USUA has been receiving many calls & emails concerning the status of the Carrier Petition. As you remember, USUA member Dick Carrier submitted a petition to FAA October 7, 2004, requesting a safety study involving Part 103 legal ultralights. This safety study would allow those ultralights the use of additional safety items (wheel brakes, additional instrumentation, electric start, etc). The weights associated with those items, would then be added to the empty weight allowance for those items installed- thereby making an extremely safe legal ultralight.
Since the petition was submitted, many ultralighters have made comment to the document, and FAA began the process of analysis.
The first step for the petition, was to pass through the FAA legal department. This, according to FAA sources reporting to Mr. Carrier, was achieved with little or no obstructions. This is obviously, a good thing.
It then moved back to FAA. Because of the overwhelming number of comments received regarding this petition, FAA was then obligated to read and evaluate each comment. This apparently took some time. (Ultralighters are passionate about their sport, and have a great deal to say when given the opportunity. And rightly so; a favorable outcome to the Carrier Petition could prove to be one of the most important advances to ultralight aviation, since Part 103 itself.)
Next, because FAA's review of the comments left the petition as a new document, it had to go back to the legal department. It again passed through with seemingly little problem.
As of this morning, the Carrier Petition is reportedly in the Rulemaking department, undergoing processing that would lead to it's publishing. It is entirely possible that it could be published in the Federal Register in the next few weeks.
USUA will continually report on the progress of the Carrier Petition, and issue press releases accordingly.