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 he
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