ADVOCACY UPDATE
GOVERNMENTAL ISSUES
TOP STORY
Bureaucracy
Off Course
LODA tangle strangling aviation growth and safety
EVERYONE IN AVIATION—pilots, industry, and government
alike—agrees on the need to get more people involved in
flying. New enthusiasts are the lifeblood of aviation’s future.
Sometimes, though, aviation can’t get out of its own
way when it comes to executing policy. The exasperating
experience EAA has faced while working with the FAA on the
letters of deviation authority (LODA) issue is a prime example
of how bureaucracy keeps people out of the cockpit.
The quick background is this: LODA are FAA authorizations
that allow the use of experimental aircraft for compensation
or hire, such as flight training, that is otherwise prohibited by
Federal Aviation Regulations. This is especially important for
gyroplanes, weight-shift trikes, powered parachutes, and other
light-sport aircraft (LSA) that fly at less than 87 knots because
commercially built aircraft (special light-sport aircraft, or
S-LSA) are not available or, in the case of gyroplanes, are not
allowed as part of the S-LSA category.
As of January 31, 2010, it was no longer possible for
instructors to use experimental light-sport aircraft (E-LSA)
for such training. Unfortunately, a dearth of similar S-LSA
models means such training has been almost nonexistent
this year.
EAA asked the FAA to issue these LODA so that owners
of E-LSA could fill the training gap in these areas until S-LSA
numbers reach sufficient levels to make training widely
available. During the last several EAA/FAA Winter Meetings
in Oshkosh, the agency agreed that guidance should be issued.
But nothing happened.
That was incredibly frustrating. Regional flight standards
district offices (FSDOs) are ready to issue LODA, but the
guidance must come from FAA headquarters, and it is
not forthcoming. If the hope within the FAA is that flight
instructors would simply buy an S-LSA to replace their
E-LSA, that’s not going to happen with no prospective
students in the pipeline and limited aircraft available.
An ironic twist is that FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt
told audiences at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh this summer that
transition training is absolutely essential for those moving to
different aircraft so aviation’s safety record can be improved.
With no E-LSA training because of the bureaucratic logjam,
however, there is no hope of fulfilling the FAA flight
standards declaration to “assure safety while enabling the
adventure, commerce, and service of aviation.”
It seems simple. The regulations allow the LODA. FAA
officials have agreed to them in principle. Regional FSDOs
are ready to issue the authority and guidance. E-LSA
instructors are ready and willing to supply instruction.
It is the FAA’s bureaucratic tangle, however, that is not
only choking off a segment of basic, accessible aviation,
but is also running counter to the agency’s own transition
training and safety goals.
EAA’s message is clear to the FAA: Come out of the
organizational silos and use the available tools to solve the
problem quickly and efficiently. It’s a point that EAA will
continue to deliver to make aviation more accessible and
affordable.
