Glider Pilots of PPRuNe

[IFMU]

Harris Hill Vintage Meet

The vintage meet is going on at Harris Hill. Last Wednesday I went up to fly a little, and I had to chuck my 1-35 in the box to make room for all the guests. Flew it one more time first. Plus took a buddy in our brand new ASK 21, shared a thermal with this beautiful ASK13, freshly restored. Great evening.



Not the best camera, my buddy had a cellphone and that was all. But check out the reflection of the -13 in the wing of the -21.

-- IFMU

[glider12000]

SS

I`m duty pilot on tuesday and wednesday so should be about

[hightower1986]

Any ideas?

I have just completed my PPL in New Zealand and so have an ICAO licence and have had 2 glider flights so far, whilst I am saving money again I thought about taking gliding a little further to help the whole flying mentality going and it seems like good fun.

Just wondering if anyone has been in a similar position or knows how many hours etc can count towards the gliding and vice versa and any other rules with exams and medical would be great but cant find it anywhere on the net.
thanks

[cats_five]

Have you checked this?

Gliding New Zealand -

[ProfChrisReed]

Assuming you're in New Zealand, the place to ask is the New Zealand Gliding Association http:///www.gliding.co.nz. This sets out the training syllabus.

A brief look at their site suggests that the system is similar to that of the BGA, with which I am familiar. If so, there are likely to be almost no minimum hours requirements to achieve the "licence". Gliding training works on the basis that you're approved for each stage when you're ready, whether that takes 1 hour or 100 hours.

In the UK system there are only two hours requirements that I'm aware of: to achieve your Bronze badge (one of the prerequisites to solo cross-country flying) you need either 50 solo launches or 10 hours/20 launches; and to carry passengers you need a minimum of 50 solo hours plus sign of from the Chief Flying Instructor at your club (or whichever club you want to do this, though in practice many clubs require a Basic Instructor rating to carry passengers).

From my limited experience as a Basic Instructor, PPLs with good handling skills (i.e. those who fly the aircraft, rather than just "driving" it) make rapid progress to solo. Thereafter the soaring, navigation and field landing skills are quite different to flying power, so you progress at the same pace as others depending on ability and application.

[hightower1986]

Yeah good point im back in the Uk now, so best to change me loaction thingy too! A lot to be said for gliding me thinks, I just like the winch launches to be honest oh and the aircraft being about £30 an hour!

[astir 8]

So where in the UK?

If you've a PPL you should progress fairly quickly to solo - there's no fixed hours requirement, its all done on ability/consistency (just a hint, those funny pedal things on the floor need to be moved in conjunction with the stick and the "window" is for looking for other aircraft)


Google "British Gliding Association" and most info on gliding should be revealed, including club locator.

[hightower1986]

yes thanks thats all Ive heard so far from glider pilots "this is proper flying" and "do you know what the rudder is" yes thanks im well aware! do you know what spending money is!?! if not try powered flight!

[astir 8]

OK, point taken. so where do you want to glide then.

[cats_five]

The closest gliding site might not be the best for you, depending on when they offer instructional flying and when you can get along. Some are 7-day per week operations, some are weekend only, some have more challenging sites than others.

IMHO tzhe real fun (and challenge) of gliding starts once you are allowed to start flying XC (e.g. out of glide range of the launch site) and also when you can visit other clubs. My club would let members hire a single-seat club glider for a week for an expedition (subject obviously to CFI's approval) and it's a mind-expanding thing to do. It tends to be a waistline-expanding thing as well, along with being a wallet-shrinking thing.

But however much or little gliding you do, and however far to take it, here's hoping you have a great time. Do be prepared for a lot of standing around on gliding fields though... Gliding clubs only manage to run as cheaply as they do (compared to power flying) because we help each other. There might be a paid instructor at work but the wing man and signaller will be ordinary club members, and the winch driver / tug driver might well be as well, all doing their bit to get you safely (we hope!) into the sky. There is also the fun of collecting a glider from a landout...

[flying_highover]

Tugging

Hi,

This one goes out to existing tug pilots.

I'm looking for advice on getting in on it. I've wanted to do it for a while now partly out of fun and love for gliding and also for building hours.

I've done about 20lchs 7yrs ago. Limited experience I know. I got solo on my 7th hour of PPL. I'm not a bad pilot I have to say but my experience is limited I know.

What would your advice be about approaching my local club or indeed any club? I've been thinking about it. I'm thinking of offering myself as a stand-in pilot, there for whenever weather is good and people want to glide but no tugger. And maybe offering to pay any expenses in showing me how to tug...

Any advice would be really appreciated!
Thanks.

[cats_five]

Suggest you start by reading the BGA guidance on aerotowing:

http://www.gliding.co.uk/bgainfo/clu...rotownotes.pdf

However I did find the following near the beginning:

"It is preferred that tug pilots are and remain current as glider pilots, or better still, instructors."

Also the tug at my club (and many others) is a taildragger, so the tug pilots need to be appropriately qualified. Since it's a Pawnee there is no chance of using it for a conversion!

(sorry for that being in a large font!)

[flying_highover]

That's a great document.

Thanks for that, will give it a read...

I've flown a little in a dailtragger... I notice you need to kick in with the rudder a bit more than otherwise when applying power. The run on take off and landing needs a fair bit more concentration too.

[shortstripper]

I've flown a little in a dailtragger... I notice you need to kick in with the rudder a bit more than otherwise when applying power. The run on take off and landing needs a fair bit more concentration too.

Better get ready to duck!

SS

[GAZSD]

Back to proper flying then!!

Shortstripper

Glad to see you're getting back to proper flying again after the loss of your T31M last year. You still looking for wood and fabric restoration work?

Hope so, drop me a line, better still make sure the Vintage Club have your details too, when you get your BGA inspectors ticket

Catch you soon

GAZSD

[IFMU]

A new site for Harris Hill Soaring pics:
Harris Hill Soaring Photo Gallery - Home

Some of the pics are old but there is also a couple brand new pages from IVSM (international vintage soaring meet) 2009.

-- IFMU

[MarkerInbound]

Just found this thread. Cargo pilot (unemployed at present), FAA ATP blah blah blah, type ratings in blah blah blah, COMM glider and CFIG, silver badge. I've been flying with Texas Soaring south of Dallas for almost 20 years. I was lured into the sport under false premises. At that time, TSA's insurance had very high tailwheel time requirements. In all that blah blah blah is 4000+ hours tailwheel time which I'm willing to bet would meet anyone's insurance requirements. I told them it was almost all multiengine tailwheel time and when things started to go sideways, I was used to powering the plane straight along with rudder and they said it didn't matter, the insurance just said tailwheel time. So I've got about 3 times as much time towing as in the gliders. Done some winches outside of Auckland, NZ and a bit of ridge in Hawaii.

We had students up almost 9000 feet AGL yesterday.

[glider12000]

Any Glider Pruners at the Inter-University comp at Pocklington??

For anyone else that is at or has been at University then feel free to join us!

Get in contact with your respective University Club for more details!

[MLS-12D]

I originally learned to fly in gliders and have about 130 hours logged. I completed two legs of the Silver C prior to obtaining my license but then made the fatal decision to learn powered flight so that I could fly the tow plane. Since then I am really a propellor head, although I too see myself as a glider pilot first.

What would your advice be about approaching my local club or indeed any club? I've been thinking about it. I'm thinking of offering myself as a stand-in pilot, there for whenever weather is good and people want to glide but no tugger. And maybe offering to pay any expenses in showing me how to tug...

IIRC, the current issue of one of the GA magazines (don't remember which one, sorry) has a fairly detailed article on this topic. I just skimmed it at the shop but it looked fairly decent.

As cats_five noted, most clubs - though not all - operate tailwheel tugs. They will not typically teach would-be pilots how to fly tailwheel, and you will be probably expected to have a certain number of tailwheel hours logged before you will be accepted as a trainee tug pilot. At my club it used to be 10 hours total, five hours solo. I believe we increased those minima after we switched to a Pawnee (the Cadillac of towplanes!) ... not that the Pawnee is a difficult aircraft to fly.

I know a few tug pilots who do not soar, but there is no real doubt in my mind that the best tug pilots also fly sailplanes.

[MLS-12D]

IIRC, the current issue of one of the GA magazines (don't remember which one, sorry) has a fairly detailed article on this topic.

Here is the reference: Colin Goodwin, “What’s Involved in Glider Tugging”, June 2009 Pilot, pages 36-41.

Speaking of soaring: I was sorry to learn that Jean-Pierre Aguilar and Michel Fache were killed last Saturday, on the final day of the Open CFM de Vol à Voile – Barcelonnette 2009. Both were extremely experienced pilots who gave a lot to the sport.