Todd Palin owns a Piper Supercub, N8194D. There are photos of it around the Internet, including this one on Fox News' website.
Note that it is on floats. That means it is a "seaplane."According to the Federal Aviation Regulations, the "pilot in command" of an airplane has to hold
"the appropriate category, class and type rating, if appropriate, for the conduct of the flight." FAR 1.1.
Categories and classes are found in FAR 61.5. "Categories" are: Airplane, rotorcraft, glider, and so on. Under the category of "airplane" are four classes: single-engine land, single-engine sea, multiengine land and multiengine sea.
Aircraft registrations and pilot registrations are in public-access databases. If you were to go to one of them, such as the one at landings.com, you would find that Todd Palin has a license to fly single engine landplanes.
Unless every time that Todd Palin has a flight instructor with him every time he is flying that airplane on floats,he is breaking Federal law.
Now admittedly, it is hard to fly an airplane without breaking one of the FAA's regulations; the FAA sets things up to be so convoluted that if they want to ding you for something, they will. There are a shit-ton of airplanes in Alaska and probably the majority of them are flown illegally anyway. I'll bet that most of the privately-owned bush airplanes in Alaska haven't had an annual inspection (FAR 91.409) since the Johnson Administration.
But flying without the right category and class ratings on one's certificate is one of the Big Bozo No-Nos of aviation.
7 comments:
He's legal as long as he's solo and "capable of flying" the aircraft.
If you are willing to believe that, while that PA-18 has been on floats he has never taken a passenger up with him, such as his wife or his kids, then I have a Bridge to Nowhere to sell to you.
Sure, but absent a picture of him with pax aboard, it would be hard to get much traction.
I'm a pilot, and I did some checking on the FAA database and it seems he's breaking the rules on several fronts.
On taking up passengers, one proof of him taking a passenger is Fox news, he flew his wife and as the Cub is ceritified only a two seater there is also no way he could also take along another pilot, so without a rating he is breaking the rules, period.
Text at: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,423102,00.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ton2CnuSKKo
Time around 2:25 into the video
VAN SUSTEREN: I couldn't help but see right over here -- let me go over here -- your mode of transportation that's sitting here, not the little boat but this plane. You're a pilot?
PALIN: I'm a pilot.
VAN SUSTEREN: And what kind of plane is this?
PALIN: This is a 1958 Piper PA-18 Super Cub.
VAN SUSTEREN: How long have you had it?
PALIN: It's been in the family for probably 20 years -- 20-plus years, so...
VAN SUSTEREN: How often do you fly this?
PALIN: Not as much as I'd like. So it just comes down to priorities -- kids, work, wife's schedule, so...
VAN SUSTEREN: Does the governor fly this?
PALIN: I've taken her one time, I think, in the Cub, so...
VAN SUSTEREN: But she doesn't -- she's not pilot herself, or is she?
PALIN: No, she's not a pilot.
There is also no visible "N" registration number painted on the airplane (requirement is to be clearly visible and painted on both sides of the airplane).
Also he could technically fly it solo with a Flight Instructor endorsement, but those are intended to be temporary to build hours in preparation for the rating. Lot of details in the link on an interpretation of flying multi-engine planes, but the same applies to seaplanes:
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/441697.html
Also in the FAA database, his medical is showing as expired in July 2008 and it does not appear it has been renewed (in the latest database, there are lots of pilots with updated medicals for others in August 2008, but his is not listed). So if he's flown without a valid medical certificate, that would be an FAA violation.
The net net is if you fly seaplanes, you need to be rated. This appears to me to be him just blowing off the legal requirements of being a pilot.
Other links for FYI:
Piper Cub N8194D: Plane registration info (is ceritified aircraft, so flying with floats requires a rating):
http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/nnumsql.asp?NNumbertxt=8194D
Daily Kos thread on this:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/14/0493/74582/951/598064
Just after I posted this entry, I got a lot of hits from an FAA server.
So we shall see.
According to the FAA database, he is only rated for "Single Engine Land." He needs a "Single Engine Sea" rating to fly with passengers by himself (it is not needed to fly solo if he has been endorsed by an instructor to do so. Solo endorsements are good for 90 days and must be renewed by any instructor.) He may have taken the Practical Test (a.k.a flight test) for the additional rating. He will then have full "Pilot in Command" Authority to fly this airplane with a paper-temporary license while his plastic permanent license comes to him in the mail. The average-typical processing time is 2 - 4 months. We will only know in about 6 months if we check the database again.
I also hear it is rumored that the FAA looks the other way to some things pilot's do/don't do in Alaska.
As for not having his tail number on the plane; the airplane is from the 1950's and may not require by law to have it showing on the airplane itself (just like some cars don't need seat belts or certain emission standards if produced before a certain date.)
P.S. - I am a jet pilot and a Flight Instructor and have gone through this process many times with myself and my students and colleagues. The database info lags many months behind the actual certification of pilots out the flying. Maybe this will all come up again in 4 years!!!
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