Glider Rating

Tom-D

Tom-D

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Tom-D
what's the average time to complete for a pilot add on.
 
4-5 days at a commercial operation. A year at a club. Defenders of club culture will be by shortly to tell you how much you can learn doing menial labor for a year.
 
There are schools that will do it in a week flying hours each day. But all you learned was to pass the PTS.

We are a club, we only fly on weekends. An adept current power pilot could do it in 4 months flying a little over 1hr each weekend. We'll lose some days to weather or maintenance.

A pilot that has not flown for a few years may take longer.
We have had a few rated non current pilots that could not master the skills to pass a glider PTS. We wondered how they survived flying with a motor.
 
How is that different than any other rating?

Why wouldn't a pilot want to complete the rating and then learn to use it like any other?


BillTIZ said:
There are schools that will do it in a week flying hours each day. But all you learned was to pass the PTS.

We are a club, we only fly on weekends. An adept current power pilot could do it in 4 months flying a little over 1hr each weekend. We'll lose some days to weather or maintenance.

A pilot that has not flown for a few years may take longer.
We have had a few rated non current pilots that could not master the skills to pass a glider PTS. We wondered how they survived flying with a motor.
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wabower said:
How is that different than any other rating?

Why wouldn't a pilot want to complete the rating and then learn to use it like any other?
Click to expand...

If you are referring to the one week add-on to pass a PTS, I did not say it was any different from other quick goals, like the 10-day PIC instrument course.

We've had pilots come to our club with a new add-on rating to do just that, learn what soaring really is and learn to go cross country.
 
That's what I wanted to do, but found few facilities (well, none to be more accurate) were set up for such training. So I said hell with it and played more golf.

BillTIZ said:
If you are referring to the one week add-on to pass a PTS, I did not say it was any different from other quick goals, like the 10-day PIC instrument course.

We've had pilots come to our club with a new add-on rating to do just that, learn what soaring really is and learn to go cross country.
Click to expand...
 
wabower said:
That's what I wanted to do, but found few facilities (well, none to be more accurate) were set up for such training. So I said hell with it and played more golf.
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There are a few places in the west that can fly every day. They need to be commercial operations with a few instructors and tow pilots on staff. Most soaring locations are clubs. Clubs are not normally set up to fly every day, we have to go hold down a 40hr+ job to pay for our soaring vice.
 
I just got my add-on last month, at Miami Gliders, in 4 days. I didn't have any prior glider experience gliders, but 1000 TT in single engine, and about 200 tail-wheel. I think most folks that are current and can land where they want would get through it in 3-4 days.

MG a great operation, located in Homestead, just south of Miami. The instructor said he had a student get the add-on in 2 days once, but he barely passed the check-ride.

 
Tom-D said:
what's the average time to complete for a pilot add on.
Click to expand...
In terms of flight hours I'd expect you could be ready in as little as 2-4. Given the airplanes you've been flying I suspect you probably already understand adverse yaw very well and won't have any difficulty with the typically slow landing speeds of training gliders. To pass the PPL glider you'll need to learn things like visual signals for towing and glider assembly (shouldn't be difficult for an A&P). New flying skills include takeoff and climb under tow, boxing the wake, rope break procedures, and energy management during approach and landing. AFaIK you don't really even have to learn much about thermalling beyond the skill of slow flight.

I think I had about 5 hrs and 10 flights in my logbook when I took my checkride and that was before I learned to fly taildraggers.
 
gismo said:
In terms of flight hours I'd expect you could be ready in as little as 2-4. Given the airplanes you've been flying I suspect you probably already understand adverse yaw very well and won't have any difficulty with the typically slow landing speeds of training gliders. To pass the PPL glider you'll need to learn things like visual signals for towing and glider assembly (shouldn't be difficult for an A&P). New flying skills include takeoff and climb under tow, boxing the wake, rope break procedures, and energy management during approach and landing. AFaIK you don't really even have to learn much about thermalling beyond the skill of slow flight.

I think I had about 5 hrs and 10 flights in my logbook when I took my checkride and that was before I learned to fly taildraggers.
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How long ago was that? Private add-on requires 10 solo flights, Commercial add-on, 20 solo flights. Plus the requisite training prior to solo, and 3 with an instructor before the check ride.

If thermals or ridge are available, part of the PTS has the prospective pilot demonstrate ability to soar.
 
Flying Lizard said:
I just got my add-on last month, at Miami Gliders, in 4 days. I didn't have any prior glider experience gliders, but 1000 TT in single engine, and about 200 tail-wheel. I think most folks that are current and can land where they want would get through it in 3-4 days.

MG a great operation, located in Homestead, just south of Miami. The instructor said he had a student get the add-on in 2 days once, but he barely passed the check-ride.

Click to expand...

Welcome to the soaring world! There is a glider club at Fairburn, MN.
4 days is a good pace to get it all in. There was an article a few years ago in Flying or AOPA about the pace to complete a 5 day add-on.
 
I did a day in AZ, then a day in FL for my pvt add-on. I should have taken another day for the comm requirements but didn't have the time.
 
It depends on why you want the rating.

Do you want an extra line on your certificate or just need a BFR?
Go with a commercial operation, and you can probably polish off the rating in a week, maybe less.
However, once you finish, you will have an essentially worthless rating. Any fool can figure out how to basically take off and land a 2-33 under calm conditions. However, you will have no experience thermalling or getting ridge lift, which IMHO is the whole point of glider flying. And unless the commercial school is local, a rating from a commercial school will also leave you with no options for flying after you finish.

If you want to fly after the rating, go with a club.
It took me a little over a month to get my rating after I joined a local club. I have never done menial labor at the club, other than simple stuff like pulling the glider out of storage, and setting tie-downs. Sure it isn't totally a pull up and fly operation, but it isn't anything crazy either.
I also like the social aspects, and the ability to take a club glider on a lazy thermalling or ridge lift flight is part of the whole package.
 
Flying Lizard said:
I just got my add-on last month, at Miami Gliders, in 4 days. I didn't have any prior glider experience gliders, but 1000 TT in single engine, and about 200 tail-wheel. I think most folks that are current and can land where they want would get through it in 3-4 days.

MG a great operation, located in Homestead, just south of Miami. The instructor said he had a student get the add-on in 2 days once, but he barely passed the check-ride.

Click to expand...


Sounds like a lot of fun Do you think I could control the glider? IE I'm missing my right hand, use a hook instead. What are the control forces like? Where is the spoiler lever/knob?

My first glider experience wasnt too good. Big OLD tube & fabric thing with very heavy controls.
 
bnt83 said:
Sounds like a lot of fun Do you think I could control the glider? IE I'm missing my right hand, use a hook instead. What are the control forces like? Where is the spoiler lever/knob?

My first glider experience wasnt too good. Big OLD tube & fabric thing with very heavy controls.
Click to expand...
We have a pilot in our club with only one hand. Probably one of the best pilots in the club too.
The control forces are pretty light, lighter than a fixed wing. I would think you would be fine.
 
infotango said:
We have a pilot in our club with only one hand. Probably one of the best pilots in the club too.
The control forces are pretty light, lighter than a fixed wing. I would think you would be fine.
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That sounds awesome. Vacation to Miami during the COLD Nebraska winter and getting a glider rating while I'm there. :ihih:
 
At a club -- all summer long, one day a week, two to three flights a day, with a ton of dragging gliders out of the hanger and wing walking them into position. I spent a whole lot more time getting a sunburn than I got flying.

And the summer ended before I got the check ride.
 
BillTIZ said:
How long ago was that? Private add-on requires 10 solo flights, Commercial add-on, 20 solo flights. Plus the requisite training prior to solo, and 3 with an instructor before the check ride.

If thermals or ridge are available, part of the PTS has the prospective pilot demonstrate ability to soar.
Click to expand...
About 25 years ago and this was for private, I didn't acquire any of my commercial ratings until several years later. Might have been more like 15 flights as I didn't look this up in my logs but I remember thinking it didn't take anywhere near as long as I expected. The ceiling was arout 1500 ft on the day of my checkride so we didn't do much thermalling but I think I did make a couple turns in a 45° bank at min sink.
 
15 years ago I did my commercial glider add-on. 5 days, 6:16 total time, about 1,000 bucks, paid for with college grant money.:D
 
bnt83 said:
Sounds like a lot of fun Do you think I could control the glider? IE I'm missing my right hand, use a hook instead. What are the control forces like? Where is the spoiler lever/knob?

My first glider experience wasnt too good. Big OLD tube & fabric thing with very heavy controls.
Click to expand...

The Blanik L-23 gliders at Miami Gliders are very light on the controls. I don't think you'd have any problem.

There's an elevator trim and air-brake for your left hand, and the stick for your right hand. In 4 days I was there, I never changed the trim setting. It's so simple, it's spooky ...I felt like I was forgetting something!
 
Flying Lizard said:
The Blanik L-23 gliders at Miami Gliders are very light on the controls. I don't think you'd have any problem.

There's an elevator trim and air-brake for your left hand, and the stick for your right hand. In 4 days I was there, I never changed the trim setting. It's so simple, it's spooky ...I felt like I was forgetting something!
Click to expand...

:lol: spooky

Weren't the Blaniks grounded by and AD recently?
 
I was going to try and get me a ride in a glider today, until the tow pilot put her in the mud. Felt bad for him. Oh well
 
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