Primary Flight Training - Experimental

[flybuddy]

Own an RV6A and interested in having my 17 year old son take private pilot flight training in it. The regs are a bit fuzzy on this but it looks like as long as it's not compensatory flying that it is OK. Is anyone aware of any regs to the contrary that I might be missing? Obviously insurance will be an issue and am working on that..thx

[Flyfalcons]

That's fine and you can even pay an instructor for his services.

[Auburntsts]

Totally legal and the CFI can be paid for their services. The trick is usually finding a CFI willing to provide the instruction in an E-AB and a DPE willing to give the check ride in the same plane, if you're so inclined. But it has been done before.

For those following along at home, the compensatory piece rears it's head when a CFI owns the E-AB in question. In that case, if they have a LODA, they can charge for their time and the aircraft time, but only for transition training, not primary training. IOW the customer already has to be a PP ASEL.

EDIT - Ryan beat me to it while I was typing.

[flybuddy]

Thx for the replies, already have instructor and DPE lined up, just waiting on insurance quote

[flybuddy]

Interesting twist, the instructor called EAA to check on this..He was told that the student would have to be the owner. I'm still waiting on insurance but I can't find anything in the regs to support that. It simply looks to me that as long as no compensation is taking place for the aircraft that it's OK. Anyone ever hear of this?

[Dave Prizio]

The student does not have to be the airplane owner (experimental amateur-built), does not have to be related to the owner, and doesn't need to have stayed in a Holiday Inn. As long as the owner of the airplane is not renting the plane to the student (getting paid for the use of the plane) there is no issue. If the use of the airplane is free of charge, anyone can receive instruction in that airplane without running afoul of the FAA. That would include primary, transition, commercial, and IFR training if properly equipped.

If an instructor owns an E-AB airplane in which he/she wishes to provide transition training (not primary training) and charge rent for the plan,e then the instructor needs a LODA letter from the FAA to do so.

If the owner of an E-AB airplane wishes to rent his/her E-AB airplane to someone for flight training and is not the instructor who will be providing the training, I do not believe that such an activity is allowed at all.

[pmulwitz]

Own an RV6A and interested in having my 17 year old son take private pilot flight training in it. The regs are a bit fuzzy on this but it looks like as long as it's not compensatory flying that it is OK. Is anyone aware of any regs to the contrary that I might be missing? Obviously insurance will be an issue and am working on that..thx

As I understand it, you can do training in an experimental under some very special circumstances. The training has to be "Transition" training rather than primary training. Also, you need a Letter of Deviation Authority (LODA) from the FAA. This is a commercial operation because you are paying the instructor.

I think there is an exception if either the instructor or student owns the plane. I don't think it counts if the student's father owns the plane.

One last point - I'm not sure an RV6A is a great choice for a primary trainer. I suppose it is possible to learn to fly in such a plane, but since it has a lot more performance than a typical trainer it might introduce training risks that suggest a normal trainer has a better chance of producing a pilot rather than a dropout.

(Note: I am not an expert on this subject. Please don't consider my answer any more than one guy's opinion.)

[Bill Greenwood]

From a flying stanpoint, not a legal or regulatory one, there is no reason one can't learn to fly in a RV 6. There is no reason that every trainer for a new student needs to be boring, bottom of the rung plane.

My good friend John Reyonds learned in the Navy, back in the 50s, flew combat missions in Korea and was a fine pilot. The first plane he was ever in was the SNJ (T6) he learned in.

[CarlOrton]

I asked a similar question a few months ago in here.

I think it was Joe Norris who responded that all was OK. My question was: I built a Sonex; can my CFII son give my wife primary flight training in it. As long as there was no compensation paid for use of the aircraft, all was OK.