PO Box 50839 Hidd, Kingdom of Bahrain April 24, 2013

Dear Mr. Bernard ,
Further to your e

- mail reply sent on April 22, 2013, I would to thank you and your colleagues for their time in considering my request for this Exemption from § 61.109(j)(4)

.
I appreciate the Administrator's concerns

. M y request for the Exemption was because of a concern in the interpretation of the Regulations for whether flight time in a foreign

registered Weight

- Shift Control Aircraft would be accepted. I refer to § 61.51(j) which states :
**(j) Aircraft requirements for loggin**  **g flight time.** For a person to log flight time, the time must be acquired in an aircraft that is identified as an aircraft under 61.5(b), and is

1) An aircraft of U.S. registry with either a standard or special airworthiness certificate ; 2) An aircraft of foreign registry with an airworthiness certificate that is approved by the aviation authority of a foreign country that is a Member State to the Convention on International Civil Aviation Organization;

I n addition to the Unit ed States, where I hold Sport Pilot privileges in Weight

- Shift C ontrol Aircraft

- Land, I ho ld privileges to operate Weight

- Shift Category Aircraft , as defined in § 1.1, as pilot

- in

- command in Canada, Costa Rica and the United Arab Emirates. All three coun tries are contracting States to the Convention on International Civil Aviation. The issue is on how Weight

- Shift Aircraft are categorized and regulated,given that this segment of aviation is not addressed by ICAO in Annex 1 (Personnel Licensing) and Annex 8 (Airworthiness of Aircra ft).
The approach taken by the United States has been the creation of the Sport Pilot grade of certification and Light Sport airworthiness classi fication. These ai rcraft require a valid Registration Certificate and a Special Airworthiness Certificate.

Canada ’ s approach differs substantially. All Weight

- Shift Control Aircraft are fall under the Basic Ultralight Aeroplane Category (BULA) . All Ultralig ht Aeroplanes must be registered with Transport Canada and therefore have a distinctive registration issued to them with the letters “ C

- I ### ” where ### are consecutive letters , and pilots must hold a Student Pilot Permit, Ul tralight Aeroplane Permit, or a Private, Commercial or Airline Transport Pilot Aeroplane License to operate a Canadian

- reg istered Weight

- Shift Control Aircraft. The most significant difference with the US approach is that aircraft in the Canadian Basic and Advanced Ult ralight Aeroplane Category are not issued a Certificate of Airworthiness or Flight Permit.

Costa Rica ’ s strategy is similar. Although the regulation governing Weight

- Shift Control Aircraft is named “ RAC 103, ” it is considerably more compl ex that United States 14 CFR § 103

. Costa Rican “ Vehiculos Ultraligeros ” must be registered with the Dirección General de Aviaci ón Civil, and are issued a registration using the letters “ UL

- TI

- ### ” where ### is a cons ecutive number. Pilots are issued a Permit by the DGAC and only those ultralight vehicles which are used in commercial activities require a Special Airworthiness Certificate. The Costa Rican DGAC has validated my United States pilot Certificate, including Sport Pilot privileges for Weight

- Shift Control Aircraft, to fly their aircraft for private purposes.

The United Ara b Emirates ’ General Civil Aviation Authority regulates “ Ultralight and Microlight ” operations under CAR Part IV Section D. Weight

- Shift Control Aircraft are registered by their owners to an App roved Organization which exercises operational control of the aircraft. Aircraft are issued a registration using the letters “ A6

- X## ” , where## are consecut ive letters. Again, in this case, pilots are issued a Permit (which is delegated to the Approved Organization by the GCAA) and no Airworthiness Certificate exists. Instead, a “ Flight Permit ” is issu ed as evidence that the aircraft has been inspected and certified fit to fly by a GCAA approved and qualified representative of the organization within the previous 12 months.
You will therefore understand my concern about meeting the requirement of “ An aircraft of foreign registry with an airworthiness certificate ” , as the regulatory approach differs so much in the different countries where I am able to meet the solo flight time requirements.

The Weight

- Shift Control Aircraft which meet the definition of § 1.1 which I have flown to date are as follows:

 Apollo Jetstar

- Registration A6X

- AR http://www.halley.hu/apollojetstar/index.html

 Apollo Deltajet II

- Registration A6 X

- AR (different aircraft at a later point in time) http://www.halley.hu/apollo.php

 Airtrike Berlin Eagle V

- Registration UL

- TI

- 059 http://www.airtrikeberlin.de/site/2/Airtrikes.html

 Although I haven ’ t flown a Canadian

- registered Weight

- Shift Control Aircraft solo yet, the mo st likely type would be a Poisk

- 0 6.

I hope the inform ation provided will be helpful towards clearing the obstacle I presently face for pursuing my Private Pilot Weight

- Shift Certificate.
Sincerely,

Uwe Goehl