I got my ticket to fly gliders about a year ago.

I love soaring, but I'm growing a little tired of the weather demands
of the sport. In the southeast, it's been hard lately to get VFR
conditions. Add to that the requirement of thermals and it's been
mighty hard to fly lately.

Which has me thinking about getting my ASEL.

Does anyone have experience teaching (low time) glider pilots to fly
power? It seems a bit arrogant to think I can get my ticket with the
minimum requirements. But then again, I'm pretty sure I could pass the
written now.


I did the same thing about 10 years ago when I moved from the Rocky Mountains
(great soaring conditions) to the Midwest (relatively poor conditions). My ASEL
rating took 28 hours if I recall, which wasn't the minimum by any means, but it
also wasn't the 50-60 hours of a typical student without any experience. Also,
I had zero cross-country time in gliders, and I think if you have done glider
XC time, some of it can count.

I chose to get the rating at a towered class-C field since my prior experience
with gliders was entirely at uncontrolled airports (as with most glider
pilots). In retrospect I think this was well worth it, even though it does add
to the cost & training hours (holding on taxiways with the engine running).

The only downside is that my flying seems to continue to get more expensive by
the year. The progression of Schweizer 2-33 to 1-26 to Grob 103 to Piper
Tomahawk to Archer to 172 to 172RG to 182 to Cherokee Six to 206 has taken the
hourly rate up by about a factor of 10. However, it wasn't possible to load 4
adults and luggage into the 2-33 and go 300nm (at least not that I ever figured
out) :-)

I'd recommend finding an instructor and working with them to figure out what it
will take to add on the rating, with the current regs. You may find it is less
than you expected.

Eric