French requirements for solo flight

On Apr 8, 4:03*pm, John Smith wrote:
Steve Freeman wrote:
Can anyone advise me what I will need to be able to fly solo

Best would be to just ask them:http://www.cnvv.net/

I did and they referred me to the local district office at another
airport that I need to call and I thought someone on the list might be
able to give me a head start.

On Tue, 8 Apr 2008 14:18:35 -0700 (PDT), Steve Freeman
wrote:

On Apr 8, 4:03*pm, John Smith wrote:
Steve Freeman wrote:
Can anyone advise me what I will need to be able to fly solo

Best would be to just ask them:http://www.cnvv.net/

I did and they referred me to the local district office at another
airport that I need to call and I thought someone on the list might be
able to give me a head start.

I guess it depens on the result of a check flight. I had no prior
mountain flying experience and made two flights in double-seaters
there before they told me to fly solo.



Bye
Andreas

On Apr 8, 7:05*pm, Andreas Maurer wrote:
On Tue, 8 Apr 2008 14:18:35 -0700 (PDT), Steve Freeman

wrote:
On Apr 8, 4:03*pm, John Smith wrote:
Steve Freeman wrote:
Can anyone advise me what I will need to be able to fly solo

Best would be to just ask them:http://www.cnvv.net/

I did and they referred me to the local district office at another
airport that I need to call and I thought someone on the list might be
able to give me a head start.

I guess it depens on the result of a check flight. I had no prior
mountain flying experience and made two flights in double-seaters
there before they told me to fly solo.

Bye
Andreas

Did your US medical and license transfer? I am more interested in the
legalities rather than the experience needed. The last time I flew
gliders in France was 5 years ago and it was just with an instructor.
He said that if I wanted to come back and fly solo I would have to get
a French medical as the US medicals were not recognized in Europe as
they were not ICAO compliant and a current medical was need to legally
fly a glider in France. Was I given incorrect or out of date
information?

I have flown at St. Auban three times. It is virtually the same as
flying in the USA.
Before you go to St. Auban you must get a French temporary license.
The St. Auban website give you the address and all the information you
need. But you should have already known this if you have paid your
deposit to St. Auban. So here is the information you need.

You need to submit a copy of:
1) your US pilot license
2) a copy of your class 3,2, or 1 medical certificate.
(the French accept all US medical certificates)
3) two recent identity photographs. Color or B&W do not matter.
(identity photographs are basically 1.5x1.5 inches
4) a copy of your passport, the page with your photo and date of birth
5) a written request for a "license equivalence"
(I will be flying at St. Auban from xxxx to xxxx)
6) specify the dates of your stay in France.

Mail it all to:

District Aeronautique de Provence
Service des Licenses
Aeroport No. 1
13727 MARIGNANE

Within a month you will receive your temporary French license in the
mail.

They show up at the registration building at St. Auban about 0900
hours with your logbook and credit card.
Have fun.

Guy Acheson "DDS"

I had a similar experience at St. Auban
One day of sight seeing and one day of mountain workout
and three days of solo.
Six month before my planed arrival I requested there package for
visiting pilots. Even though I filled out and send everything that
they requested for solo flight. The paper work was not done on my
arrival. After telling them that I was not interested in flying with
them at all, unless I get my solo status, they were able to get it
within 24 hours.
I had the impression that they were not interested in pilots doing
solo.
The landscape is spectacular and flying is a challenging
I spend Euros 980.00 flying for the week, plus Euros 420.00 for a
cabin for one week, clean but very basic, food not included. Breakfast
on site is none existing unless you call a bowl of coffee and a dry
muffin breakfast. I ended up making my own. You must also look after
your own lunch. In the evening supper was available at a reasonable
rate.

Udo


On Apr 8, 8:05*pm, Andreas Maurer wrote:
On Tue, 8 Apr 2008 14:18:35 -0700 (PDT), Steve Freeman

wrote:
On Apr 8, 4:03*pm, John Smith wrote:
Steve Freeman wrote:
Can anyone advise me what I will need to be able to fly solo

Best would be to just ask them:http://www.cnvv.net/

I did and they referred me to the local district office at another
airport that I need to call and I thought someone on the list might be
able to give me a head start.

I guess it depens on the result of a check flight. I had no prior
mountain flying experience and made two flights in double-seaters
there before they told me to fly solo.

Bye
Andreas

On Wed, 9 Apr 2008 06:59:21 -0700 (PDT), Udo wrote:

I had a similar experience at St. Auban
One day of sight seeing and one day of mountain workout
and three days of solo.
Six month before my planed arrival I requested there package for
visiting pilots. Even though I filled out and send everything that
they requested for solo flight. The paper work was not done on my
arrival. After telling them that I was not interested in flying with
them at all, unless I get my solo status, they were able to get it
within 24 hours.
I had the impression that they were not interested in pilots doing
solo.
The landscape is spectacular and flying is a challenging
I spend Euros 980.00 flying for the week, plus Euros 420.00 for a
cabin for one week, clean but very basic, food not included. Breakfast
on site is none existing unless you call a bowl of coffee and a dry
muffin breakfast. I ended up making my own. You must also look after
your own lunch. In the evening supper was available at a reasonable
rate.


I think things have changed a lot at St. Auban over the years - I
heard a lot of bad things lately. I was there in 1995 I think (with a
German instructor training course), and we got a very thorough
instruction to mountain flying. I was one of the few who brought their
own glider and I was pretty surprised that I got the "go" for solo
flight after only two flights.

Things were much better then... the breakfast fas good, and "a midi"
we went to the Air Force academy canteen (at that time there was the
civil gliding centre and the Air Force academy on the other side of
the airfield) where we got a pretty god and real cheap lunch.

I don't recall the prices anymore, but they were pretty tame.


Concerning safety: The area there is extremely dangerous to fly. Far
above-avergae accident rate in the French Alps, most of them fatal.





Bye
Andreas

I got up at 3:30 am so I could call and was told that the French
government has cracked down and that I need to send not a copy of my
pilots license but a "certified" copy which they indicated had to be
signed by a government official. I could not get a better description
of exactly what they wanted so does anyone know what they mean. I
wonder if a notarized copy would suffice?

Also, since I fly out of Houston which is flat as a pancake and
therefore hotter means better soaring, can anyone explain why they are
booked solid in April? What type of conditions should I expect the
first week of June?

Steve Freeman wrote:
I got up at 3:30 am so I could call and was told that the French
government has cracked down and that I need to send not a copy of my
pilots license but a "certified" copy which they indicated had to be
signed by a government official. I could not get a better description
of exactly what they wanted so does anyone know what they mean. I
wonder if a notarized copy would suffice?

I suppose this means a copy certified by any french authority, for
example the french consulate somewhere. Here in France you get a
certified copy by going to any town hall and it is of course free.
This means they make a photocopy of the document at their office, they put
the seal of the town hall and they sign it, nothing more.
Presumably a copy certified by any american authority would be as good,
but as always in such cases it is less clear. This is to try to avoid
fraud on counterfeited photocopies for official documents.



Also, since I fly out of Houston which is flat as a pancake and
therefore hotter means better soaring, can anyone explain why they are
booked solid in April? What type of conditions should I expect the
first week of June?

In principle very good conditions. June and July are the best months for
soaring here. Too late and the crops are high which causes problems
for doing cross country. When crops are harvested it is also good but
at the end of August conditions begin to decline markedly. Depending on
the years, April and May can be good. At least these are the usual
conditions in Paris region. In the South people use ridge flying and
wave to fly in winter.



--

Michel TALON

On Apr 10, 7:20 am, Steve Freeman wrote:
I got up at 3:30 am so I could call and was told that the French
government has cracked down and that I need to send not a copy of my
pilots license but a "certified" copy which they indicated had to be
signed by a government official. I could not get a better description
of exactly what they wanted so does anyone know what they mean. I
wonder if a notarized copy would suffice?

The best thing to do is to get a notarized copy of you license to take
to your state's state department (I assume you are in the US) and have
them certify this copy with a so called Apostille:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostille

This is recognized around the world as a result of an international
Hague convention and standard procedure for international legal and
public documents such as birth certificates etc. I have done this in
New Mexico for some paperwork and it was a simple process. Just had to
make some photo copies, got them notarized by a licensed New Mexico
Notary and then went to the state capitol to have them do the
Apostille on the notarized copies for a small fee in a morning.

Check the website of your state's state department, they normally have
information on their procedure etc. Hope this helps,

Markus Graeber

Since you mentioned your are flying out of Houston I am guessing you
live in Texas. The information you are looking for can be found he

http://www.sos.state.tx.us/authinfo.shtml

Give them a call to get the details on what is needed to get an
Apostille for a FAA pilot license, assuming a notarized copy is all
they need you could use their in person service an get the Apostille
done on the spot for $10.

Markus Graeber