The U.S. Senate last night passed a measure in a national defense bill that eliminates a controversial requirement for pilots and instructors to obtain a letter of deviation authority (LODA) for flight training in experimental aircraft. The 4,000-plus page James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023—named after the long-time lawmaker who is retiring this year—passed the House on December 8 and now heads to the White House for President Joe Biden's signature.
Section 5604 of the bill specifies that a lessor or lessee of an aircraft will not be required to obtain a LODA from the FAA to conduct or receive flight training, checking, and testing in an experimental aircraft if the flight instructor does not provide both the training and the aircraft; no person advertises the aircraft as available for training; and no person receives compensation for use of the aircraft for a specific flight involving training other than expenses of ownership, operation, and maintenance of the aircraft.
Backed by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, the measure is designed to address concerns raised by a July 2021 FAA directive requiring certain aircraft owners and flight instructors that train in experimental aircraft to obtain LODAs. That directive had drawn fire from numerous organizations. AOPA said it disregarded “decades of precedent” and argued that it created a burden without a safety benefit. In fact, AOPA claims it had just the opposite effect, initially grounding some 40,000 pilots.
"The FAA legal office has turned the definition of flight training upside down and this provision is only the first step in getting us back to where we were and where we need to be,” said AOPA president Mark Baker. “Flight training is a safety issue and we don't need anything that impacts that in a negative way.”
AOPA credited a bipartisan coalition for the measure, including House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee leaders. Sam Graves (R-Missouri) and Rick Larsen (D-Washington.), along with Kai Kahele (D-Hawaii). The bill further had the support of Sen. Inhofe (R-Oklahoma), a staunch general aviation advocate and ranking Republican of the Senate Armed Services Committee, as well as Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi).