From: Mike Borgelt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >On the contrary, a few people with recognised PPL's doing ONE launch a day >each shouldn't have too much trouble operating just about anywhere.
On the contrary, non-self-launching glider operations are a problem at all airfields regardless of the qualifications of the pilots. Let's test your claim. Bring your glider down to Bankstown or Hoxton Park next weekend - or even just go down the road to Archerfield. You've got the PPL, take a launch next Saturday with your mate the tug owner with the PPL. They may well let you do it once but I wouldn't try it again the next Saturday. >I can well understand power operations having a problem with people >who >don't even have licenses or passed the written exams that PPL's do being >worried about a gliding operation. On the contrary, we (power pilots) don't have problems operating with people who are appropriately qualified and authorised by CASA and its delegates. We know that competence and attitude is what's important, not bits of paper. The problem is that some types of traffic just don't fit very well no matter how qualified the pilots. > >Richmond is very controlled and the RAAF, of course, won't deal >with >individuals. No comment? Guess I was right about the RAAF. > >The alternative at Mangrove Mountain is entirely a > >co-operative effort with countless 'personhours' of picking stones, > > >rolling, weeding and planting before the first glider left the >ground. >As a field where the Council has banned power >operations, it still needs >the work of about 6 people to get 1 >glider airborne. > >I guess masochism has its own rewards. No. Effort has its rewards. Is it misanthropy that stops you from understanding the pleasure of being part of a team effort working successfully towards a goal? You're missing a lot. >...Well for me the local airport is 10 minutes across town. There's a >perfectly good airport 45 minutes drive from Adelaide and a few >alternatives, Caboolture is about the same from Brisbane, Boonah not much >further, Bacchus Marsh isn't that far from Melbourne and there are other >alternative locations. Gawler is more than 45 minutes for a fair part of Adelaide and the same is true of Lochiel, Monarto, Murray Bridge and Whitwarta - and Adelaide is the city most favourable to your case. The gliding fields are over an hour for most of the Brisbane / Gold Coast / Sunshine Coast population. Bacchus Marsh is OK if you live in Keilor but how about Sandringham or Dandenong? What was the alternative you had in mind? Moorabin? >There used to be a gliding operation near Perth... Yes. When I was 10. It was at Caversham. >...and there's no reason why a few private pilots should not do that again. Yes there is. Caversham is now 2 miles abeam the Perth 21 ILS Outer Marker and is surrounded for nearly 30 miles by controlled airspace to ground level owned and jealously guarded by Perth, Pearce or Jandakot. David Lawley's contribution tells the real story in Perth. >I think that's more than the 20% you allude to. I don't. In any case, even if it's 25% it's enough to make my point. >Don't forget also there's more to Aus than Sydney and Melbourne ...and Brisbane and Perth. But it makes my case rather well if you're saying that we can ignore such a large potential market. >and if you really want to fly gliders you should consider relocating. I rest my case. If the first thing we say to most potential glider pilots is "You'll have to shift where you live", we may as well give the game away. >Queensland is pretty good. Queensland is stunning. But it's still hard to find a convenient gliding field. >If I was in charge of a local airport I wouldn't permit the average gliding >club to operate either. Yes, but you have an obsessive dislike of gliding clubs so that hardly counts as a rational argument. >A private owner operation with people holding real licenses using aerotow >or self launch where a few people went cross country and were prepared to >fit in by actually getting off active runways promptly would be a different >thing. No it wouldn't. It'd be just like Camden except the clubs there have arranged to get their own grass strips so it's even better. Camden is the only glider field I know (except the RAAF bases) which lives inside a control zone and happily coexists with a busy power operation weekends and weekdays. The clubs have been able to reach formal arrangements with SAC and ASA because they can guarantee a level of flying discipline in a way which a bunch of private individuals simply couldn't. Of course, the individuals could organise to have a couple of spokesmen negotiate with the operators and ATC and agree to be bound by agreements reached - but that would be the beginning of a gliding club by another name. >Don't forget that most gliders are coming out of the factory with some kind >of motor fitted. Yes. In 2001. But most gliders in Oz were built before 1981 and they don't have engines. and the motorized ones built in 2001 cost from $A160K to $A400K+. >Ab initio training could be handled by doing 30 or 40 hours in a Jabiru, >Skyfox or such... Under the auspices of that GFA lookalike, the AUF. And half the current members of most clubs would never get to fly a glider if that was a requirement. You may not care about that but I do. >...followed by an aerotow glider conversion at one of the above >locations. Fly with an instructor who is/was a glider pilot and he could >tailor your training towards gliding. The AUF is full of people who used to >fly gliders. No it isn't. There are very few ex-glider pilots among the AUF. And my evidence for that is a solid as yours. >You'd get a UL or GA license while you were at it, basically for free. Free?? In your dreams. >Those already with GA or UL licenses need only do the conversion. >It seems to take a couple of days in the US. No. It takes considerably longer even for experienced power pilots. They may get credit for hours but they still have to pass the glider check ride and quiz. >Only problem is no free flying for gliding "instructors", no vast GFA >structure, fewer rules, more freedom, no make work administrative jobs so >that the GFA hierarchy can put each other up for OA's. Bah! Humbug! - You're a miserable coot sometimes aren't you, Mike? Still, as Tiny Tim might have said, Merry Christmas to you and a less crochety New Year. Graeme Cant _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp. -- * You are subscribed to the aus-soaring mailing list. * To Unsubscribe: send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] * with "unsubscribe aus-soaring" in the body of the message * or with "help" in the body of the message for more information.
