"Shaber CJ" wrote in message
...
I have had one-on-one discussions with ATC supervisors about the
possibilities of cloud flights and came away with the impression that
they
(ATC) would do all they could to make such flights possible - if you
played
by their rules.

Not very likely to be able to follow ATC's rules. You have to be on an
instrument flight plan and ATC would expect you to hold heading and
altitude.
You also would have to be transponder equiped. ATC will work with you and
it
is possible to educate them of your needs but they are not used to gliders
and
if other traffic is in the area ATC is not likely to let you not hold
heading
and alt.

Actually, creative use of "cruise" clearances which allow altitude changes
within an assigned altitude band and course deviations for "weather" can
allow a glider pilot almost total freedom within the ATC system. A variant
of the cruise clearance is "climb while holding" which permits a climb in
cloud with guaranteed separation from all other traffic.

It all depends on your relationship with the ATC facility. IFR flights are
not as rigidly controlled as it would seem from the first reading of the FAA
"Instrument Flying Handbook". There are areas of the USA where IFR traffic
is very sparse and consequently, controllers get very bored. Some of them
look at handling gliders as a welcome diversion.

Even so, it takes a very skilled and disciplined pilot to make all this
work - and, yes, you need a Mode C transponder in addition to all the other
IFR goodies.

Bill Daniels