Jim Stephenson talking about Sport Pilot Blitz

Crusty O'l Fart wrote:

Screw Jim Stephenson!
He sold the sport pilot as a good thing for ul pilots.....it's not. Bye
bye 2 place expemtion. Hello to Jim Stevenson's design, build and
certification business (up and going the second sp was a go. I think
we've been hoodwinked by Jim Stephenson, and I know that I am not alone.
I believed him when he told me (directly) that sp was going to be a
great thing for ul pilots. I was such a sucker to believe him.......
I will not renew my ASC membership or BFI. I am a CFI anyway, and I will
be swithcing to an EAA UFI. I still believe that they are looking out
for pilots (it is my opinion that Jim had his engineering buisness in
the sights the whole time).

I thought Mark Smith was being overly critical of "sprot pile it". Now I
see that he was right!

Again: SCREW JIM STEPHENSON!

I agree with most of what you say, not sure on the screwing part, I'd
sure be a bit choosier !

But I have been flying for many, many years, build planes complete, have
a better safety record than any other BFI I know anything about, my
students rent my planes, and without exception, don't bend them up,

I sell evryt few parts locally, mostly plugs and such, some upgrade kits
and such, but no massive amounts of rebuiuld crash type parts,,,, and i
can tell the difference between crash parts and upgrade stuff,

the FnAA took this all away when they did away with the BFI program,

USUA let them, making some good comments to the NPRM, but waaaay too
late to do any good,

FnAA said " FAA disagrees" to most of the comments, and they got more to
this NPRM than any other, ever,

I'm ****ed,,,,,,,,,not that I will be out of business, but more that I
feel I owe training to the ul group,

as planes change hands, new planes get built, , etc, new ulers need
training available at reasonablbe rates,

I charged 55 an hour, and this is up time, not paperowrk and such,,,,,,

just makes me mad they saw fit to screw with a good program, at least
locally,

some say the abusees were rampant, and to this, Jim Stephenson is the
number one abuser of the BFI system, with ASC reps handing them out like
candy, with little training, etc, just money,

I sent lots of locals to another ASC ( I was USUA) AFI with the
suggestioin to call ahead and ask the specific question,,,,,,,,

" How much money should I bring to get my BFI this weekend ? "

seems like I heard 500 was about right,

one lap around the field, some coaching on the FOI test, etc,

I'd bet there are less than 10 percent of the BFI's from last year this
year



--


Mark Smith
Tri-State Kite Sales http://www.trikite.com
1121 N Locust St
Mt Vernon, IN 47620

Mark Smith wrote in :


I agree with most of what you say, not sure on the screwing part, I'd
sure be a bit choosier !

But I have been flying for many, many years, build planes complete,
have a better safety record than any other BFI I know anything about,
my students rent my planes, and without exception, don't bend them up,

I sell evryt few parts locally, mostly plugs and such, some upgrade
kits and such, but no massive amounts of rebuiuld crash type parts,,,,
and i can tell the difference between crash parts and upgrade stuff,

the FnAA took this all away when they did away with the BFI program,

USUA let them, making some good comments to the NPRM, but waaaay too
late to do any good,

FnAA said " FAA disagrees" to most of the comments, and they got more
to this NPRM than any other, ever,

I'm ****ed,,,,,,,,,not that I will be out of business, but more that I
feel I owe training to the ul group,

as planes change hands, new planes get built, , etc, new ulers need
training available at reasonablbe rates,

I charged 55 an hour, and this is up time, not paperowrk and
such,,,,,,

just makes me mad they saw fit to screw with a good program, at least
locally,

some say the abusees were rampant, and to this, Jim Stephenson is the
number one abuser of the BFI system, with ASC reps handing them out
like candy, with little training, etc, just money,

I sent lots of locals to another ASC ( I was USUA) AFI with the
suggestioin to call ahead and ask the specific question,,,,,,,,

" How much money should I bring to get my BFI this weekend ? "

seems like I heard 500 was about right,

one lap around the field, some coaching on the FOI test, etc,

I'd bet there are less than 10 percent of the BFI's from last year
this year



There is NOTHING stopping you from training a UL'r in your eLSA. Just
because it has an N number on it, does not stop you from training a
single seat wannabe.

You are in the extreem minority in renting your aircraft to your
students. 4 UL places within 200 miles of me say "you have to have your
own aircraft to solo..."

And it's all the "pretend" BFI's in there "pretend" trainers (that were
too heavy even to meet the training exemption), that brought on the bad
news for UL'rs, not Jim S. I'm not saying they pretended to get the
proper training, just that many many BFI owning 2 seat plans never gave
a real lesson in there life. (and you, of course, know it)

ET

ET wrote:

Mark Smith wrote in :


I agree with most of what you say, not sure on the screwing part, I'd
sure be a bit choosier !

But I have been flying for many, many years, build planes complete,
have a better safety record than any other BFI I know anything about,
my students rent my planes, and without exception, don't bend them up,

I sell evryt few parts locally, mostly plugs and such, some upgrade
kits and such, but no massive amounts of rebuiuld crash type parts,,,,
and i can tell the difference between crash parts and upgrade stuff,

the FnAA took this all away when they did away with the BFI program,

USUA let them, making some good comments to the NPRM, but waaaay too
late to do any good,

FnAA said " FAA disagrees" to most of the comments, and they got more
to this NPRM than any other, ever,

I'm ****ed,,,,,,,,,not that I will be out of business, but more that I
feel I owe training to the ul group,

as planes change hands, new planes get built, , etc, new ulers need
training available at reasonablbe rates,

I charged 55 an hour, and this is up time, not paperowrk and
such,,,,,,

just makes me mad they saw fit to screw with a good program, at least
locally,

some say the abusees were rampant, and to this, Jim Stephenson is the
number one abuser of the BFI system, with ASC reps handing them out
like candy, with little training, etc, just money,

I sent lots of locals to another ASC ( I was USUA) AFI with the
suggestioin to call ahead and ask the specific question,,,,,,,,

" How much money should I bring to get my BFI this weekend ? "

seems like I heard 500 was about right,

one lap around the field, some coaching on the FOI test, etc,

I'd bet there are less than 10 percent of the BFI's from last year
this year



There is NOTHING stopping you from training a UL'r in your eLSA. Just
because it has an N number on it, does not stop you from training a
single seat wannabe.

You are in the extreem minority in renting your aircraft to your
students. 4 UL places within 200 miles of me say "you have to have your
own aircraft to solo..."

And it's all the "pretend" BFI's in there "pretend" trainers (that were
too heavy even to meet the training exemption), that brought on the bad
news for UL'rs, not Jim S. I'm not saying they pretended to get the
proper training, just that many many BFI owning 2 seat plans never gave
a real lesson in there life. (and you, of course, know it)

ET



you missed the point.

I build my own planes to train to save money,plus, get a safer,
stronber, more rigid plane that meets the needs of a rigorous training
routine better.

I can NO LONGER DO THAT !!

Should i repeat that or did you see the all caps this time around.

Also, I would be under the gun of the Feds, who know nothing about uls,
the type people who fly them, etc.

They don't want the onerous rules, Part 61, Part 91, etc which are
written for fast, heavy, large, did I mention fast airplanes. Note the
word ultralight was not used.

,,, and if youve been paying atention to sprot pile it, an instructor
must go out and buy a new plane, estimated to cost a 1000 dolars more by
Jim Stephenson, clueless, due to certification costs, but now estimated
to be closer to 40,000 with high estimates of 60,000

also, these planes won't be the open tube and fabric planes that are
better for MX traing, they will be enclosed GA look-a-likes with stall
speeds near the WOT speed of the typical MX.

get some answers to these questions,then respond,

I will never buy an assla or essla or whatever they name these huge
expensive airplanes




--
Mark Smith
Tri-State Kite Sales
1121 N Locust St
Mt Vernon, IN 47620
1-812-838-6351
http://www.trikite.com

Mark Smith wrote in :

you missed the point.

I build my own planes to train to save money,plus, get a safer,
stronber, more rigid plane that meets the needs of a rigorous training
routine better.

I can NO LONGER DO THAT !!

Should i repeat that or did you see the all caps this time around.

Also, I would be under the gun of the Feds, who know nothing about
uls, the type people who fly them, etc.


Well,

Actually, you CAN....

At least for the next 5+ years (until the end of 2010) you CAN, and
assuming you've actually got a LEGAL trainer now (maybe THAT's the
problem eh?), you can just ignore the whole thing until the end of 2008.
If you can't adapt in 6 years, you probably weren't going to make it 6
years anyway.

If you put 1/4 if the energy into building your business around the new
rules that you've put into complaining about it on this ng and several
Yahoo groups (plus I dunno how many others) you'd probably have twice
the business you have now.

Did you ever think about how many people your whining has either turned
away from the sport of flying altogether, or from just you in
particular???? If I'm a sport pilot believer, I'm sure not going to
get my training from you.... If I believe everything "you" say, then I'm
going to never even start since all is lost and the sky is falling... so
either way, your pockets are empty of my potential instruction and
rental fees....

As for the things you don't like about it, again, to paraphrase Jim S.:
you fat ul'rs did it to yourselves...



-- ET :-)

"A common mistake people make when trying to design something
completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete
fools."---- Douglas Adams

In article ,
says...

Mark Smith wrote in :

you missed the point.

I build my own planes to train to save money,plus, get a safer,
stronber, more rigid plane that meets the needs of a rigorous traini
ng
routine better.

I can NO LONGER DO THAT !!

Should i repeat that or did you see the all caps this time around.

Also, I would be under the gun of the Feds, who know nothing about
uls, the type people who fly them, etc.


Well,

Actually, you CAN....

At least for the next 5+ years (until the end of 2010) you CAN, and
assuming you've actually got a LEGAL trainer now (maybe THAT's the
problem eh?), you can just ignore the whole thing until the end of 200
8.
If you can't adapt in 6 years, you probably weren't going to make it
6
years anyway.

If you put 1/4 if the energy into building your business around the ne
w
rules that you've put into complaining about it on this ng and several
Yahoo groups (plus I dunno how many others) you'd probably have twice
the business you have now.

Did you ever think about how many people your whining has either turne
d
away from the sport of flying altogether, or from just you in
particular???? If I'm a sport pilot believer, I'm sure not going to
get my training from you.... If I believe everything "you" say, then I
'm
going to never even start since all is lost and the sky is falling...
so
either way, your pockets are empty of my potential instruction and
rental fees....

As for the things you don't like about it, again, to paraphrase Jim S.
:
you fat ul'rs did it to yourselves...



-- ET :-)

"A common mistake people make when trying to design something
completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete
fools."---- Douglas Adams


I notice that the Stephenson supporter doesn't have the guts to post
under his real name. It wouldn't be the first time ole Jim has used a
false identity for his posts

It doesn't really matter who made the post. The biggest majority of
the UL community has got wise to Jim now. He can't post on any of the
most popular lists anymore without several of us asking him embarassing
questions that he refuses to answer And every time he refuses to
answer a few more of his ASC toadies lose faith in him.

Mark,
Why can't you buy a Aeronca or Taylorcraft? They are just as cheap as
most of the UL's out there today. Of course there are a few exceptions. When
I see a 2 place Flightstar for 20G I look for something else. I'd take a
Luscombe over a Flightstar or the like any day of the week.
I do think the sport pilot thing will hurt the UL's. But myself I only
see it hurting the UL's that have been flying against the UL rules for
years. Since you like to build your own , maybe you can design a 2 seat
trainer that would make the UL altogether. That would be a feat I am sure,
but with your experience in UL , maybe just maybe you could pull it off.
Though the Sport Pilot rule may be not so good for UL's , it is great
for GA. I get to fly now!!! And there is no way I could have before, unless
I wanted to fly a UL. I'd rather not, and glad I don't have to! Now I can
fly alot of planes that do interest me.
I am sure the FAA will love getting some control over fat UL's, and that
is what the FAA has had a problem with. To many people could not follow the
rules as they were, so now there is a new rule. May not be perfect, but the
option was a rule making all fat UL flyers have a PPL, or totally shutting
them down.
Get a sport plane, advertise! And make some money off the new sport
pilot! It is a new biz opportunity for those that can get over the "old way"
and move on to see the future. And by all means keep your UL's to have fun
with!

Good Luck!
Patrick
student SPL
aircraft structural mech

(sleepy6) wrote in
:

I notice that the Stephenson supporter doesn't have the guts to post
under his real name. It wouldn't be the first time ole Jim has used a
false identity for his posts

It doesn't really matter who made the post. The biggest majority of
the UL community has got wise to Jim now. He can't post on any of the
most popular lists anymore without several of us asking him
embarassing questions that he refuses to answer And every time he
refuses to answer a few more of his ASC toadies lose faith in him.


Not Jim, not even really a Jim S. supporter. I like the things he said
in his ultraflight radio address. If I was a BFI I'd likely not take
advantage of his "blitz", I think it's too expensive for me. But that
doesn't mean it's a bad thing for everyone.

You can do a google groups search, I've been posting for years, not
regularly, but enough so you know I'm not "Jim" hiding under another
name.

I've just seen Mark, and a few others like him post untruthes and half
truths about sport pilot. He finally gave up on the Yahoo sportpilot
group since his every whine was proven wrong.

Quite frankly, I just think anyone who posts under his real name etc, is
foolish for doing so. Too many crazys out there, WAY too many.



--
-- ET :-)

"A common mistake people make when trying to design something
completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete
fools."---- Douglas Adams

In article ,
says...

(sleepy6) wrote in
:

I notice that the Stephenson supporter doesn't have the guts to post

under his real name. It wouldn't be the first time ole Jim has used
a
false identity for his posts

It doesn't really matter who made the post. The biggest majority of

the UL community has got wise to Jim now. He can't post on any of t
he
most popular lists anymore without several of us asking him
embarassing questions that he refuses to answer And every time he
refuses to answer a few more of his ASC toadies lose faith in him.


Not Jim, not even really a Jim S. supporter. I like the things he sai
d
in his ultraflight radio address. If I was a BFI I'd likely not take
advantage of his "blitz", I think it's too expensive for me. But that
doesn't mean it's a bad thing for everyone.

You can do a google groups search, I've been posting for years, not
regularly, but enough so you know I'm not "Jim" hiding under another
name.

I've just seen Mark, and a few others like him post untruthes and half
truths about sport pilot. He finally gave up on the Yahoo sportpilot
group since his every whine was proven wrong.

Quite frankly, I just think anyone who posts under his real name etc,
is
foolish for doing so. Too many crazys out there, WAY too many.



--
-- ET :-)

"A common mistake people make when trying to design something
completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete
fools."---- Douglas Adams


And for every rant Mark has made agianst SP I can show you a post full
of lies designed to promote SP from Jim Stephenson. It's not a matter
of pro sport or anti sport for me. It's a matter of a lying crook that
sold out the UL community in hopes of getting rich off SP.

You appear to be familar with the Sport Pilot group so you must have
seen enough of my posts there to know I'm telling it like it is here.

What name do you use on that list?

ET wrote:


I've just seen Mark, and a few others like him post untruthes and half
truths about sport pilot. He finally gave up on the Yahoo sportpilot
group since his every whine was proven wrong.

Quite frankly, I just think anyone who posts under his real name etc, is
foolish for doing so. Too many crazys out there, WAY too many.

nobody ever refuted anything I said about sprot pile it,

I stated the planes would be expensive and they are, way more than
projected,

I stated that few would fly sprot planes unless they bought their own,
nobody ever refuted that statement, just said that they might buy one
with a partner, duh!

show me what I said that was refuted,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

you can't,

there are more anti sprot than not,

again, sprot pile it, written by those who don't fly much about planes
they don't fly at all

and i could personally care less about sprot,

my reason for thinking it SUCKS is that it halted the exemption, which I
train under,,,,,,,,

well, used to !

--


Mark Smith
Tri-State Kite Sales http://www.trikite.com
1121 N Locust St
Mt Vernon, IN 47620

ET wrote:

Too many crazys out there, WAY too many.

"Out there"??? I think most of 'em (us?) are in HERE!

Mark "can't afford a pseudonym" Hickey