In your country how many hours in a glider can count towards therequirements for a power license?

[Markus Graeber]

Hi guys,

We are in discussions with the civil aviation authorities here in
Colombia to allow a certain numbers of hours in gliders to count
towards the requirements for a power license. We have the support of
one of the responsibles at Avianca, Colombia's national flag carrier
airline; they share the conviction that glider pilots make better
commercial pilots. Many of our pilot school's graduates have become
commercial pilots with Avianca.

We are trying to incorporate a certain amount of glider hours into our
club school's commercial pilot curriculum using the glider
infrastructure we have in the club. The interest is high also on the
student side since it would be cheaper for them and winch launches are
a bit more exiting than your run of the mill take off in a Cessna 150
at 8600 ft (or should I say creep off...).

As expected the intial answer was no and as expected we found out the
reason for that was just because they don't know a thing about
gliding. Being persistent and talking to the right people got us to
the point that they are interested in working with us but they would
like to know how it is handled in other countries, to be able to use
that as a reference.

So here now my question for rec.aviation.soaring: How many hours in
gliders can you apply towards the requirements for a power/commercial
pilot license in your country and where could I find the regulation
that states it? I'd be especially interested in the US, UK, Germany,
Australia but any other reference would help, especially from other
countries in the Americas.

Thanks in advance,

Markus Graeber
Aeroclub de Colombia
Bogota, Colombia

[Vaughn Simon]

"Markus Graeber" > wrote in message
...
> student side since it would be cheaper for them and winch launches are
> a bit more exiting than your run of the mill take off in a Cessna 150
> at 8600 ft (or should I say creep off...).

Since I live a sea level, any takeoff in a C150 from 8600 feet sounds pretty
exciting to me. How long are your runways?
>
> So here now my question for rec.aviation.soaring: How many hours in
> gliders can you apply towards the requirements for a power/commercial
> pilot license in your country and where could I find the regulation
> that states it? I'd be especially interested in the US, UK, Germany,
> Australia but any other reference would help, especially from other
> countries in the Americas.

For the single-engine Private license, refer your authorities to US FAR
61.109. For the private license, it requires 40 hours total flight time, with a
minimum of 20 hours flight training and 10 hours of solo time. That leaves at
least 10 hours of flight time that may be in another category aircraft. The
above is very abbreviated, read the FAR for yourself.

For the single-engine Commercial, the operative FAR is 61.129. Must have 250
hours of flight time that includes 1) 100 hours in powered aircraft, of which 50
hours must be in airplanes. Other requirements are included. The US FARs are
easily found on the Internet.

Good Luck,
Vaughn

[Markus Graeber]

Thanks Vaughn,

I know where to find the FARs on the internet, I just didn't know
which ones I need to look for, thanks for pointing out the key ones to
me. Some of the biggest flight schools in Colombia including ours
operate out of Guaymaral airport just N of Bogota ( 4°48'45.00"N 74°
3'54.00"W in Google Earth), the runway is 1700m/5600 ft. A take off
there in a C 150 is nothing compared to aerotowing a IS-28B2 Twin Lark
or a Blanik L-13 with a Supercup... They have done it in the past and
I believe a Janus CM at times too, pretty scary. That's why we use a
Skylaunch 3 winch with a 502HO Chevy big block these days... 2000 feet
AGL in 45 seconds vs 10 or 15 minutes :-)

Markus

[Edward]

At 23:00 17 December 2008, Markus Graeber wrote:

>So here now my question for rec.aviation.soaring: How many hours in
>gliders can you apply towards the requirements for a power/commercial
>pilot license in your country and where could I find the regulation
>that states it? I'd be especially interested in the US, UK, Germany,
>Australia but any other reference would help, especially from other
>countries in the Americas.
>
>Thanks in advance,
>
>Markus Graeber
>Aeroclub de Colombia
>Bogota, Colombia
>

Markus,

The Private Pilot Licence in Britain has for the last ten years or so been
based on the European Joint Aviation Requirements and so is similar to the
continental European rules.

Basically, a qualified glider pilot can count 10% of their gliding time,
to a maximum of 10 hours, against the minimum training time for a power
license. Instead of a minimum of 45 hours training, a qualified (Silver
'C' in BGA-land) 100+ hours glider pilot can be granted a private power
license after only 35 hours training.

The official CAA publication explaining this can be found here:
http://tinyurl.com/4d3suh
you want Section C1.2, the left column of page 3, 'Credits From Flying
Training'.

Once again, Euro regulations are changing but the proposed regulations are
very similar. A holder of a Sailplane Pilot's License will be able to
credit 10% of their total time, up to 10 hours, against the 45 hours
minimum training required for a power license.

See FCL.210.A (c) here
http://tinyurl.com/652zok
This is the EASA proposal for unified European flight crew licensing
system (hence 700 page .pdf)

Sorry, I don't know about commercial ratings.

good luck,
Edward

[Markus Graeber]

Just a quick clarification of the US FARs (It has been a while since I
had to deal with them): To simplify it in FAA speak an aircraft is
pretty much anything that flies while an airplane is an aircraft with
wings other than a glider (which implies powered I guess).

So if for a commercial license I need 250 total hours, of which 100
hours in powered aircraft of which 50 in airplanes I need:

50 hours in an airplane with an engine
50 additional hours in an airplane with an engine or anything else
with an engine like a helicopter, powered blimp, powered parachute
etc. Would a powered glider count as well (aka motor glider)?

Additionally 100 hours as PIC of which 50 in airplanes and 50 hours in
cross-country flight of which at least 10 in airplanes

I guess that could mean 60 hours min in airplanes (of which at least
10 cross country) which would leave me with 40 hours as cross-country
PIC in any other type of aircraft which could mean 40 hours of cross
country glider time...

Did I get that right?

Markus

[[email protected]]

On Dec 17, 8:13*pm, Markus Graeber > wrote:
> Just a quick clarification of the US FARs (It has been a while since I
> had to deal with them): To simplify it in FAA speak an aircraft is
> pretty much anything that flies while an airplane is an aircraft with
> wings other than a glider (which implies powered I guess).
>
> So if for a commercial license I need 250 total hours, of which 100
> hours in powered aircraft of which 50 in airplanes I need:
>
> 50 hours in an airplane with an engine
> 50 additional hours in an airplane with an engine or anything else
> with an engine like a helicopter, powered blimp, powered parachute
> etc. Would a powered glider count as well (aka motor glider)?
>
> Additionally 100 hours as PIC of which 50 in airplanes and 50 hours in
> cross-country flight of which at least 10 in airplanes
>
> I guess that could mean 60 hours min in airplanes (of which at least
> 10 cross country) which would leave me with 40 hours as cross-country
> PIC in any other type of aircraft which could mean 40 hours of cross
> country glider time...
>
> Did I get that right?
>
> Markus

Yes, cross country glider time is applicable to commercial power
license requirements as well as motorglider time which is powered
AIRCRAFT. The cross country time must include landing more than 50 NM
from take off so my best flights of many hours from which I made it
home DON'T COUNT. All cross country glider time may count for the US
ATP rating as the 50 NM rule doesn't apply for the ATP.

Glider time in the US doesn't help much for the private pilot license
except in how much it may reduce your training prior to solo, (or
extend it since you have never flown straight and level before or
initiated a go-around, or taxied)