FAA (commercial) glider license written exam

[Zonkor]

I have a FAA PPL (ASEL) and contemplating adding a (commercial) glider rating. I understand for the private glider rating, there's no requirement for a new written exam. However, for the commercial glider rating, there seems to be a requirement for a written exam for PPL ASEL holders.

1. Is this correct?
2. Is this the same as the CPL written exam for ASEL?
3. Since there's no GLEIM / ASE / King / Sporty's books on that, where would I find preparation materials for it? :)

[727gm]

1) yes, you have to pass an FAA knowledge test as it is for an upgrade of certificate.
2) The questions are out of the same bank of questions that the ASEL test is drawn, but many are obviously the category specific ones.
3) Look on ssa.org. There are many resources there, or links to sellers of such.

[Zonkor]

Great, thanks for the info!

One follow-up question: Assuming I'd have a CPL glider, to upgrade my PPL ASEL to CPL ASEL, would there be another written exam?

[MarkerInbound]

Yes. You can go from a powered category to unpowered without a knowledge test but going from unpowered to powered requires a knowledge test.

While some of the questions are the same (regs, airspace), some are specific to gliders (soaring weather, glider performance.)

[LTCTerry]

Zonkor - I fully concur with the above posters.

Private ASEL > Private Glider - no written

Commercial ASEL > Commercial Glider - no written

Glider X > ASEL X - written required

Pretty much the only difference between adding on glider private and glider commercial is 20 solo flights instead of 10 - assuming you meet all other aeronautical experience requirements - so it's sort of a no brainer if you don't mind taking the written test.

I took my written in the morning, followed by the recommendation rides and checkride all on the same day. I had been flying gliders for a year by that point. You can probably do what you'd like to do in a week if you have the time.

The knowledge test (aka "written") requires a CFI-G endorsement. I found Webexams.com (http://www.webexams.com) a great place to study/practice the test.

Terry

[Zonkor]

Awesome, I'll try to do that as well. Any idea where you can take the written exam around Phoenix?

[MarkerInbound]

The FAA web site has a list of all knowledge test centers. I'd post a link but I'm not sure what happens when the list is updated. Google "FAA knowledge test centers."