Originally Posted by
POBJOY
The whole point of a DI is to ascertain the 'airworthiness' of a machine at that time.
The ATC Gliding School operations were in the main a w-end activity and staff not always present every w-end, therefore there could be a certain lack of continuity in knowledge of events.
<snip>
Hence the importance of the DI book, of reading it and of filling it in correctly.
Originally Posted by Olympia 463
Considering the vast improvement in performance of modern gliders, plus things like GPS I would not regard the GPL as proving very much.
No? Pilots with a GPL will have some 50 launches & landings under their belt, in a variety of conditions. They are ready to do their silver badge - indeed them might have done the first two legs.
If you are going to insist on 2,000m for a Silver height gain that is almost impossible in thermal conditions in the UK given that cloud flying is a no-no these days.
If you increase the silver distance you are not actually making it harder, except for any retrieve crew. The pilot is still out of glide range for the first time, having to find lift in an area they are not familiar with (and land features can influence thermals to quite a degree), and often faced with a first landing somewhere they have never seen before which can be challenging even if it's another airfield.
GPS can help, and given the complexity of airspace today compared to 20 years ago that's a very good thing.
However this is all irrelevant when it comes to ATC gliding.