FAR Potpourri

By Bill Hughes

Previous articles have dealt with the regulations that we deal with fairly regularly. Part 61 and 91 cover most of our balloon activity. There are a number of regulations that touch our activities rarely or in a very limited way.

Let’s start with aircraft right-of-way rules. Is it possible that you could be flying a balloon in class G airspace and be required to give way to a helicopter that is neither in distress or landing? Yes, if your balloon is an ultralight vehicle. Part 103 requires that you, in an ultralight vehicle, shall yield the right-of-way to all aircraft. This could put a very onerous burden on you. If you fly such a vehicle you should know that it has many more restrictions such as prior ATC approval to operate in class A, B, C, D, or E where it extends to the surface for an airport. Even though you do not need a pilot certificate to pilot an ultralight you could put your pilot certificate in jeopardy when fling one.

Part 43 deals with preventative maintenance and allow a pilot certified under Part 61 (not student pilots) to perform preventative maintenance on any aircraft they own or operate. Without delving into exactly what does and does not qualify as preventative maintenance, can you do preventative maintenance on your friends balloon? Only if you operate it. So before you do you better make a flight with it. Your pilot certificate allows you to make the “return to service” entry in the aircraft log after preventative maintenance and you should refer to Part 43 to be sure you put the required information into that entry. You may have the desire to do maintenance beyond preventative on your own balloon. To do so, you need to do it under the direct supervision of a certified Repairman or Mechanic. One catch is you cannot do any Part 91 required inspection in this manner.

Part 105 regulates parachute jumping. Eventually every balloon pilot will be asked to let someone jump from the balloon. First be sure that your balloon insurance will be in effect if you do so. Essentially you need to have two way radio communications with the controlling authority be it the tower at airports or ATC in airways and it could very well be both. You must have the permission of the tower and the airport authority (owner). It’s not the simple operation it would appear to be where you just take your friends up and let them jump out. If your approached to allow a tandem jump you definitely need to get a copy of Part 105 and go over the qualifications of the Parachutist in Command as they are extensive: 500 jumps for starters.

Before I read the FARs I thought that night was – when it got dark. Part 1 defines night as the time between the end of evening civil twilight and the beginning of morning civil twilight, as published in the American Air Almanac, converted to local time. The Air Almanac is available from the GPO for a mere $61.00 and if you want it in hard copy you better buy one before 2008, after which they will be only produced on CD ROM. To accrue night flying experience you must fly during the period from one hour after sunset to one hour before sunrise and to carry passengers during this period you must meet the night currency requirements (3 takeoffs and landings at night). Part 91.209 requires that you have appropriate lights on your balloon if you fly between sunset and sunrise. Part 1 doesn’t define sunrise or sunset but it can also be found in the Air Almanac. So we have three different periods covering what we think of as “night”.

Hopefully you are aware that you can lose your flying privileges for a conviction while driving a motor vehicle if it is alcohol related. How would the FAA know of such a thing. Part 67 provides that you must sign a consent form that allows the FAA access to your records on the National Driver Register. Many of you have never signed this consent because Part 67 relates to Medical Certificates and the consent is required as part of the application for a Medical Certificate. It appears that they left a loop hole that you can fly a balloon through.

What is an SFAR? A Special Federal Aviation Regulation.. They are a part of a particular FAR, for instance, SFAR No. 77 to Part 91 will tell you that you will violate the regulations and therefore be subject to penalties if you fly your balloon over the airspace of Iraq. Not likely, but, you better take a look at No. 50-2 if you are planning a flight in the vicinity of Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.

This is my final installment of articles related to the regulations. I hope that it has informed and entertained you. Because I spend about half the year teaching ground school, I am very aware of the many small nuances within the regulations in order to teach them as precisely as possible. I will gladly try to answer any question you may have regarding the regulations. You can contact me through www.libertyballoonschool.com