In the USA:

(e) Instrument rating. No person may act as pilot in command of a civil aircraft under IFR or in weather conditions less than the minimums prescribed for VFR flight unless that person holds:

(3) For a glider, a pilot certificate with a glider category rating and an airplane instrument rating; or



Furthermo

(c) Medical certificate. (1) Except as provided for in paragraph (c)(2) of this section, a person may not act as pilot in command or in any other capacity as a required pilot flight crewmember of an aircraft, under a certificate issued to that person under this part, unless that person has a current and appropriate medical certificate that has been issued under part 67 of this chapter, or other documentation acceptable to the Administrator, which is in that person's physical possession or readily accessible in the aircraft.

(2) A person is not required to meet the requirements of paragraph (c)(1) of this section if that person --

(iii) Is holding a pilot certificate or a flight instructor certificate with a glider category rating, and is piloting or providing training in a glider, as appropriate;



It seems the answer from these two sections is
yes, as far as they go. Others have pointed out
that IFR currency and equipment requirements go beyond this.
As far as this goes, I'd guess strongly that an IPC to
get current is a good way to go. Sure one could get current
in a two seater with foggles and a safety pilot, or
maybe fly 3 hours of glider actual IFR solo every 6 months,
but in the US I'd guess the IPC would often be simpler and more
effective at meeting the reg's intention.

As far as equipment goes, there are a lot of misconceptions about
what is "required." Back during the ATC controller
strike (remember Reagan?) nobody used a transponder for anything,
just time slots and phone calls. Even in modern times
in A,B,C,D,E airspace, I personally have flown no-transponder
both VFR and IFR, with a waiver one hour before hand.

And in "G" airspace, there is no radio requirement
for IFR even, as far as I've ever seen. In
area with no altimeter setting information (the
mountains in Reno, California, for example, right Al?
the G airspace can go quite high.

I've also gotten a "cube" of area and altitude to fool around in the
clouds, in airplanes, before. Always out of the way
of other IFR traffic, and coordinated ahead of the flight,
and done to practice 180 turns from clouds in actual IFR with
students. No danger either, since the
clouds were only 2000-6000, and out away from
airways and approaches. ATC didn't care as long as there was no
possibility of traffic conflict, and we uttered those
magic words "we will maintain our own terrain
separation."

And as far as AI and DG, etc. go, my FAA examiner pointed out
that the instruments are for powered aircraft.
The POH is the limiting document for gliders
for flight instruments required for IFR as far as
I can tell (except that durned DME way up there in the FLs).
I must say, however, I've done the "needle, ball, and
airspeed" in gliders and planes in actual and
simulated, and it's some sketchy s**t if you
don't have recent practice.

But all of this is armchair wisdom (?) from me.
Carl Herold could write a book on this. We've
seen this subject enough on RAS maybe we oughta
all call him and ask him if he'd write something
up for Soaring mag... Horse's mouth is best, dontcha know...

In article ,
Bob Greenblatt wrote:
On 6/29/04 2:37 PM, in article
, "cp"
wrote:

Question:

Can I, a commercial & instrument rated power and glider pilot legally
fly IFR in a motorglider (which is IFR certified) if I do not have a
current medical?

Thanks!

Chuck
Good one! I would guess that the answer is yes provided the glider is
current re VOR, transponder and altimeter checks, and you have met the
instrument experience and competency requirements of 61.57.

Bob
CFI, CFII, CFIG

--
Bob
bobgreenblattATmsnDOTcom --fix this before responding




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Mark Boyd
Avenal, California, USA