The FAA's response to EAA's Young Eagles petition falls far short of everything we wanted and asked for. However, I urge EAA's leadership to quickly accept the waivers the FAA granted and pass the new guidance on to our Chapters. Our chapter has always been very active Young Eagle (YE) flyers. However, over the past few years, the number of pilots willing to fly in YE events has dwindled and the number one reason is cost. We have several partner organizations who are willing to cover all the fuel costs, but current FAA rules prohibit that.
As I read the response, what it will do for us is allow pilots who meet the minimum certification and experience requirements and who are flying normal category aircraft, to accept full reimbursement of our fuel costs. That would include more than 90 percent of our YE pilots and aircraft who regularly fly YEs. There would be an additional documentation and reporting requirement, but it would be worth it.
What I don't think it would do is prevent continued YE flights by Sport and Recreational Pilots in Experimental aircraft, or prevent low-time pilots from conducting YE flights. However, it would prevent them from participating in a 100 percent fuel reimbursement.
It would essentially create two classes of participating YE pilots. Those that meet the FAA criteria and can accept full fuel reimbursement, and those that do not meet the criteria and must continue to operate under the existing rules.
It's clearly not what we wanted, but we aren't going to get an exemption that will help everyone. It IS a huge step toward the funding assistance we need to keep the program going. I've owned 5 Experimental aircraft and flown YEs in some of them, but the reality is that the FAA will always treat them differently. We need to accept what they have offered and do so quickly. At nearly $7/gallon fuel prices, it's essential to the viability of the program.
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Originally Posted by dusterpilot
