fudge given... I agree with what you state below.. just did not sound that
way on the first posting.. come on out.. we have an FAA Glider DE with the
club.. just got to work around his airline flying schedule.

BT

"Mark James Boyd" wrote in message
news:3fc6528c$1@darkstar...
BTIZ wrote:
I don't think there are "tens of thousands" qualified glider instructor
pilots in the US... I don't think an "airplane CFI" can endorse the
certificate/logbook for a power pilot to fly a "sport glider"

BT


There are tens of thousands of CFIs. With sport pilot, any of
them can become "sport glider CFIs" with two signatures
of "CFIGs or other sport glider CFIs". I KNOW this is much
easier than than scheduling/paying for an examiner CFIG checkride.

There are also NOT "hundreds" of glider examiners/inspectors in
the US. There are dozens. Try scheduling a check ride and look
at your choices and prices. Jeezzz... My FAA examiner is
going to need to get current before giving me my check
ride. Can you really tell me he is going to do a more insightful
job than our club instructor who trains pilots every weekend
(oops I hope he doesn't read this :-blush--)

My point was the 10:1 ratio. And this ratio is purposefully
sustained by the FAA to ensure the DPEs/designees remain
profitable and have some job security (a position I
fully support).

Any way you slice it though, for transition pilots it becomes
easier to fly a 2-33 or ka7 with a passenger after sport pilot
than before.

P.S. Maybe it's 20:1 or 5:1, but hey, gimme some fudge, ok?
This is all fast and loose anyway...