June 11, 1980
Mr. Ross Nye
Flight Safety International
Greater Wilmington Airport
Wilmington, Delaware 19850
Dear Mr. Nye:
This letter is in response to your letter of March 25, 1980, requesting
a legal opinion concerning whether, for purposes of FAR section
91.71, steep turns (45 degrees - 60 degrees angle of bank), approaches
to stalls, stalls, unusual attitude for the purpose of demonstrating
recovery procedures with angles of pitch not to exceed 30 degrees
and angles of bank not to exceed 60 degrees, and emergency descents
with angles of pitch not to exceed 30 degrees constitute acrobatic
flight when performed during the course of initial pilot training
or pilot proficiency training.
Intentionally executing a maneuver in an aircraft that exceeds
60 degrees of bank relative to the horizon or 30 degrees nose-up
or nose-down relative to the horizon is not the standard by which
acrobatic flight is defined for purposes of FAR Section 91.71,
as recognized by the Preamble to Amendment 91-65 to Title 15 of
the Code of Federal Regulations (FAR Part 91). FAR Section 91.71
defines "acrobatic flight" as follows:
This opinion is limited to the maneuvers described in the first
paragraph of this letter, when those maneuvers are smoothly executed,
and, therefore, do not involve an abrupt change in an aircraft's
attitude.
The above-referenced maneuvers do not fall into any category involving
"an abnormal attitude, or abnormal acceleration, not necessary
for normal flight" because the attitudes and accelerations
involved are incident to and necessary for normal training flights
and training flights are in fact normal flights. The maneuvers
at issue do not constitute acrobatic flight for the purpose of
FAR Section 91.71.
Due to the fact that the above-referenced maneuvers do not constitute
acrobatic flight, they may be performed on a Federal Airway when
operating on an IFR clearance if the proper ATC clearance is received
by the aircraft performing those maneuvers. As a good operating
practice, ATC should be advised of the type of training maneuvers
to be performed under those circumstances.
Sincerely,
Edward P. Faberman
Acting Assistant Chief Counsel
Regulations & Enforcement Division