Hello Ellie - does that name imply we share the same gender?
With all THAT implies!! (we live longer, for one thing. And we are more cautious than the blokes...see auto insurance statistics for confirmation).
The answers to your questions depend very much on which continent you inhabit. For the UK there is a lot of information on the thread asking about Easter holiday gliding.
Couple of Canadian glider pilots have responded on this thread. Like the US, their aviation authority presumes to license gliding, while knowing absolutely bugger all about it. In the UK, we are all huddling under the umbrella of ESA, the European licensing arrangement, which is nevertheless allowing grandfather rights to all the free thinking arrangements of Britain. (British Gliding Association the cover org, no licenses as such; also we have up to now been allowed to fly gliders in cloud).
Please send me a personal message, for more information....and I really hope you live near Shenington!
Mary
PS. If you screw up the approach, it is better to enter the hedge at the end and not at the start....the slower the impact the less the damage.
PPS....Ridger, not always good to sideslip a glider....some will, some bite.
Know your type. The Pegasus bites, and I also think the ASW15 is unhappy to sideslip; also, can you imagine sideslipping a glider with a 22 meter wingspan?