On Feb 17, 7:13 pm, wrote:
The main benefit would probably be with a special light sport glider
like the TST -14 or Urban Air Lambada. If someone wanted to buy one
and either use it for personal use or giving rides/instruction they
could do their own maintenance including annuals and 100 hour
inspections after taking an 80 hour maintenance course. That would
give someone freedom from an A&P or IA if they chose to do so.

The light sport gives many benefits besides skipping out on a medical.
The main benefit is being able to try different types of aircraft
without having to drop so much money. Once you have your first rating
you can try out anything else that fits into light sport. That
includes airplane and weight shift - land and sea, glider, powered
parachute, rotorcraft (gyro), and lighter than air. You just have to
become proficient in the new category/class and your instructor will
sign you off to take a proficiency check with another instructor. No
examiner or minimum times.

If someone wanted to transition into gliders from another class they
would be pretty limited since they made it a Vne of 120kts and gross
weight of 1,320 lbs. The Vne limits a lot of gliders and they'd
probably be stuck in Schweizers (nothing wrong with that per se).

Anyone know of operations giving instruction in LSA gliders or towards
the rating?

The LSA max cruise speed is limited to 120 knots at any altitude up
to 10k feet msl (LSA rated pilot only) not VNE which is not defined.
For home built
gliders and powered aircraft both within the experimental categories
including but not limited to LSA experimental, constructors can do
their own annuals
after they have taken and passed a course. I still don't see an
advantage to register as a LSA except if it is a POWERED aircraft (not
glider
or motor glider) and there is a question concerning your medical.
I am told that insurance companies are becoming reluctant to issue
insurance policies to LSA pilots without medicals. I still have my
medical so it is not yet an issue for me.
Dave