Mark,

I have had a conversation with just such a transition
pilot who did all his transition flying in the summer.
When the Fall winds came he drifted off downwind and
was shocked at the difficulty in getting back. You
can say poor training; I wouldn't disagree, but I would
also say lack of experience. I don't think a person
is well served by giving him a commercial rating when
he hasn't flown a full season's weather. Both he and
the public will expect too much of him. In case of
any sort of mishap, the FAA will be much harder on
him with the commercial than with the private ticket.


At 18:30 14 March 2005, Mark James Boyd wrote:
Nyal,

He already has a commercial ASEL rating. So he doesn't
need
to take another commercial written test anyway. Getting
the extra
10 PIC flights is cheap, and the PTS is almost identical.

There's just no compelling reason to get a Private
instead of
a Commercial glider rating if someone has the aeronautical
experience to do it, in my opinion. No downside (for
gliders
anyway).

In article ,
Nyal Williams wrote:
I don't want to be a killjoy, but I do have a question:
Why, if you have never been in a glider and plan never
to rent one, do you want to start off by planning to
add a commercial rating right off the bat?

I encourage you to get the private pilot glider rating
and get some before adding the glider commercial.
Don't go for bragging rights with absolutely no depth;
you won't impress anyone except those not worthy of
the effort.


At 16:00 13 March 2005, Mitty wrote:
I'm looking at adding a commercial glider rating this
summer. Never been in a
glider, but my hunch is that it will be a good learning
experience even though
I'll never fly one for hire.

So ... trying to divine the meaning of Part 61.129(f)2

'20 flights in a glider as PIC' and '5 solo flights'

But ... I can't log PIC time while getting dual instruction
since I'm not rated
in the airplane. So, I'm really looking at 20 solo
flights. Right?

(The only way I could see someone having 20 flights
as PIC and but only 5 solo
flights would be if the person had a fairly new Private
glider rating and then
took dual for the Commercial. Right?)

TIA






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Mark J. Boyd