There is no conspiracy here but I admit it is a bit Pythonish! To fly gliders in Australia one only needs to comply with CAO 95.4. For GFA members, there is no requirement to hold a licence in order to fly gliders. You don't even need a GPC to fly gliders unless you want to exercise the privileges allowed to GPC holders.
For non GFA-member pilots, all they need to do is apply to CASA as per CAO 95.4, paragraph 5.1(a)(ii). The CASA Glider pilot licence introduced by Part 61 is solely designed to facilitate the recognition of Australian glider pilots wishing to have their GFA GPC qualification recognised overseas. The GFA GPC is the only certificate issued by GFA that is recognised by CASA as compliant with ICAO Annex 1 and is the minimum requirement to get a CASA GPL. Currently most National Aviation Administration Authorities (NAAAs) only recognise licences issued by the NAAA of ICAO member states. The new CASA GPL is expected to make it easier for Australian pilots to obtain overseas qualifications and overcome past difficulties experienced by many of our pilots. Regards Christopher Thorpe Executive Manager, Operations | Gliding Federation of Australia (ABN 82 433 264 489) | Level 1, 34 Somerton Road | Somerton | Victoria 3062 M: +61 4 1447 6151 | E: e...@glidingaustralia.org | w: www.glidingaustralia.org This email transmission may contain confidential or privileged information that is intended only for the individual or entity named in the email address. If you are not the intended recipient, please be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution or reliance upon the contents of this email is strictly prohibited. -----Original Message----- From: aus-soaring-boun...@lists.internode.on.net [mailto:aus-soaring-boun...@lists.internode.on.net] On Behalf Of Simon Hackett Sent: Monday, 1 September 2014 3:09 PM To: Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia. Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Competition licenses - the emperor has no clothes Just want to call out one other thing from the thread that I have just had confirmed separately. The Australian CASA Glider Pilot License doesn't allow a pilot to fly a Glider in Australia. SRSLY? Its 2014. Why can't we live in a place where the GFA issues (or authorises) Glider Pilot Licenses for Australian glider pilots to fly Australian Gliders with (including ... in Australia)? I'm not bothered about an underlying requirement to be a GFA member in good standing (or to be separately authorised by CASA) if that floats the GFA's boat. Rather, I'm talking about the crazy notion that the outcome of doing everything right in the GFA system isn't an outcome where one can be a pilot licensed to fly a glider with a license to fly a glider called a Glider Pilot License - and where such a thing now exists but it doesn't actually work in the country of issue. I actually *have* a US glider license of precisely that form (a US pilots license with 'Glider' as an endorsement on it). I don't see that cramping the style of glider pilots in the USA. Quite the opposite, actually. I'm not really interested in how we got precisely here. I'm interested in what possible reason the GFA would have, today, to *not* to support the notion of a Glider Pilot License as something routinely issued to Australians to let them fly gliders in Australia - and for that to be the thing that people get issued with routinely (when, for instance, they achieve Silver C standard). Is there actually a valid reason for this state of affairs (as opposed to 'thats just not how we roll, son...') why this isn't the case - or why it shouldn't become the case? In other words, if I have a CASA issued Glider Pilot License, what, precisely, makes it unable to be sufficient to be permitted to fly a glider here (assuming one has a valid and current flight review)? I apologise for not having (yet) dug up the shiny new 1st September-onward regulations that govern the Glider Pilot License (and as already noted, CASA haven't yet actually published the application form on their web site either). But do those legally engaged regulations actually say that you can't use a Glider Pilot License to... fly a glider with? Coming at this cold, honestly, this reads like a Monty Python script :) Regards, Simon _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list Aus-soaring@lists.internode.on.net To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list Aus-soaring@lists.internode.on.net To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
