It's a lot harder to have fun without any insurance.
The insurers give significantly better rates for commercial
ratings vs. solo or private. And they won't insure pilots
(even those with ASEL commercial, or even ATP) who just
have glider solo for some aircraft.
I do almost all of my work for the insurance companies.
10 hours of dual for this or that to become insurable.
I also get business from pilots who want to really
SSSTTTRRREETTCCCHHH their capabilities, without
reducing safety. Currency stuff and specialized stuff.
Glider cross-country is an example. Instructors like me
get pilots into stretching their legs on cross-countries.
The badge stuff helps, as does talks on the patio.
But the poster asked about getting a commercial rating, not what to
do with it, or whether he could have fun without it, so I
answered that question.
Absolutely it's about fun, though. And there really isn't much fun
in 20 pattern tows. So I'd hope the original poster would
have a bit of fun scratching lift or even soaring at a
great location.
One guy did his very first flight recently, for 3 hours
with a CFIG. He was definitely more hooked by that than
a sled ride
And he got better training too, no argument there...
In article ,
Bob Korves bkorves@winfirstDECIMALcom wrote:
I guess I have been confused all these years. I thought the goal of flying
was to have fun, not to gather ratings... 8^)
-Bob Korves
"Mark James Boyd" wrote in message
news:4235d0d8$1@darkstar...
Mitty,
Assuming you have NO glider time as of the date of post,
there are two ways to get PIC time that I know of:
Solo
If you are rated or have privileges
Solo is pretty well defined. The second way is
if you already have a lesser glider rating. One of these
is the Private. As other posters pointed out, there is
almost no reason to get a private instead of a commercial
glider rating if you already have a comm'l ASEL.
Another way to log PIC time is to get a Sport Pilot privilege
in gliders. If you do this, you can then log your instructional
flights as PIC, and you can take passengers as PIC.
If you have access to an LSA glider (such as a 2-33 or
SZD 50-3) then this is an option for you. Also, the process of
flying with two CFIGs before the comm'l glider ride is
quite helpful.
We've done this for a pilot locally who has a Private ASEL
rating. He has enough power hours to get a commercial,
and had just barely soloed. So we did his Sport Pilot glider
privilege add-on and now he can log his further
instructional flights towards the commercial glider rating
which he is pursuing.
In the end, it likely won't matter, and he will have 20 soloes
anyway. The difference is that he will be ready for the ride,
have the experiance complete, and have the form signed earlier,
and during the 2-6 week wait for the checkride he will fly
the other solo flights at his leisure for practice.
Most DPEs won't even schedule a checkride until everything is
signed and ready. So having this a little earlier doesn't
hurt anything.
*****screwy obscure stuff follows************
And there is one other obscure way to log PIC time. You can get
an ATP rating for an experimental glider. If you already have
an ATP, and log 5 hours as PIC between Sept 1, 2004 and Sept 1, 2005
you can have an instructor sign an application and POOF!
you can get an ATP glider rating for a particular make/model
(like an experimental L-13 Blanik). So do all of your training
in an experimental, do a single 5 hour solo/PIC flight, and then
have your CFIG send in the form. You'll be the first glider
ATP in the USA! Log the rest of your flights as PIC (as an ATP)
and these 19 flights will qualify for your commercial glider
aeronautical experience.
***********useless history of PIC follows***********
Before Sept 1, 2004, there were a lot of other ways to log
PIC.
You could log it if you flew an experimental glider with
passengers. Just get a launch endorsement and POOF! go
fly your experimental glider with passengers using your
ASEL ticket under 61.31(k)(2)(iii). That changed under the
new 2005 CFR, which really had a Sept 1, 2004 effective date.
You could log PIC if you were acting as PIC and sole
manipulator of the controls during dual instruction.
Again this was changed in the 2005 version.
These PIC definition changes are being overlooked by
inattentive CFIs, and caught by DPEs. This has happened twice
locally with an ASEL DPE, and the applicant was sent home.
All you CFIs out there, take a look at the changes that
got wormed into the 2005 CFR along with the Sport Pilot rule.
PIC, Recreational pilot, and ATP rules have been changed
along with the addition of SP.
In article ,
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
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Mark J. Boyd