Gliding/Soaring

K

KSCessnaDriver

Well-Known Member
Alright, so I'm looking to do something fun for flight training. Realistically, what all is involved with getting a glider rating. I've heard lots of stories from people, who say its a lot of fun to do, so what say you?

Is this something that you can knock out in a weekend or two, or is it going to be a long term affair? Go for the private rating, or just knock out a commercial while I'm at it? What's the best route to go, joining a club, or try to go to one of the more commercialized training schools? There really aren't many schools with gliders around the Daytona Beach area, so I'm just trying to get a real basic idea on what the best route is.
 
I got a sport pilot add-on in 4 days. A commercial rating would've taken me about a dozen more solo flights, but for me the sport rating was perfect. The SGS-233 fits the LSA requirements perfectly. I did mine during a trip to Oahu, but haven't had any experience with a club.

I spent day one doing ground work and 1 flight, then several flights on the second day along with a little more ground. Day 3 was pattern work followed by solo flights. Day 4 checkride. It took me about 3 hrs of flight instruction and 17 flights to solo. (A commercial cert requires 20 solo flights. A SPL requires at least 3 solo flight for a total of 1 hr.) I made 5-6 flights to get my hour, then took the checkride with a CFI who didn't train me. Simple. For me, the sport rating was a perfect fit. I'm happy with SPL privileges and haven't had a need to upgrade to CPL since I got my ticket 5 yrs ago, but I have all the experience I need now to upgrade if I ever change my mind.
 
Nihon_Ni said:
I got a sport pilot add-on in 4 days. A commercial rating would've taken me about a dozen more solo flights, but for me the sport rating was perfect.
Click to expand...

Depends how much you see yourself soaring. If you are going to be doing it 2 or 3 times a month, the club route works well and you might as well just get the commercial. If you just want the rating, and don't anticipate doing it more than a few times a year, do the LSA or Private.

The advantage of getting the commercial glider is that there are always people looking for intro rides, so if you hang out at the glider port, you'll end up flying for free quite a bit. And it is something the guests REALLY enjoy (much more so than a ride in a Cessna).

A commercial operation will knock out the rating much faster than a club, though it will cost a bit more. Compared to powered aircraft, it is still pretty cheap. Seminole Lakes in Cleremont is one I would recommend.
 
I'm currently working on my PGL at HDH in Hawaii at a commercial operation. They quote just over $4k for the initial PGL or $2k for the glider add-on to a PPL give or take a few hundred depending on skill/knowledge. Depending on how often you can fly, the commercial operation here can get you rated in less than a week. If you're not in a rush, I would recommend checking out a club as it will probably save you a bit of cash. Either way you go, you'll find that soaring is a blast and a unique perspective compared to fartin around in a 150.
 
Thanks for the info guys. At this point I'm just kind of exploring the whole soaring deal. There doesn't seem to be very much of it here around Daytona, which seems odd to me, considering people are looking to fly nearly all the time. Have to find some time to at least check it out, I suppose.
 
It is seriously a lot of fun. I plan on doing a Comm. add on this year at some point. I'd like to get into the x/c gliding. The idea of flying a few hundred miles without a drop of gas is quite cool.

It's wonderful to be out and about without having a particular goal to. It is just fun. That's it!
 
double_d said:
I'm currently working on my PGL at HDH in Hawaii at a commercial operation. They quote just over $4k for the initial PGL or $2k for the glider add-on to a PPL give or take a few hundred depending on skill/knowledge. Depending on how often you can fly, the commercial operation here can get you rated in less than a week. If you're not in a rush, I would recommend checking out a club as it will probably save you a bit of cash. Either way you go, you'll find that soaring is a blast and a unique perspective compared to fartin around in a 150.
Click to expand...

Which school do you go to? I trained at Soar Hawaii, but I've also flown with Steve in his Fox.
 
drunkenbeagle said:
Depends how much you see yourself soaring. If you are going to be doing it 2 or 3 times a month, the club route works well and you might as well just get the commercial. If you just want the rating, and don't anticipate doing it more than a few times a year, do the LSA or Private.

The advantage of getting the commercial glider is that there are always people looking for intro rides, so if you hang out at the glider port, you'll end up flying for free quite a bit. And it is something the guests REALLY enjoy (much more so than a ride in a Cessna).

A commercial operation will knock out the rating much faster than a club, though it will cost a bit more. Compared to powered aircraft, it is still pretty cheap. Seminole Lakes in Cleremont is one I would recommend.
Click to expand...

For me, the biggest factor was economics. The presolo training was exactly the same for all ratings, what was different was the post-solo experience requirements. SPL requires 3 flights & 1 hr total, PPL is 10 solo flights, CPL is 20 flights (for an add-on rating). In the time I had, to get 20 solo flights, I would've ended up with 14 or 15 flights in the traffic pattern at about $35 each, and very little fun. A SPL checkride for a certified pilot can be done by a CFI who didn't train you, so it was a it cheaper than doing a ride with a DPE. Where I trained, a tow to 1000' was $30 and the glider rented for $35/hr. On most afternoons, you can get a tow to 1000' and fly all afternoon. If you just fly the traffic pattern the resultant rental rate is $335/hr (10 tows + 1 hr rental), but if you fly for two hours on a single tow, the resultant rental rate is $50/hr ($30 tow + $70 / 2 hrs). The longer you can fly on a tow, the cheaper it is.

Since getting my rating, I've made all the solo flights I need if I ever want to upgrade my certificate, but each flight was 2-3 hrs long and very enjoyable instead of 5 minutes of pattern work. If the opportunity to fly commercially ever presents itself, a few hours with a DPE will be all I need to put myself in business. Since I'm not planning on using CPL privileges, the sport rating was perfect.
 
Nihon_Ni said:
Since getting my rating, I've made all the solo flights I need if I ever want to upgrade my certificate, but each flight was 2-3 hrs long and very enjoyable instead of 5 minutes of pattern work. If the opportunity to fly commercially ever presents itself, a few hours with a DPE will be all I need to put myself in business. Since I'm not planning on using CPL privileges, the sport rating was perfect.
Click to expand...

Like I was saying, it depends on how you see yourself using it.

I did do 15 pattern tows to get to the 20 PIC flights I needed, but they were $15 each, with free glider rental. I figured the $225 extra was worth it (it would have cost that for the checkride someday, and it is one less checkride I'll have to do).
 
I'm looking to get my Glider add-on this summer too.

In the meantime, I'm doing lots of reading on the subject.

I would recommend the Complete Glider Rating Kit and Bob Wander's books, available from Sportys.
 
KSCessnaDriver said:
Thanks for the info guys. At this point I'm just kind of exploring the whole soaring deal. There doesn't seem to be very much of it here around Daytona, which seems odd to me, considering people are looking to fly nearly all the time. Have to find some time to at least check it out, I suppose.
Click to expand...

Seminole Lakes, as drunkenbeagle said.

And there's eaglesport at Pierson.
 
Polar742 said:
Seminole Lakes, as drunkenbeagle said.

And there's eaglesport at Pierson.
Click to expand...

Yeah, of the two, I'd rather avoid anything with the word riddle associated with it. If I had more than 1.5 semesters left, I'd consider dropping $400 to join the club. But, I don't know that I can convince myself to drop that kind of coin, and put up with some of the more asinine things that riddle does.
 
KSCessnaDriver said:
Yeah, of the two, I'd rather avoid anything with the word riddle associated with it. If I had more than 1.5 semesters left, I'd consider dropping $400 to join the club. But, I don't know that I can convince myself to drop that kind of coin, and put up with some of the more asinine things that riddle does.
Click to expand...

Also, most soaring clubs will let you do a one week or one month membership. Not that anyone really uses them, it is more common to just show up and split the cost of a tow with a club member.
 
KSCessnaDriver said:
Yeah, of the two, I'd rather avoid anything with the word riddle associated with it. If I had more than 1.5 semesters left, I'd consider dropping $400 to join the club. But, I don't know that I can convince myself to drop that kind of coin, and put up with some of the more asinine things that riddle does.
Click to expand...

I do the eaglesport. The guy I fly with is a retired engineer for GE Engines.

It's really a nice environment to go fly, and I'm having a fun time learning.

To each their own, however, and I'm not involved in any "intramural" politics, so I can see your point.

Especially the way the weather has been down here the last few months, if this keeps up, you probably wouldn't have enough flying days to get it done in 1.5 semesters. :eek:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top