At 21:18 18 August 2003, Adp wrote:

I base the minimum equipment rules on the fact that
there are many gliders flying today that do not meet
minimum VFR requirements (of US FAR 91.205) They are
not
applicable to GLIDERS!

Geez, Louise! By this rationale, VFR cloud clearances
don't exist because everybody talks about being 'right
there at cloudbase.'

Look at any glider POH or placards, this is the MEL
for a glider. It is irrelevant who the certificating
authority is. Your Airworthiness certificate will have
the operating requirements.

Egad, we're about to digress into 91.213 on the topic
of approved MELs, but I'll do as I'm told...

Am looking at the POH for my glider - a 1981 ASW-20.
Minimum Equipment list: ASI, altimeter and a 4-part
Safety Harness. Additional equipment for cloud flying:
a turn & bank, compass and VHF Transceiver. (A total
aside to this discussion: the POH specifies make &
model for each item. Some are no longer in production.)

Incorporated into this glider's Experimental Airworthiness
certificate is an Operating Limitations page - a boilerplate
form issued by a west coast FAA office; it limits US
ops to Day VFR only, with instrumentation as listed
in FAR 91.205.

You see, 91.205 - on the face of it - applies to powered
aircraft including motorgliders certificated in the
standard airworthiness category; depending on FAA-issued
operating limitations, however, these and/or other
instrumentation/equipment requirements may also apply
to an individual aircraft issued an Experimental airworthiness
certificate.

Let me say it one more time, a motor glider is a GLIDER
with a Motor and is NOT a powered aircraft. Write
it 1000 times, a motor glider is a GLIDER!

You can say it 'till you're blue in the face, if you
want. We already agree that in terms of aircraft category,
a motorglider is a GLIDER. (Why are we shouting?) What
you steadfastly refuse to believe is that in terms
of 91.205 applicability, (1) a motorglider is also
a 'powered aircraft' and (2) in certain instances,
91.205 can apply to an Experimental glider with or
without a motor.

Judy