I am replying mostly out of courtesy to those posing questions. I realise that some will be unmoved by anything I write.
SB, I know of no data re gliders with transponders. Very few, growing very slowly. No idea why some with only A, guess maybe they got some cheap ones discarded by power GA upgrading.
Can’t paint plastic gliders dayglo or anything else, except very limited areas – wingtips and top of fin, and only when permitted – sun heat softens the structure if it gets absorbed, and it is banned by certification.
Gliders in cloud are rare. Only a few days each year make it worth trying, and few of us do it even then. On the few occasions I cloud fly in East Anglia, I am often the only one. We don’t/can’t when ST and others mostly have to fly IMC, because under overcast conditions there is no lift to get us up there.
If you have a spare moment, monitor 103.4 – you will hear lots of chat, but almost none about being in cloud – so no gliders are up in them then. If/when we do, calls entering cloud should be with reference to distance and bearing from places marked on 1:500,000 chart, and they will rarely be in other than isolated cu when you can go round with power if it really worries you.
Pace, wave is different – yes, gliders can climb close to cloud in wave. Not usually in cloud, however, in my experience, except by mistake when it unexpectedly forms around one. I can’t comment usefully on what you saw.
IO, I don’t know the percentage, but from observation, listening out, and talking to others, I guess very low. I do 50-100 flights each year, about 50-60 hours typically in total, and probably only 20-40 minutes in cloud in that time. And I do more than most. Nobody else in my club (say 40 solo pilots) flies in cloud at all.
CGB, strobes of sufficient power are even more power hungry than transponders. I wish we had them, but know of no approved mods., and the technology is against it as a useful aid.
ST, I did read what you wrote. I understand why you fly IMC in class G. I do not think I will ever be there when you have to. I did not address LARS because it is a well known issue about which I can do nothing.
I do not defend anyone using CAS without ATC contact. I call ATC, and some others do. I don’t know figures. I do know that such data as exists indicates that gliders are not the main problem. I wish gliders were none of the problem. The BGA and its people like me never, ever, condone it. (Some are simply mistakes, just as some power infringements are. We are all human.) We try to educate pilots, and brief accordingly. I and others have helped trace known infringers and take action. Beyond that, I know no more of how to fix that, than I can fix all those power pilots like one who told me he “cloud dances” near a gliding club, and didn’t know gliders could go into cloud.
Chris N.