Fox Two wrote:

You're right. FSS/ATC may not have ever received an IFR request from a
glider before. But they will likely be excited to do something
different. Once I'm on the frequency, I quickly become a celebrity.
The controllers are asking me questions purely out of curiosity, and I
get funny one liners like:

ATC: American 325 climb and maintain 17,000, expect further climb in 20
miles, you have traffic at 11 o'clock 15 miles at FL190, a glider.

AMR325: What the h*&% is a glider doing up there?!

Me: Descending!

Chris, this is the exact reason I'm still looking for the technical
answers. You just made about every working pilot reading your celebrity
dialouge, pass out. "11o'clock 15 miles", your descending out of who
knows what exact altitude, and the big boy is climbing toward you, this
would wake everyone up. I would venture that the captain on that AA
flights' first thought would be, "we're turning now", then he would ask
the center about the accuracy of the gliders' altimeter.

You're scaring me, snoop! Gliders aren't operating anywhere near the
MEA! Use some judgment here.

Chris, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt here and assume you mean
that your not doing this near an airway. MEA is an altitude, and
although you may be flying in the Flight Levels, MEA's do run from
down in the thousands to the flight levels.


Snoop, TERPS apply to terrain & obstruction clearance during departure
and arrival. We're not doing that. We are thousands of feet off the
ground with cloudbase being thousands of feet above the ground. We're
not flying low IFR; we're flying into an isolated cloud, or flying
along the edge of a lenticular.

Chris, I will concur that we're not flying low IFR, and we won't be
doing ILS approaches, although I have a glider accident in mind, where
the pilot did try to penetrate some LIFR weather and lost. He lived,
but there was a lot of serious head scratching on his part. The answers
I'm looking for, the fundamental, basic answers we need are, how do I
explain my right to be at 19,000ft with an airliner bearing down on me,
(your scenario), to the fed that meets me on the ramp after the part
121 captain calls this in. Your a professional pilot, what are your
words to all the basic, specific, fundamental, IFR pilot/equipment
questions that your going to face?


What do you think we're doing? Perhaps you should take a break from
typing, and reread the entire thread. Your questions have been
answered. IFR in gliders in legal, and people do it every day.

Chris, I'm not convinced, and saying people do it everyday, well let's
just say I think all USA clubs need to get the donuts out and talk this
one up. I know there are people in clubs who can get this discussion
going.

Here's my recommendation to you, snoop. You already know that you
learned more on your first night flying freight out of Chicago than you
did in all of your previous training. So, take an IFR-equipped glider
and fly it IFR in VMC conditions. Take your normal tow, release, and
climb several thousand feet. Then call up ATC, pick up an IFR
clearance to maneuver in the vicinity. Explore the cloudbase, but
don't go into the cloud (for safety). Then cancel IFR, and go home.
Viola! IFR in gliders. Small steps.


Chris I would love to turn on a t&b and climb into the cloud, but I
want to know that my bases are covered! I want the blessing of the
people who would otherwise fry me, and you! It would be fun just to be
the celebrity kind of pilot, and forge ahead, but I've found in my
world it's been more enjoyable, to find out the facts, do it right, and
let the feds go after the uninformed.

Later, I'm off to the soaring club!