I disagree that it's purely academic. Firstly, a student glider pilot may
not fly cross county or more than 25 miles from the home field without an
endorsement from the instructor. You therefore need to know what
cross-country flight is if you are not going to do it!

Second, there is a specific space on the FAA 8710 application form for you
to fill in "glider cross-country hours". I assume that if the FAA is asking
for the information, they have some use for it, even if none is required for
a glider license.

Third, many of the cross-country requirements for other certificates or
ratings specify that they should be done in an aircraft - not airplane.
Last time I looked, gliders were still defined as aircraft and cross-country
time logged in gliders in accordance with the appropriate FAR can be used.
Since gliders are cheaper to operate than airplanes, you can save some money
when getting another rating.

Some other contributors to this thread have made the point very well.

Mike

ASW 20 WA



"soarski" wrote in message
om...
"Michael Stringfellow" wrote in message
news:2YOUb.16245$EW.6421@okepread02...
As I expected, Judy hit the nail on the head. For FAA purposes, to log
XC
time, a landout at a remote airfield is required.

The accepted definition in the soaring community is any flight out of
gliding range of the home field. I certainly know when I'm
cross-country
when all I can see is rocks and cactus. Under this definition, I have
about
600 hours, but under the FAAs I can only count my handful of landouts
and
one where I flew from another site back home.

I still wonder whether bodies like the BGA or FAI have a written
definition.

Mike

ASW 20 WA

It's academical! Like we told you, no X-Country flights required for
the US Glider license. They do not care yet, even though you could
take a Stemme with a glider license for 600 mi nonstop. You can write
your miles into that form, who cares, but you could also write "NA". I
assumed you were upgrading to an airplane license, "powered" They
probably use the same form? Getting into power, they know what they
want. AND not a landout but landing at a tower controled airport
preferably.

On the other hand, the BGA and FAI know exactly what they want, and
you can prove it with your logger.

DB