Is glider or sea plane add-on worth the risk (failed checkride)

desertdog71 said:
If you bust rides and never finish then I'd worry about it. If you learn from mistakes and finish what you start, I'd have no problem going to employer and telling them that.
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The problem is that some carriers have hard limits. ASA used to be no interviews for people with >2 check ride failures. Period. It didn't matter if they took 5 rides or 15.

Any of us can fail a check ride at any time. Bad days happen. I'm not saying this to scare you away from an additional rating, and I don't know what the current policy is. It is a valid concern if you're looking to get hired in the 121 world, that's all.
 
jspeed87 said:
Slightly off topic, but which would look better on a resume Commercial Glider or Seaplane?
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I've done both. Seaplane flying is fun. Glider flying is fun and it makes you a better airplane pilot. If I was interviewing other things being equal I'd prefer a candidate with glider flying experience (yes at least some experience, a ticket with 0 hours after checkride is worthless if you ask me). But that's just me, and perhaps that's why I'm not interviewing.

Practically speaking you can exercise your glider pilot privileges after you get the rating. Seaplanes is a different story, forget about it unless you're extremely lucky or wealthy enough to own one.
 
PhilosopherPilot said:
Any of us can fail a check ride at any time. Bad days happen. I'm not saying this to scare you away from an additional rating, and I don't know what the current policy is. It is a valid concern if you're looking to get hired in the 121 world, that's all.
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That's what I'm talking about. I'm looking to start applying within the next few weeks and I would hate not to get a job with the airlines just because I had a bad day during my CPL glider checkride.
 
mxaexm said:
That's what I'm talking about. I'm looking to start applying within the next few weeks and I would hate not to get a job with the airlines just because I had a bad day during my CPL glider checkride.
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Then skip the checkride. Once you are signed off for solo you can fly anywhere you want and of course your solo time is PIC. Remember you're not a student pilot anymore, you're certificated pilot adding a new category or class. I think the only restriction you'll have is on carrying pax.
 
mxaexm said:
That's what I'm talking about. I'm looking to start applying within the next few weeks and I would hate not to get a job with the airlines just because I had a bad day during my CPL glider checkride.
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Then go find a LSA seaplane, fly with a CFI have him endorse you for a proficiency check, take the proficiency check with another CFI, send in the 8710-11, and then you'll be endorsed for a LSA seaplane without taking a checkride.
 
KSCessnaDriver said:
Then go find a LSA seaplane, fly with a CFI have him endorse you for a proficiency check, take the proficiency check with another CFI, send in the 8710-11, and then you'll be endorsed for a LSA seaplane without taking a checkride.
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...and you'll have an icebreaker for your airline interview.
 
hammerhat said:
Then skip the checkride. Once you are signed off for solo you can fly anywhere you want and of course your solo time is PIC. Remember you're not a student pilot anymore, you're certificated pilot adding a new category or class. I think the only restriction you'll have is on carrying pax.
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We kind of frown upon the "professional students" that solo gliders for years without ever getting the rating....
 
KSCessnaDriver said:
Couple places in Florida have Twin Bee's and there's a Widegon at Spruce Creek, IIRC. And Shebles has a Beech 18 on floats.

At one point (may still be) there was an Apache on floats up in Maine.
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Not sure if Skip is still around in Flagler... I got mine through him in the UC-1. I can't even begin to tell you how great of a guy he is. I was pretty poor, working my way through hours and crappy flying jobs. I spent a few weekends turning wrenches and washing the airplane, so he gave a me a few free hours... (going rate was 300/hr? about 6 or so years ago) all in all in was a very reasonable add on. :) The check ride was with John Brown in central FL (another great guy).... later did the SES with him as well.
 
ryan1234 said:
Not sure if Skip is still around in Flagler... I got mine through him in the UC-1. I can't even begin to tell you how great of a guy he is. I was pretty poor, working my way through hours and crappy flying jobs. I spent a few weekends turning wrenches and washing the airplane, so he gave a me a few free hours... (going rate was 300/hr? about 6 or so years ago) all in all in was a very reasonable add on. :) The check ride was with John Brown in central FL (another great guy).... later did the SES with him as well.
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I rented from the guys who were sharing a hangar with him. His UC-1 is quite the interesting airplane. Would love to do it sometime, just can't justify it right now.
 
PhilosopherPilot said:
The problem is that some carriers have hard limits. ASA used to be no interviews for people with >2 check ride failures. Period. It didn't matter if they took 5 rides or 15.

Any of us can fail a check ride at any time. Bad days happen. I'm not saying this to scare you away from an additional rating, and I don't know what the current policy is. It is a valid concern if you're looking to get hired in the 121 world, that's all.
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If a carrier has an arbitrary hard limit and you end up not being able to meet it, go apply somewhere else. Don't ever be afraid of going after something you want flying because of the risk of a failed checkride at an interview down the road. It's like "professional" pilots have forgotten the entire reason we do this in the first place - because it's fun and because we love to fly.

BTW, if that's not your answer, please go do something else. We already have enough fun police in the industry without our fellow pilots adding to the list.
 
ryan1234 said:
Not sure if Skip is still around in Flagler... I got mine through him in the UC-1. I can't even begin to tell you how great of a guy he is. I was pretty poor, working my way through hours and crappy flying jobs. I spent a few weekends turning wrenches and washing the airplane, so he gave a me a few free hours... (going rate was 300/hr? about 6 or so years ago) all in all in was a very reasonable add on. :) The check ride was with John Brown in central FL (another great guy).... later did the SES with him as well.
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He is still around, did my ATP MES & MEL with his UC-1 back in February. Chuck Brown out of Brown's seaplane base as the examiner. Cool guy, odd airplane and a fun rating to earn.
 
hammerhat said:
Practically speaking you can exercise your glider pilot privileges after you get the rating. Seaplanes is a different story, forget about it unless you're extremely lucky or wealthy enough to own one.
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I've heard that unless you are a member of a club or under the supervision of an instructor, you need to acquire insurance with a big deductible to rent a glider. Is this normal?
 
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