easiest country to get A badge for Glider license

[gone_with_the_wind]

Hi buddies, which country is the easiest to get the A- standard for a glider license?

I've heard people can just make a flight (I think with instructor) to get this A certificate!?!?! .... sorry, not too sure....

any idea?

[thing]

It's not a licence. You get the A badge when you go solo. As for countries, gliders fly the same in all countries so one is the same as another I suppose. Where are you?

You can find the requirements for badges on page 45 item 18.8 here http://www.gliding.co.uk/forms/lawsandrules.pdf

[BackPacker]

Are A and B badges even issues these days?

[thing]

I think the A badge is, doesn't it generate your gliding certificate book from the FAI? I got mine 20 years ago and they had stopped issuing the B then, don't know why they still put the requirements on the site to be honest.

[mary meagher]

Hello, Gonewith the wind.....does HK stand for Hong Kong?

Because we have two members at Shenington Gliding Club who live in Hong Kong and come to the UK for flying!

If you are English speaking, its probably not a bad idea at all, no confusion.
We fly year round, weather permitting, which it did last weekend, but not this, due to rain and wind. In Germany they shut up shop over the winter, it is just too hostile an environment!

Winter flying is useful for refresher training, practicing circuits, lectures, fettling gliders, and telling each other about your exploits in the bar.

But we anticipate with pleasure April and the days growing longer.

In the US, gliding is not number one; it costs a lot more, there are fewer clubs and any place you can find is likely to be privately owned, and it may be diffficult to go cross country. In the UK, only your skill and the good opinion of your instructor are needed for rapid progress.

Forget about A, B, C badges. After your first solo (UNFORGETTABLE!) the Silver is the one that counts, that first cross country, 50 kilometers, the endurance flight for 5 hours, the gain of height. This entitles you to self respect and a discount on the insurance, and I believe credit toward a power license if you wish to expand the horizons. Though power flying is boring compared to rock polishing in Wales, climbing through 20,000 feet in Scotland, or not coming last in your first competition!

[BackPacker]

Thanks for confirming that impression. I was elated after my first glider solo but never suspected that I could actually get a badge for that (turns out in NL these are no longer issued so I was right after all).

A few days later I made my first proper thermal flight of ~50 minutes. Quite satisfied but didn't think anything special of it. Back in the clubhouse however they started congratulating me with my Bronze C. "What?" "Oh, you did a 30 minute solo flight so you now qualify for Bronze." So we duly filled in the paperwork but in the end I never submitted that.

It's indeed the Silver C that counts, plus of course the GPL itself (whose requirements, at least in the Netherlands, are completely separate from the FAI badge system). I'm hoping I can maybe get my GPL this spring, and with a bit of luck make a stab at the Silver C requirements.

[astir 8]

Hi Backpacker

According to the British Gliding Association Laws and Rules (Paragraph 18), the A,B and Bronze qualifications can be set by the individual countries. The Silver and upwards are FIA International Standards.

The A Badge means you survived your first solo (and generally it is insisted that the glider is reusable afterwards)

In the UK to get the Bronze C requires

Minimum 50 solo flights (or 20 flights and 10 hours flying)
2 x 30 min solo soaring flights from a winch or 2 x 60 min from aerotows
3 flights skills assessment by a full rated instructor
2 x Field landing assessments

Pass the theory tests - Meteorolgy, Navigation, Air Law etc.

In the UK you must pass the Bronze C and get your cross country endorsement before you are allowed outside gliding range of your home airfield.

It's clearly different in Holland!

[BackPacker]

Yep. Bronze over here is just a single 30 minute solo flight. Silver is indeed international, so it's the same over here (5 hour, 50 km XC and a certain minimum altitude gain).

GPL is completely independent of the badge system and requires (from memory)
- 40 starts and (successful) landings
- 6 hours solo flight time in total
- 5 consecutive successful target landings, spread over at least two days
- a total of three exam flights
- pass in all theoretical exams (due to my PPL(A) I get waivers for all but two of them)

[astir 8]

Ah - there's the difference. There is no (as yet) Government issued glider pilot's licence in the UK. So the BGA Bronze C syllabus is the equivalent.

But EASA is going to catch up with us soon......:{

[thing]

There is a glider pilot's license issued by the BGA to ICAO standards though

Welcome to the British Gliding Association (http://www.gliding.co.uk/bgainfo/nppl/introduction.htm)