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09/02/04 - NEW SPORT PILOT FLIES AGAIN IN TEXAS
Roger Peterson at the stick of his PA-11 replica, N555CR
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On a windless, beautiful day, Wednesday, September 1, Roger Peterson of Sweeney, Texas, did something he hadn’t done in 17 years: he flew as pilot in command of his Piper J-3 Cub, thanks to the sport pilot/light-sport aircraft (SP/LSA) rule going into effect that day.
“About two years ago when it looked like sport pilot was coming in, I went and bought a 1940 J-3,” he said. “And so I’ve been flying with an instructor the past couple of years. Last April it looked like it (the final rule) was imminent so I started building a PA-11 replica. I completed it this past April so now I am legal in both of them.
“I really appreciate the effort you guys (EAA) put in to bring this thing off.”
Peterson, 66, grew up on a farm in Iowa and started flying in 1954 when a neighbor down the road offered flight time in his Cessna 120 in exchange for shoveling manure in his barn. “I took my credit out in flying time,” he said.
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In the early 1960s, Peterson got his private ticket and bought a J-3 and later transitioned to a C-172, which he flew for many years. In the 1980s he sold the Cessna and bought an Aeronca Champ, which he flew until 1987. That year he quit flying after undergoing bypass surgery. He never went for his special issuance medical, although his doctor, also a pilot, said he would not have a problem getting one.
Peterson’s wife, Alverna, started flying in 1965, “but since she always flew with me she never got her ticket,” Roger explained, and hadn’t flown since he quit. Now Alverna is in the process getting her private ticket, possibly in the next several weeks. “We were going to use that as a backup if the sport pilot didn’t come through,” he said.
His son, Craig, who helped build the PA-11 replica, is also in the process of getting his ticket as well. “We’re all having a lot of fun flying.”
Just last year, Peterson installed a grass strip on his land, 08XS, Peterson Field. “Of course, if sport pilot hadn’t come through, I’d have a couple of airplanes for sale and a strip put back to pasture.”
He said he felt nothing different in his first takeoff as PIC. “I’ve been flying with the instructor, so the flying part was just another time off in the J-3,” Peterson said. “It seems we’ve been waiting for so long, there was just a feeling of finally.
“Man, I’m just glad you guys went through all the effort.” |
