Soaring at Boberg Hamburg Germany???

I will be spending two months in Hamburg this summer near the Boberg clubs. Anyone on rec.soaring fly at that location? What's the recommended way to get involved for a USA licensed glider pilot?

Lars Tuohino

On Friday, February 22, 2019 at 12:10:19 PM UTC-5, HoUdino wrote:
I will be spending two months in Hamburg this summer near the Boberg clubs. Anyone on rec.soaring fly at that location? What's the recommended way to get involved for a USA licensed glider pilot?

Lars Tuohino

In 2011 when I went to Germany with the Army the German Luftfahrtbundesamt (LBA) allowed most foreign pilots to fly D-reg gliders with a medical and 30 hours glider experience. I assume (?) something similar is still in place..

Do you speak German? Do you have a US medical already?

I'd suggest you contact the club and ask for a recommendation for a Fliegerarzt (AME) so you can get a medical if you don't have one. No medical - no solo. If you set up the appointment - before you get to Germany - so you can have it right after your arrival you'll maximize the time you can fly.

I flew on my FAA certificate and medical for a year. By then I had a German airplane private license and it was really easy to get a German glider license. FAA to German required two (expensive) written tests - Air Law and Human Performance Factors.

The biggest issue you are likely to have is that most clubs require actual membership which gets expensive for just two months. You'll need to ask about that. There are a few great places to fly that charge a daily membership rate with a reasonable annual max - Wasserkuppe, Feuerstein, and DASSU. I've flown at all three.

Shoot me a note if you want to talk.

Terry

On Tue, 26 Feb 2019 04:06:37 -0800, Terry Pitts wrote:

There are a few great places to fly that charge a
daily membership rate with a reasonable annual max - Wasserkuppe,
Feuerstein, and DASSU. I've flown at all three.

A few days on the Wasserkuppe is very worthwhile, both for the flying and
the glider museum. There are decent hotels at the top and the Fulda Quelle
hotel halfway up the hill, all fairly inexpensive. I've stayed at the
Deutscher Flieger on top of the hill in the past and at the Fulda Quelle
last year and would stay there again any time.


--
Martin | martin at
Gregorie | gregorie dot org

Hi, if you stay in Hamburg you can also fly at our club www.lsv-pinneberg.de
We are located west of hamburg and also have a native speaker (a brit) amongst our members. If you are interested you can send me an email. Cheers, Michail

On Friday, February 22, 2019 at 9:10:19 AM UTC-8, HoUdino wrote:
I will be spending two months in Hamburg this summer near the Boberg clubs. Anyone on rec.soaring fly at that location? What's the recommended way to get involved for a USA licensed glider pilot?

Lars Tuohino

I flew two years ago in Stendal & was able to fly with a "holiday license". 4 months of paperwork and lots of hoops to jump through. You'll need a 2nd class medical. My understanding is that the LBA recently extended the term of the temporary license from the duration of the event to two years. I'm still researching that change. Here's a link to AOPA Germany that explains the process. https://aopa.de/ueber-uns/for-foreig...alidation.html Google translate is your friend.

Good luck and have fun in Germany.

Hi Craig,

some folks joining us for the 2019 pre-worlds at Stendal were walking through this process and unfortunately, non-EASA licenses are still only validated for a period of 4 consecutive weeks ("holiday licenses").

From this recent experience, I can confirm that the information given on the AOPA website is still valid.

Best regards,
Christoph


PS: would be great to have someone from the US joining for the pre-worlds - there are still slots available (https://www.segelflug-dm.de/en/).

On Tuesday, February 26, 2019 at 12:40:41 PM UTC-8, wrote:
Hi Craig,

some folks joining us for the 2019 pre-worlds at Stendal were walking through this process and unfortunately, non-EASA licenses are still only validated for a period of 4 consecutive weeks ("holiday licenses").

From this recent experience, I can confirm that the information given on the AOPA website is still valid.

Best regards,
Christoph


PS: would be great to have someone from the US joining for the pre-worlds - there are still slots available (https://www.segelflug-dm.de/en/).

Hi Christoph,

Thanks for the update. I had an absolutely wonderful time in Stendal in 2017 and would love to be there this year. Unfortunately vacation times didn't align.

Do you happen to know if gaining an EASA licence (i.e. France) would allow for unrestricted flying of D registered aircraft in Germany?

Great to hear from you and best wishes for the comp this year.

Craig

Thanks and indeed, an EASA license and a class 2 medical allow flying D registered aircraft in any of the EU countries.

Christoph

On Tuesday, February 26, 2019 at 11:13:16 PM UTC-8, wrote:
Thanks and indeed, an EASA license and a class 2 medical allow flying D registered aircraft in any of the EU countries.

Christoph

Excellent. Thanks for the update.

Craig

I'm actually interested only in personal thoughts/experiences about Boberg soaring, not the pilot licensing process on this trip. Happy to fly dual, attend camps, push airplanes, improve my Deutsch.

On a previous trip I visited Boberg and found a fairly large operation to sort out.

Also I have flown one lovely day at LSV Kreis Pinneberg more than 25 years ago, where I experienced my first winch launch. Great memories...

Best,
Lars T