Mountain flying training in the uk?
 

Are there are any mountain flying courses available in the UK (similar to those in the Alps etc) I appreciate the "mountains" in the uk are relative mole-hills compared to the Alps but still would be useful to know if there are such courses in the Highlands / Wales ?

Highland Aviation run one, Stuart normally does it, I believe they are pretty popular with folk visiting with the family and doing some a bit more challanging than touring.

And I also believe as well Graeme Dawson does one in Carlise unfortunately I haven't spoken to him for a bit so can't remember the school he is at.

Both are good instructors in my opinion

The courses don't give you any rating's as such they are just advanced training and won't give you any rights in areas that require a "mountain flying" ticket.

Top recommendation, thanks. Just spoken to Graeme at Borders, sounds like a great course.

Does there formally exist such a thing as a "mountain flying ticket"? If so, by whom is it regulated, and issued? As an endorsement to what license?

Not in the uk as far as I know. This is just mountain flying familiarisation and advanced handling - all done as P1.

Rented a plane and instructor on Vancouver Island once.

(1) Aiming at a sloping horizon for the first time in my life I was having trouble flying straight and level. I thought that this was entirely down to me not being used to a non-flat horizon. But after a while the instructor said "yes, this one has never been quite the same since the accident".

(2) Him: "let's go and look at that waterfall." We fly straight towards a cliff. "OK, that's close enough isn't it," I say. "Nah, we can go a lot closer than that." Repeat, several times, for quite a while. Eventually he says "OK, you can turn now, I won't insist on you going any nearer if you're not comfortable with it".

Glad you got hold of Graeme he is a top lad and I hope that you enjoy the course.

Not yet, but EASA are working on it. It is meant to be based on the existing French and Swiss mountain ratings, which focus on landing at high-altitude one-way strips and on glaciers. I believe EASA will bring in currency and re-validation requirements, which will be an administrative bore, but on the other hand they will let you train for the rating anywhere in Europe (Holland? Denmark?) which will make it more accessible.

Mountain training in... Holland...?

One way strips exist in all parts of the U.K. Will the rating be required to use them? There are no U.K mountains near high altitude, and glaciers are a very specialised landing surface, not available to most. Even ski operation from snow are very rare in the U.K. The proposed rating seems likely to be a legal nightmare.
Wind effects presumably will also be dealt with.

Currently 2 EASA countries require pilot to have a mountain rating to land at a relatively small number of strips, and to land on glaciers. Just because EASA feels the need to standardise the rating and make it pan-European, doesn't mean that any other country has to require pilots to possess it before doing anything that they can do today quite safely without any special rating.

What is rather more bonkers is that today there are a very small number of instructors and examiners who can train for and issue the French and Swiss ratings, and they can do it because they have extremely high levels of local knowledge. When the rating becomes an EASA rating, will all the instructors and examiners be trained by the French and the Swiss, or will pilots all over Europe be able to receive a rating that lets them do stuff that goes way beyond what their instructor or examiner have experienced?