lucky i have a PPL... i guess i have options
> On 30 Jan 2017, at 3:26 PM, Mark Newton <new...@atdot.dotat.org> wrote: > >> On Jan 30, 2017, at 2:40 PM, Richard Frawley <rjfraw...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> why register it [an electric self-launcher] as a glider? > > Because the GFA system only authorizes pilots trained by GFA to fly > GFA-registered gliders that have been maintained under the GFA airworthiness > system. > > So if you register it as a light aircraft, you can’t fly it until you make it > airworthy to GA standards, and acquire (at least) an RPL. > > The GFA syllabus is not aligned with the RPL syllabus, so that means you have > to pay a CASA school to be trained all over again to legally fly the aircraft > that you would be able to fly if you were under the control of a GFA CFI as a > member of a GFA club (typical cost for a GA RPL syllabus is about $7000, plus > whatever you need to pay to get a cross-country endorsement). > > If you already have a pilot license and you’ve never encountered GFA before, > you might be able to buy an electric self-launcher, register it GA, and fly > it under an RPL. > > But only if it’s brand new. If it has previously been maintained under the > GFA form-2 system, it won’t be airworthy to GA standards, and probably > couldn’t be flown at all by anyone regardless of their license status. You’d > have to pay a LAME a considerable amount of money to bring it under the GA > maintenance umbrella and issue it with a GA maintenance release. > > And once you’ve done that, GFA pilots without CASA licenses wouldn’t be able > to fly it anymore, so you’d have extreme difficulty ever selling it again > afterwards. > >> Is there a choice? > > In practical terms: No. > > >> its has over 200Klm battery range and it takes off from the ground, sounds >> like a light aircraft to me > > Then only a tiny minority of GFA members (who have RPL or PPL CASA licenses) > can fly it. > > That doesn’t sound like a particularly sustainable outcome for gliding, does > it? > > It’s certainly not the kind of thing that half a dozen qualified glider > pilots who aren’t club members are going to form a syndicate around. > > - mark > > > _______________________________________________ > Aus-soaring mailing list > Aus-soaring@lists.base64.com.au > http://lists.base64.com.au/listinfo/aus-soaring _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list Aus-soaring@lists.base64.com.au http://lists.base64.com.au/listinfo/aus-soaring
