Student Pilot Distance from Gliderport Restrictions

My club is in Canada, so FAA rules don't quite apply (I know, the CARs
aren't that much different) We have a large field with many
runways, surrounded by farm land; the nearest town is 10 km away.

We restrict solo students to being within gliding range and they must
remain upwind of the field until they enter the landing circuit.
These restrictions remain in effect until they move beyond the 2-33
and 1-26 and take the Bronze Badge course. We don't allow cross-
country flights until the Bronze is completed, along with the Silver
duration flight, at which point we generally send our budding xc
pilots to a nice municipal airport 62 km away (with airport hopping
along the way).

XC in club ships requires that the pilot be licenced and checked out
for xc flights on type -- rig/de-rig, trailering, etc. We don't like
having our twin Grobs out on xc because they're such a pain to
retrieve from a field, plus we constantly use them for intro rides and
intermediate training. It will be interesting to see what happens
with our "new" DG500 that's intended for advanced training and xc
training.

Drat! I wanna go flying!!

On Feb 4, 6:35*pm, jsbrake wrote:
My club is in Canada, so FAA rules don't quite apply (I know, the CARs
aren't that much different) *We have a large field with many
runways, surrounded by farm land; the nearest town is 10 km away.

We restrict solo students to being within gliding range and they must
remain upwind of the field until they enter the landing circuit.
These restrictions remain in effect until they move beyond the 2-33
and 1-26 and take the Bronze Badge course. *

While we're "Canadian Air Reg'ing", in Canada: “solo flight time”
means, with respect to the flight time necessary to acquire a permit,
licence or rating, "the flight time during which the holder is the
sole occupant of an aircraft while under the direction and supervision
of the holder of an instructor rating". The usual interpretation is
that in order to direct and supervise, the glider must remain within
visual range of the airport. A solo student who has an incident/
accident outside that range may (should?) bring pointed questions to
the instructor... Once licenced, Bronze and Silver legs provide
challenges to expand their flight envelope - if they get into problems
away from the field, they have the skills/judgement to overcome the
challenge, which a solo student may not.
As for judgement - "Good judgement comes from experience. Experience
comes from bad judgement."

*The usual interpretation is
that in order to direct and supervise, the glider must remain within
visual range of the airport.

Personally, I don't interpret it to mean that at all. The student
must be authorized by an instructor before the flight to undertake
certain teaching points while solo. One such teaching point could be
navigation and the student could be authorized to do their 50 km
flight if the instructor deems the student capable. In fact, in the
power private license standard, a solo cross-country flight is
required. This flight takes the solo student to two different
airports and covers somewhere around 250 miles.

Back to the original question:

At my club, students do not typically fly solo cross-country and like
all other club pilots, who are not checked out for cross-country, they
must remain within glide distance to return to the traffic pattern at
the appropriate height and location. Any abbreviated circuit as a
result of too low an arrival becomes a de-briefing and teaching
point. We do not have any specific landmarks or area they are
required to stay within, but on certain days (windy, poor visibility)
and with some students the instructor who is supervising the flight
may provide specific instructions as to where the student is expected
to be. In al other cases, the students are expected to use their own
judgement.

A student who lands out is not sanctioned, it is again a teaching
point. The decision to land was likely the best decision they made in
the flight. The question becomes what decisions put them in the
position where they had to make the final land out decision. That is
what need correcting.

Cross-country in club ships requires the pilot to be signed out in
each specific type they want to fly cross-country. The checkout
involves, first having completed the requirements of the bronze
badge. Subsequent requirements include three consecutive spot/
precision/short landings on type. Full briefing on controlled
airspace and radio procedures (followed by written test - new this
year). Other requirements include:
• Minimum of five flights on type.
• Demonstrate ability to rig and derig glider.
• Ability to organize a retrieve crew.

As part of the Bronze badge training, all students are required to
navigate to a neighbouring airport about 10 miles away, plan a circuit
and land there. This also requires an understanding of glide
calculations to determine what departure height is required to arrive
at the other airport around 1500 AGL. The flight back, also focuses
on navigation and glide calculations to arrive home at an appropriate
altitude.