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What planes can you fly without a pilot’s license?

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Re: What planes can you fly without a pilot’s license?

#161

Post by userbinator »

chrisweekly wrote: post #121
paulddraper wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a private pilot. This is basically correct. If your airport is small and you never get in trouble with ATC or have an emergency situation, you will probably not get caught. However, if you do get caught, it is a criminal charge with (IIRC) up to $250,000 fine and 6 years prison time. Or worse, you overestimate your ability and die/kill people. I wouldn't take that risk. If you want to fly a lot, get a license. If…

> "E.g. If you have been professionally diagnosed with ADHD, the FAA bans you from any pilot's license ever, even a student license. :/" What?! That's incredible. If more people were trying to get their licenses I bet the ACLU would fix that nonsensical bigotry and embarrass the FAA in court.

I think the FAA is trying to prevent things like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanwings_Flight_9525#Invest... from happening.

The investigation into Lubitz found he had been treated for suicidal tendencies prior to his training as a commercial pilot and had been temporarily denied a US pilot's licence because of these treatments for psychotic depression.

Re: What planes can you fly without a pilot’s license?

#162

Post by lutorm »

wkat4242 wrote: post #139
bagels wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ultralights are one-seat by definition. I'm not sure most elementary school kids could handle actually flying one of those.

So how is flight training handled for those I wonder?

There are two-place similar aircraft that you can train in. They're just not classified as ultralights.

Re: What planes can you fly without a pilot’s license?

#163

Post by matthewmacleod »

sonicshadow wrote: post #127
chrisweekly wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "E.g. If you have been professionally diagnosed with ADHD, the FAA bans you from any pilot's license ever, even a student license. :/" What?! That's incredible. If more people were trying to get their licenses I bet the ACLU would fix that nonsensical bigotry and embarrass the FAA in court.

[flagged]

Skipping over the dumb flamebait - reflect on the idea that you’re probably safer having a pilot who has a known, risk-assessed, and well-managed medical condition than you are creating an environment in which pilots are heavily disincentivised from looking after their mental and physical health.

Re: What planes can you fly without a pilot’s license?

#164

Post by paulddraper »

ai_monkey wrote: post #159
paulddraper wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a private pilot. This is basically correct. If your airport is small and you never get in trouble with ATC or have an emergency situation, you will probably not get caught. However, if you do get caught, it is a criminal charge with (IIRC) up to $250,000 fine and 6 years prison time. Or worse, you overestimate your ability and die/kill people. I wouldn't take that risk. If you want to fly a lot, get a license. If…

When and where did you get your information? Because this is completely wrong. LSA's and gliders rely on self-certification for the very medical reasons you mentioned. In smaller aircraft where you don't carry passengers and don't fly in demanding circumstances (high speeds, altitudes, IFR, etc), the margin of safety for the general public is much wider. The FAA puts more trust in your own assessment of your medical…

> this is completely wrong

It's a little bit wrong.

A drivers license-only sport license requires that you not have failed an aviation medical exam. [1] ADHD will cause you to fail a medical exam, and thereby prevent you from a sport license. But, yes, if you play your cards carefully (i.e. stay away from the doctor!), you can fly LSA/gliders.

> In smaller aircraft where you don't carry passengers and don't fly in demanding circumstances (high speeds, altitudes, IFR, etc), the margin of safety for the general public is much wider.

FWIW, these aren't really differences between what you can fly with sport vs private pilot license.

* high-speed (200 horsepower) requires a separate high-performance endorsement, beyond private

* high altitude (18,000 MSL) requires a separate instrument rating, beyond private

* IFR requires a separate instrument rating, beyond private

* sport license and private license both permit carrying a passenger

There's remarkably little difference between, say, a Flight Design CTLSi and a Cessna 150, even though the FAA classifies the former as a LSA but not the latter.

In fact, the CTLSi is significantly faster :shrug:

[1] https://www.flyingmag.com/what-if-i-fail/

Re: What planes can you fly without a pilot’s license?

#165

Post by consp »

srvmshr wrote: post #144
godelski wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> E.g. If you have been professionally diagnosed with ADHD, the FAA bans you from any pilot's license ever, even a student license Not quite true. They just need you to be evaluated where you've been off medication for at least 90 days. But if you're on Adderall, you're shit out of luck. Which is pretty dumb since the medication resolves issues. Other dumb things that will/can prevent you from getting your license: A…

Why discriminate against diabetes. Of the things listed, this is probably the most common one & a lifestyle disease. This can have a onset in mid-40s to 50s for some genetically predisposed people. Are they not allowed to fly then?

Wait until you want to get a driver's license in Europe. You'd be surprised how much bs you'd have to go though to get one in some countries as a diabetic.

Also funny sidenote where I live: if you got type 1 diabetes before getting your license you are legally bound to report it, if you got if after getting your license you have to make your own assesment if you should report it (my not legal advice: never do that, it shortened the license from 10 to 5 or 3 years and puts you though whatever the approving person wants to put you though which can be extensive)

Re: What planes can you fly without a pilot’s license?

#166

Post by lutorm »

sundvor wrote: post #101
NikolaNovak wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not at all stupid! Very real question that's been asked by aviation safety agencies around the world for decades! Sometimes there are genuine issues with instruments. As well, note that most GA airplanes operate their crucial instruments and gyros via vacuum pump and they need to be re-calibrated after a while even in regular flight. But I believe much more frequently, inexperienced humans distrust their instruments…

Not a real pilot, have never piloted a real plane, but I love my sims and have put considerable resources into building my aluminium profile simrig. I was practicing increasingly denser fog/low visibility ILS landings of the F-16 in DCS, on my TrackIR'd 32"x3 triple screen sim rig (with transducers for buffeting sensations etc). With triples (and much more so with VR, I'll transition to a Crystal "soon") you do devel…

The thing that a sim never can simulate (not even a full-motion sim) are the various ways the vestibular system can get confused by e.g. the coriolis force when you move your head while in a turn that makes your feel like you're turning around another axis.

Most sim pilots can fly on instruments without a problem, because it's precisely the conflicting information between the instruments and your vestibular system that makes it easy to get disoriented. Flying a sim, you'll never have your ear telling you that you're leaning on your side even though you're flying straight and level, or vice versa, so you'll never be tempted to side with your vestibular system.

In a real plane, just turning a tight turn and suddenly looking down on the floor because you dropped something can induce conflicting vestibular information that's quite disconcerting even in day VFR.

Re: What planes can you fly without a pilot’s license?

#167

Post by lelanthran »

srvmshr wrote: post #144
godelski wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> E.g. If you have been professionally diagnosed with ADHD, the FAA bans you from any pilot's license ever, even a student license Not quite true. They just need you to be evaluated where you've been off medication for at least 90 days. But if you're on Adderall, you're shit out of luck. Which is pretty dumb since the medication resolves issues. Other dumb things that will/can prevent you from getting your license: A…

Why discriminate against diabetes. Of the things listed, this is probably the most common one & a lifestyle disease. This can have a onset in mid-40s to 50s for some genetically predisposed people. Are they not allowed to fly then?

I'm diabetic. Not too bad, if I forget my meds I get sleepy.

I think they are trying to cut out those people who, when they don't get their meds, literally pass out.

Because the diagnosis doesn't specify a severity, all they can do is deny all diabetics.

I don't think, under the current way that diabetes is diagnosed, that these rules are especially unfair.

Re: What planes can you fly without a pilot’s license?

#169

Post by techwizrd »

godelski wrote: post #128
paulddraper wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a private pilot. This is basically correct. If your airport is small and you never get in trouble with ATC or have an emergency situation, you will probably not get caught. However, if you do get caught, it is a criminal charge with (IIRC) up to $250,000 fine and 6 years prison time. Or worse, you overestimate your ability and die/kill people. I wouldn't take that risk. If you want to fly a lot, get a license. If…

> E.g. If you have been professionally diagnosed with ADHD, the FAA bans you from any pilot's license ever, even a student license Not quite true. They just need you to be evaluated where you've been off medication for at least 90 days. But if you're on Adderall, you're shit out of luck. Which is pretty dumb since the medication resolves issues. Other dumb things that will/can prevent you from getting your license: A…

The FAA's Office of Aerospace Medicine is actively researching can improve or rethink the aeromedical certification process. We need to do a substantial amount of research with very limited resources, especially when we have limited data to conduct safety risk management and safety assurance. It's a tough nut to crack, but there's a lot of smart people working tirelessly to make this better.

Re: What planes can you fly without a pilot’s license?

#170

Post by H8crilA »

ulrischa wrote: post #168

Does someone know how the situation is in Germany

I don't think you can fly anything without a license in Europe. Even small drones require a license now (that you can obtain online in 1-2 evenings).

Also, please just get whatever license is required. It's not difficult to do, and they will teach you what you absolutely have to know when flying. A fresh pilot with a private license knows just enough not to crash and not to be a problem to others, nothing more really. It's very similar to a driver's license, where you first get it and only later over the next year or so learn how to feel really comfortable on the road.

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