
| - Private pilot | | | | third-class medical examiner certificate. |
| - Commercial pilot | | | | Recreational Pilot License |
| - Airline transport pilot | | | | The recreational pilot license was created in 1987. |
| - Flight instructor | | | | Unlike the sport license, the recreational pilot license has |
| Ratings primarily refer to commercial pilots, airline | | | | almost the same requirements as a private pilot license |
| transport pilots, flight instructors, and private pilots. | | | | such as acquiring the third-class medical examiner |
| Some of the ratings that a pilot can receive are: | | | | certificate, yet with more limitations and not as many |
| - Airplane - single-engine land | | | | benefits. In fact, currently, there are a little over than a |
| - Airplane - single-engine sea | | | | thousand recreational pilot licenses in use today. |
| - Airplane - multi-engine land | | | | A recreational pilot can not fly all the planes that a |
| - Instrument | | | | sport pilot can. A recreational pilot can fly only |
| - Glider | | | | single-engine aircraft and helicopters, with a |
| - Rotorcraft or helicopter | | | | horsepower of 180 or less, and can only fly planes |
| Denney Kitfox (G-FOXC), built in 1991. Photographed | | | | with four seaters or less. At the same time, a |
| by Adrian Pingstone in July 2005 at Kemble Airfield, | | | | recreational pilot can only have one passenger. |