Sport Pilots and Flight Planning

By Ed Downs

Is there something different about a shiny, new Sport Pilot planning a cross country flight and what we might expect to see from a typical pilot coming out of the pre-GPS world that preceded the late 1990s?  It is possible that there is, and pre 90s aviators might be able to learn a thing or two.

As spring fights its way into existence to end a long, cold winter, many are planning flying trips to a variety of business or recreational locations.  A lot of aircraft owners are beginning to realize that their passion for recreational flying may dribble over into the more mundane transportation needs for which they have used the airlines in the past.  Policy and pricing changes within the airline industry have become increasingly customer hostile, service to cities other than major hubs has been further reduced, and the TCA continues to add significant inconveniences to the travel experience.  The fact is, point-to-point travel time for most trips of less than 600 miles is significantly less in the typical S-LSA than by modern airliner.  The bottom line is that many more folks will turn to their recreational hobby planes for day-to-day travel needs.