EP173 - Certified vs. Experimental - Do You Want to Fly or a Hobby?

You can have a flying machine or you can have a project. Sometimes you get both whether you wanted them or not.

This week, 1DullGeek aka Mark lays out why he's leaving the certified world behind and building a TL Sparker — a Czech experimental that burns half the fuel, costs a fraction to maintain, and was designed after his children were adults (unlike the Cherokee 235, which predates his parents).

Brian is staying in the museum business for now, flying a 1967 Cherokee 180 and embracing his identity as a steward of vintage aviation history, whether he likes it or not. Ted is flying a Special Light Sport that is certified, experimental-adjacent, and philosophically its own thing — much like Ted himself.

Along the way we get into what it really costs to own old iron, why parts availability in the certified world will break your soul, what MOSAIC means for the future of sport pilot, and whether two weeks of coursework is actually enough to maintain your own airplane (spoiler: probably not, but it's a useful warning label).

Also in this episode: a debrief from the Thaden Invasion fly-in including a NASA report we won't elaborate on, a $25 ramp fee at JWN that costs less than a tank of avgas but somehow hurts more, a surprise night power-off 180, and a birthday calculation that required community intervention.

Listener Sierra Victor from Surprise, Arizona (yes, that's a place) writes in about sport pilot gatekeeping and gets some straight talk: the aerodynamics don't care what certificate you hold, and neither should you.

Mentioned on the show:

* UCY - Union City Tenn: https://www.airnav.com/airport/UCY

* Full Stop Aviation: https://fs-aviation.com/

* AOPA - PAPA bill: https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2026/march/11/pr-support-grows-for-bills-banning-ads-b-misuse

* Coleal interpretation: https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/agc/practice_areas/regulations/interpretations/Data/interps/2009/Coleal-Bombardier%20Learjet_2009_Legal_Interpretation.pdf

* LSRI, LSRM courses: https://rainbowaviation.com/courses/

* Dunning-Kreuger effect: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect

* Fly Eagle Sport: https://flyeaglesport.com/

Support the podcast: www.patreon.com/midlifepilotpodcast

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