‘LIGHT AIRCRAFT’ IS 12,500 LBS OR LESS

Editor, The Sun:

A response to L. James Parham’s Letter to the Editor last week, “Debate over defining ‘light aircraft’”:

I offer this letter as an American citizen and not as the volunteer airport manager. I could not agree more with Mr. Parham’s call for harmony in last week’s Sun, but truth and integrity are integral components for harmony to truly exist in any environment.
Mr. Parham’s relentless assertion that the county airport is somehow deed restricted to aircraft weighing less than 6,000 lbs is simply not true. There’s undoubtedly no such restriction or prohibition…PERIOD.
Aircraft were defined in 1963 by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Chapter 1, Subchapter A, Part 1, Subsection 1.1 as: “Small Aircraft” 12,500 lbs and under Maximum Certified Takeoff Weight (MTOW) or “Large Aircraft” 12,500 lbs and over MTOW. These definitions were codified well before 1963 and are still in effect today. There’s never been an FAA definition for “Light Aircraft.” The plain language of the deed in no way whatsoever prohibits aircraft that are not “light” or over 6,000 lbs.
The true effect and intention of such a fictitious prohibition claim would be to prevent the brave young women and men aviators of our U.S. military service from utilizing the people’s airport to fulfill their training syllabus for fixed-wing operations on short, unimproved runways and pilot hot-swap rotary-wing operations.
This training is crucial for Special Operations Squadrons to safely accomplish their extremely demanding and selfless missions.
I, for one, simply cannot understand why increasingly, some Americans no longer support our Military and are so unwilling to make even the smallest of small sacrifices to help those who put their lives on the line to protect the freedom and liberty we all enjoy. I’m not willing to have to learn Mandarin or Russian; I respectfully suggest I’m not alone.
May God Bless America and our Military now and forever!
 
Steve Fults
Ochlockonee Bay