"Ron Natalie" wrote:

It doesn't. But it [ FAR 91.113] explicitly gives landing aircraft preference. You
need to read the FAR as a complete statement rather than taking
one without the context of the larger rule it is in.

I do read 91.113 completely and in context. It gives the
glider ROW for converging, it gives the aircraft on final
preference over others and it gives the lower aircraft ROW
when approaching for landing.

Since there is no aircraft on final, I'm a glider and I'm
lower and I'm approaching for landing, it appears I would
have ROW in all the circumstances discussed.

"He" here refers to the aircraft you are causing an hazard to, not you.

Why am i causing a hazard? I'm ensuring that I "see and
avoid" and I'm announcing my actions.

And no you are not landing by your own admission, you're noodling
around the airport environment trying to decide whether you can safely
land or not.

Not "whether I can," but rather "whether I have to."

Until you make up your freaking mind,

It's not up to me, it's up to the atmosphere.

stay out of the
way of other landing traffic which HAS THE RIGHT OF WAY.

1) I *am* out of the way - as far as safety permits. As I
read 91.113, only someone on final would have ROW over me,
and there is no one on final.

"Noodling around for lift" is a bit harsh. I'm a pilot in
distress who is there because it's the only safe place for
me as I'm forced to lower altitudes.

If you're in distress, get your ass on the ground.

And where does it say that I must get my "ass on the ground"
when I'm in distress? My "distress" is that I'm being
forced to the ground and my solution is to climb away and
gain altitude to relieve that distress. All I need is
temporary use of a small portion of the airspace, which as I
read the FAR's, I'm entitled to use with priority, even if
I'm not in legal "distress."

You never said you
were in distress before. You're going to tell me that you are in
distress at the end of everyone of your XC flight ?

Nearly all my XC flights end at home with the intentional
dissipation of altitude to permit a landing, so, no, I'm not
in distress then. Unlike an airplane, I can't take off
again. Once I'm down, I'm not going home without someone
else's help. You can bet your booty that I *do* consider
myself to be in distress when I'm being forced down low over
a farmer's field or into an unknown airport far from home.

Me seems to
think that you are either abusing the concept, or need to revisit your
idea of safety.

Where do you see abuse? I've never interfered with any
other landing aircraft. I've never made a thermalling turn
in a pattern occupied by another aircraft. The most I've
ever done is thermalled out of an empty pattern, or caught a
thermal before entering a pattern with traffic and
thermalled away, drifting downwind away from the pattern
traffic.

You've converted my question about the FAA/FAR's and right
hand patterns into a right of way question, then when I
point out that I've probably got legal ROW (for several
reasons,) you refer to it as "abuse," implying that I'm
going to use that ROW to barge into a traffic pattern full
of aircraft and start thermalling. I wouldn't do it, even
if I had right of way, because it wouldn't be safe.
However, I do thank the kind pilots who have in the past
given me the time and room I needed to escape by staying
well clear, and who gave me the option to dump in to the
runway for those few minutes when my escape was in doubt.

I take it you were not one of those pilots.