The FAA has updated the practical test standards, or PTS, for sport pilots following the agency’s notice of proposed rulemaking, or NPRM, on the subject published last December. Among other changes meant to align the PTS with MOSAIC rules, the FAA final rule raised the minimum altitude for demonstrating stalls and slow flight during spot pilot training.
Under the new rule, the minimum altitude moved to 1,500 feet from 1,000 feet for slow-flight, power-off stalls and power-on stalls for applicants in the airplane, single-engine land and single-engine sea categories. The change moves the standards for sport pilots in line with those for private pilots, which the FAA said is appropriate because of the wider variety of aircraft types sport pilots may operate under MOSAIC.