The Sport Pilot certificate is the result of the Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee (ARAC) Part 103 Working Group process that began in 1993. The working group was made up of ultralight industry experts, with an assignment to review a 1988 petition to FAA by the U.S. Ultralight Association (USUA) asking for appropriate rule change for single- and 2-seat ultralights.
Over the years that original assignment to study rule change for ultralights was steered in a different direction (the Sport Pilot rule), mainly revolving around a self-certified medical for pilots of aircraft that fly higher, further and faster than ultralights.
In December, 1995, the working group originally agreed on a new Microlight category. That category would include craft up to 992 pounds gross weight. Later, at the insistence of FAA, the Experimental Aircraft Association and some aircraft manufacturers, the weight limit was increased and the category name changed to Sport Pilot. ARAC submitted the Sport Pilot proposal with a 1,200-pound aircraft gross weight to FAA on July 21, 1998.
In typical fashion, what went in FAA's front door isn't what came out the back. FAA added even more weight to the aircraft - now at 1,320 pounds gross weight - which would include airplanes like Piper Cubs, Taylorcrafts and Aeronca Champs, among others.
