Exadios

Ban on gliders after drug bust.

Finally, someone has found a model that makes commercial glider operation a possibility.

The results are avaliable here.

Article: probe focuses on part that may have come off plane.

First Assembly of Wings to Fuselage.

First Assembly of Wings to Fuselage.

Not in Australia but a crash all the same.

Thomas Munk was flying the tug at Lake Keepit last year.

Cue the dramatic flying music, strap on your goggles and leather helmet, and read this.

I agree with Kaz as well. My guess is that you could get a GFA instructor to train you in your RAA reg glider, but see comment about Form 2 below. My understanding is that the altitude limitation comes from the pilot's license, not the aircrafts license. So, if you had a suitably endorsed GFA license and you were flying your RAA registered glider then you would be flying under GFA altitude restrictions. There are no altitude restrictions for a GFA pilot but airspace rules do apply. For most of Australian airspace this means that the pilot must get a clearance before going above FL200 (20000 feet). I think that in the near future this clearance is going to require ADS-B Mode S. I will speak to my friend who has the Sinus. As I have said my understanding is that he has registered it with the RAA but uses a GFA pilot license with Power and Independant Operator endorements. I will post here what I learn from him. It may take a few months though because he and three others are flying their motor gliders from here (WA) to Bourke Town, QLD for some Morning Glory fun. I may not see him before he leaves in September so it may take a few months. I think that the only practical difference between registering a Taurus with a VH registration and a RAA registration is that with the former there is a requirement to do a Form 2 on the aircraft every year. This is a good thing! All the motor gliders, other than the one Sinus, have VH registration. I think that in your position I would take the following path: Join a gliding club and get to the "Silver C" stage. Buy the Taurus. From the same gliding club get your Power and Independent Operator endorsements, and Form 2 ticket. Go flying in wave. Good luck.

See section 19 of the MOSP for details of the Independent Operators endorsements. Also see section 17 of the same document for the instructor requirements for non Independent Operator flying

There is an endorsement known as "Independent Operator". Without this endorsement flying operations must be under the authority of a level 2 or 3 instructor (and maybe a level 1 - I cannot remember). With this endorsement you are free to fly without an instructor being present. All the pilots I know who fly self launchers and motor gliders have this endorsement. I would think that it would be necessary for you to get this endorsement in order to make full use of a Taurus. In our case, when we go to a remote field, all the pilots are Independent Operators.

I cannot see any problems with using a Taurus from any airstrip. We have have a couple of members that do just that with motorized gliders. I guess if you are doing anything more than transiting then it would be necessary to liase with the airport owner - usually the shire. We sometimes go to another airport with about ten non motorized gliders and a tug for about two weeks of flying. We always liase with the shire and get a NOTAM issued but, otherwise, there is no problem. Maybe things are more relaxed here in WA than in other states. :-) $140K-$150K is a good price for a self launching twin with a trailer. You should be aware that the GFA rules require two DIs (by different people) after every re rigging.

Its just that most gliders are hangered in "T hangers" which are much smaller than normal hangers.

So what's a "normal hanger"? :-)

TEX has a New Strategy.

There is (url removed by Mod) price list avaliable.

I know someone who has a Pipistrel Sinus motor glider. It has a '19' or '24' registration (I can't remember which). I believe he flies it using a GFA motor glider endorsement. I imagine that the registration and flying license requirements for a Taurus would be very similar to that of of the Sinus. I will ask him how he has addressed these issues next time I see him. The quality of the Sinus is very good - no doubt the Taurus would be of similar quality.

I do not know about how the Taurus would fit into the RAA schema but if you elect to go with the GFA you will need to read this document and section 26 of the MOSP.

The scuttlebutt is that Alfred was being filmed (by friends) from the bluff at the time of the accident. He apparently had the downwind wing over the edge of the bluff and the other out in clean air. The downwind wind clipped some trees and the glider did a "ground loop" in mid air and went sraight down. Whether the wind dropped before hitting the trees or he was just too low is not clear.

Narrogin Gliding Club is giving an Ab Initio course from Friday, 2011 / Oct / 09, to Tuesday, 2011 / Oct / 14, inclusive. These dates correspond to April of this year. See the page for details.

After they fell in a stall from 370 they were at low speed, low altitude. The real problem seems to be that they did not realize that they were in a stall. If so this would have to be a serious training problem.

Touche :)

Report reveals cockpit chaos in Air France crash.

World's shortest runway.