Adding an airplane rating to private pilot glider

gmcd05 wrote:
Does anyone know what the requirements are to add a private pilot
airplane rating if you already have a private pilot glider? I know
the training requirements would be reduced for an airplane pilot
transitioning to glider but I dont know how it works going the other
way.... Does anyone have info on this?

I'm a bit confused by the answers to the question. There is a substantial
reduction in the minimum as per part 61.109:

It states you must have 40 hours of flight time, including at least 20
hours of instruction and 10 hours solo.

Of the 20 hours of instruction, 9 hours of it must be in a single engine
airplane (assuming you are going for a single engine certificate). The
other 11, could be in a glider. All 10 hours of solo time must be in a
single engine airplane. So, technically, if you had an instructor who
was willing to play ball, you could do it with just 19 hours.

For commercial ratings (61.129):

You must have at least 250 logged hours. Of that:

1) 100 hours must be in powered aircraft (50 of which must be in airplanes)
2) 100 hours must be as PIC
a) 50 of which must be in airplanes
b) 50 of which must be crosscountry (of which 10 must be in airplanes)
3) 20 hours of training which includes:
a) at least 10 hours of instrument training (at least 5 of which must be
in single engine airplanes)
b) at least 10 hours of training with retractable gear, flaps, constant
speed prop, etc (all of which must be in airplanes)
c) one 2 hour VFR day time cross-county in single engine airplane
d) one 2 hour VFR night time cross-country in single engine airplane
e) 3 hour in single engine airplane to prep for exam
4) 10 hours of soloflight in single engine airplane including cross country

So assuming your aeronautical experience is only in gliders (and you have
plenty of it), you will need 100 hours in airplanes as per #1

Requirement 2 says you need 50 hours PIC in airplanes including at least
10 of cross country (this replicates requirement #4). So if half your
flight time is training and half is PIC, then you have requirements 2
and 4 incorporated in #1. #3 requires 20 hours of training, which can
be fit into the 50 hours I allocated based on #2.

So assuming you have adequate glider cross country experience, the
rules say the minimum for you would be 100 hours to commercial, as
opposed to power only which would be 250.

Picking up additional ratings at that point requires very little (in
theory multiengine commercial would be an additional 14 hours of
instruction and 10 hours of solo or simulated PIC)..

That said, I'm not a power pilot, or an instructor, but I think all pilots
know that FAA minimums are just that, minimums. Just because you can
get a private pilot certificate with 19 hours, and a commercial with
an additional 81 doesn't mean you should, or you will. But you asked
if the requirements are reduced, and they are. My guess is, you are best
off finding an instructor who is a glider pilot, they may be more
sympathetic to using glider experience and more understanding of
why you do the things you do when you respond as if the plane is a glider.

Good luck,
dan