I’m alright Jack, too. Not exactly to the collective benefit of glider pilots though, is it?
- mark > On Jan 30, 2017, at 5:42 PM, Richard Frawley <rjfraw...@gmail.com> wrote: > > 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 _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list Aus-soaring@lists.base64.com.au http://lists.base64.com.au/listinfo/aus-soaring
