Young Eagles Fuel Exemption

[Mike M]

EAA national's article on page 12 of the November 2013 issue of "Sport Aviation" magazine reporting on the "Young Eagles fuel exemption" is confusing to me. Many chapters are incorporated. EAA national is incorporated. National requested the exemption. FAA issued it to EAA national. Chapters aren't mentioned in it. So it doesn't apply to chapter YE flights anyway, right?

Secondly, FAA indicates YE rallys should be under the Air Tour rules unless exempted. So FAA issued an exemption. But it doesn't match what was requested. So EAA national chooses not to operate under the exemption? Does that mean no more EAA national YE rallies, or no more EAA national YE flights, or no more EAA national coordination of events like YE days?

Thirdly, now that national has asked and FAA has responded, we all are on notice (again) that the FAA considers logging flight time to be compensation for the flight. Can any aviator log flight time on any YE flight without complying with the Air Tour rule? Or will that idiotic misinterpretation (flight time itself is compensation) finally be reviewed and corrected? Not holding my breath.

Right now, we have individually incorporated chapters with long-time members refusing to participate in chapter YE flights, and some who won't fly YE any more at all, because of the mess that was stirred up by this exemption issue. And for what? The previous system was working fine. Many members didn't even know about the Air Tour rule because it was obvious it did not apply to flights freely donated, and most didn't care about getting free gas. The FAA wasn't showing up at rallies with badges and ticket books. Some FAA folks were participating on their off-duty time!

Great job.

Your mileage may vary.