Flying LS-4
 

Hey there!
I am looking for an gliding club in Europe, that can offer me LS-4 for some flight training.
I have about 30 hours in L-13 and about 600+ in powered airplanes. LS-4 is a plane that I have special thing about and I am looking where I can get to try it.
I've heard that some clubs offer you to fly LS-4 right after the first 10 or so hours on trainer /ASK-21 for example/. I am looking for something like that. My glider experience is a bit rusty, but I think I can get back on track quickly. I've never done winch training, only tow.

I hold current EASA CPL/ME/IR and Class 1 medical.
Adding SPL to my license won't be my main goal, but I would like it if that happens too.
If anybody knows a club or gliding school that can offer me something, please advise!
Preferred countries are Germany, Italy, Austria, Belgium, eventually France and Denmark. However I am open to any suggestion within EU.
My plans are to start later this year and I would appreciate if I find the right place for me.
Thank you for your time and help!

The gliding club at my homefield have 2 x LS4 and 1 x LS4a:
Zweefvliegclub Albatros
PM if you need help in contacting them.

The Wolds Gliding Club, Pocklington, York, United Kingdom have an LS4. They are still in EU - but you may have to hurry!

Parham, Southdowns Gliding club in the UK
https://www.southdowngliding.co.uk/

Hey there!
Thank you for the suggestions and please, keep them coming!
I would prefer to hold on to the idea of UK club, since I already contacted two there, but as far as I know since April there have been some changes in their regulations regarding SPL licensing.
Besides that Brexit thing is kinda worrying, at least for me. It seems to me like I might fall on the wrong side of the fence again. Once that happened, otherwise my glider experience would've been recognized in EU now.
I won't scratch UK of course, they have great traditions in gliding. Just sharing my current perspective.
ASK-21 and LS-4 next seems like a perfect combo and this is mostly what I discover throughout my research.
Please, if anybody would like to share more clubs - do so. I will email most of them anyhow.
Thank you once more

I cannot be sure, but I seem to remember that glider licenses are national anyway; so that Brexit wouldn't make much of a difference for you. There may well be agreements of mutual acceptance of other countries' licenses - that's how it works for ultralights, and I do not doubt it will be very similar for gliders. Inquire twice, though!

I have a Sailplane pilot's licence. Not national any more. Still in transition in some countries, I believe.

Yes, some are national, some not.
Back in 96 when I started flying, we had 2 stages. I have first one completed. In other words, 16 hours, solo flights - 15 circuits and 2 in the practice area.
Then after, I have about 10 more hours. Now nobody counts it, as it never happened. The single remaining document that I have from that is my logbook. And some pictures of course. Officially - nothing.
So I would prefer to change that, if possible.
What is mandatory is the LS-4 though.

Right now, UK gliding needs none of the nonsense of licences.
If the Chief Flying Instructor is happy for you to fly something, you may, if not, not.
That's it.

(Licence nonsense available now, for those who wish; due to be a requirement after Apr 2020)
(I owned an LS4 for several years: fantastic)

Come along to Southdown Gliding Club on the south coast of the UK. We have 2 x K21, DG505 for advanced training and a newly refinished LS4 complete with LX9050. We also have 2 single seat Astor's. The Southdown Ridge is very popular when the north wind blows - we had some 50 gliders working the length of the ridge (150kms) on December 1st last year👍

Astor's WHOM? Mr. Piazzolla [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astor_Piazzolla]] produces fine circulations in the air, but on a different plane :)

......king autocorrect does not know what an Astir is!!!

Another victim of the dumbphone, apparently. Be vigilant!

Many clubs are quite protective of glass single seaters because damage is so expensive to repair, So they will be quite selective who is allowed to fly, if they know you and you have a bronze badge or above there is not likely to be a problem. You need to be a member of a gliding club, with a log book that shows recent gliding experience, power pilots don't have the skills for gliding and vice versa

As @delta says, clubs will have specific and rigid rules on the experience level required to fly many "advanced" glass single seaters: sometimes driven by insurance requirements - so not flexible in any way at all.

They may for example required a certain number of solo hours in a lesser club glider and regardless of your experience elsewhere in gliding if you do not have that number of hours past experience in that lesser glider type in your logbook then you are not going to be permitted to fly the higher performance glider.

This is the main problem I am trying to solve: finding a club that can evaluate me and let me do a solo in ASK-21 /for example, not mandatory/ and then if I cope with that to let me fly LS-4. Not after ton of hours though. I guy that posted a video on YT recently mentioned that in his club they allow them to fly LS-4 after 10-12 hours or so. That is with zero experience before that, which is not my case luckily.
So what I am looking for is a club where there is an LS-4 and guys will be willing to let me fly it if I cover their requirements as skills. Let's say 3-5 or maybe even 7-8 hours. Honestly, I don't see what I will be doing for 8 hours in a training glider again, but I am ready to do it no matter what.

Satisfying them you will take good care of firstly the 2-seater on your own, secondly their entry-level single seat glider (often a Junior) and thirdly their high-performance single seater.

Almost all gliding is "Club" flying, all pilots are members of a gliding club, pilots are often required to pay a day membership if it is not their home club. Even a pilot with extensive gliding experience will be checked out carefully before being allowed to fly advance gliders. Having said that a pilot that has trained with his home club flown 20 hours solo in glass 2 seaters and basic single seaters, may well be allowed to fly the LS4 locally on selected days, they know him to be a reliable pilot and want to encourage him.

I flew an LS4 after only a few flights in a Ka8..

Could you clarify "few" please? And was that your initial experience?