ASC Path


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ASC, PO Box 589, Marshall, MI  49068    phone 269-781-4021   fax 269-781-7400  email kimojim@aol.com

 

 

 

Aero Sports Connection, Inc. (ASC) was designed to provide an innovative, all-inclusive, and flexible support structure to serve the unique needs of light sport aviation. The support structure of ASC provides:

  • Exemption Management.

  • Vehicle Registration Management.

  • Pilot Registration.

  • Competition Recording.

  • National Magazine.

  • Membership Renewal.

  • Wing Structure with as few as 25 members to provide national organization status to meet the individual vehicle types’ and areas’ unique needs.

  • Management Services, and more.

ASC has been the largest of all training exemptions with over:

  • 2700 Instructors

    • 1340 Powered Parachute.

    • 516 Fixed Wing.

    • 330 Trike.

    • 45 Powered Paraglider.

    • 18 Gyro.

    • 2 Powered Lighter-than-Air.

  • 2.5 Million Hours of Flight Experience including 250,000 hours of flight training time and 900,000 hours of Ultralight.

The exemptions for training are now over, yet ASC support CFIs with services such as listings on this web site.

 

ASC’s reputation for responsible operation under the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Exemption is exemplary. The FAA often references ASC’s system as “effective and responsible.”

             The attached chronology highlights ASC’s contribution to the light sport aviation community.

 

AERO SPORTS CONNECTION

ORGANIZATION HISTORY

 

August 1994

  • Aero Sports Connection, Inc. (ASC) established to serve all forms of light aviation (e.g., ultralights, powered parachutes, powered paragliders, trikes, gyros, powered lighter-than-air.)

  • ASC maintains National Ranking Points for distributed competition standings comparison.

 

1995

  • ASC’s first Nationals is the largest in Ultralight History and held at the site of the first ever ultralight competition— Marshall , Michigan .

  • ASC opens Club Cross Country Competition System.

  • ASC receives FAA Exemption No. 6080 for two-place trainers. This exemption is designed to apply to all light aviation trainers. Limits of the exemption are:

    • 496 lb. Empty Weight.

    • 10 Gals. Fuel.

    • 35 Knots Stall Speed.

    • 75 Knots Maximum Straight Level Full Power Speed.

 

1996

  • ASC helps frame and develop Sport Pilot proposal from outside the Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee (ARAC.)

  • Concepts submitted by ASC become the basis for FAA response to ARAC.

  • ASC Nationals grows as the only free event of its kind.

 

1997

  • Teaming Agreement signed with Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) to adapt ASC’s Basic Flight Instructor (BFI) Program to non-Certified Flight Instructors (non-CFI’s).

  • ASC develops Peer Review System, now used as a model for EAA efforts.

  • ASC invited to participate in the ARAC and aid in further development of Sport Pilot Rule.

  • ASC completes research to verify that the accepted training requirements are appropriate.

  • ASC Nationals includes Powered Parachutes as a class of competition.

 

1998

  • ASC Nationals includes Powered Para Gliders, and flies off six simultaneous runways at Marshall , Michigan .

  • EAA Cooperative Teaming Agreement adapted to help EAA and continue close interaction.

 

1999

  • ASC fosters a new magazine, Aero Connections, to promote communication with membership.

  • ASC Nationals includes skydivers and glider towing, in a mixed pattern display, used by FAA as an example of outstanding no-radio operations.

 

2000

  • ASC reinvents the Event Support Kit to support first-time events with useful and instructive materials and supplies.

  • ASC Nationals and grass-roots support expands with ASC personnel on-site at over 30 events nationwide.

  • ASC receives FAA Exemption No. 7390 for transitional training in experimental aircraft.

 

2001

  • ASC becomes instrumental in helping the FAA develop transition plans, concepts and ancillary rules for Sport Pilot to work in a proper format.

  • ASC Nationals, last year at Marshall site, sees membership vote on site relocation and Fixed Wing and Powered Parachute Champions crowned.

 

2002

  • Jim Stephenson, President and CEO of ASC chairs Powered Parachute Light Sport Aircraft Committee for ASTM International Consensus Standards

  • ASC expands Competition Event Support Kits with more value and support. To date, over 30 organizers have registered for these kits totaling more than $12,000 in direct support.

  • ASC Nationals at Three Rivers , Michigan is largest ever, with over 35 vendors, 15,000 guests and 400 planes.

 

2003

  • Powered Parachute Light Sport Aircraft Committee is the first ASTM International Committee to complete the release of all five Consensus Standards Specifications, four of which are being considered to possibly cross types.

  • ASC leads in development of research exemption concepts for FAR Part 103.

 

 

Copyright all rights reserved, ASC(r) 
Last updated: July 05, 2008.