Rotten bad luck for Alex Thomson

Ha ha well I am now getting out of my depth. EASA in some ways is of course a complete mess with loads of opt outs. In fact only some aircraft are defined as EASA aircraft, so I think many / most gliders may well continue to be pilotable on a CAA licence, and then I think there is a specific exemption anyway until 2020 from what I have read. Motor gliders are yet another class. Who knows - not me for sure.

As to operating in controlled airspace I suspect it is similiar to conventional aircraft, the aircraft would need to meet the minimium requirements for flight in controlled airspace under IF rules and so would the pilot. In Europe I suspect that is an instrument rating and a certified aircraft (not home built) that complies with the minimium equipment requirements. I would suspect almost nobody would seek to have a motor glider meet those requirements, but I guess there is no reason why it would be possible. Frankly, whilst instrument flight is entirely possible and enjoyable without an auto pilot, there are many that would frown on touring in anything approaching IMC conditions for any length of time without an autopilot to fall back on, and without some reasonable perfomance margins. It is entirely one thing to soar in and around cloud, and transition through a cloudbase, entirely another to cross country in hard IMC.

Mind you I do know that in the States the rules are far more relaxed and gliders do operate in CAS.

I bet you maybe miss it.
 
ip485 said:
Ha ha well I am now getting out of my depth. EASA in some ways is of course a complete mess with loads of opt outs. In fact only some aircraft are defined as EASA aircraft, so I think many / most gliders may well continue to be pilotable on a CAA licence, and then I think there is a specific exemption anyway until 2020 from what I have read. Motor gliders are yet another class. Who knows - not me for sure.
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Gliders and glider never did come under the CAA - it was all delegated to the British Gliding Association (BGA), whose touch was light but not very competent[1]. Almost all gliders came under EASA - the exceptions ar the so-called "Annex B" ones which were, I think, built before 1965. Still no licence needed to fly them, but there aren't many and they are getting fewer as age, rot and failing glue take their toll. Self-launching motorgliders all came under the CAA and required a PPL(SLMG) but self-sustainers were BGA. Since the difference in some cases was no more than a tack-welded baffle in the exhaust manifold, a certain amount of unofficial upgrading went on - as it does with outboards ...

As to operating in controlled airspace I suspect it is similiar to conventional aircraft, the aircraft would need to meet the minimium requirements for flight in controlled airspace under IF rules and so would the pilot. In Europe I suspect that is an instrument rating and a certified aircraft (not home built) that complies with the minimium equipment requirements. I would suspect almost nobody would seek to have a motor glider meet those requirements, but I guess there is no reason why it would be possible.
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The only motorgliders I heard of with that level of instrumentation were Stemme S10 - amazing side-by side things with GA levels of comfort and competition sailplane soaring performance. Price to match ...

It is entirely one thing to soar in and around cloud, and transition through a cloudbase, entirely another to cross country in hard IMC.
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Nobody does, partly because there isn't as much lift in clouds[2] as you might think and partly because water drops on the wings stuffs the performance of GRP gliders. Cloud climbs mostly are a specialist hobby of some owners of wooden gliders with speed limiting airbrakes[3].

I bet you maybe miss it.
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Very much indeed, sometimes, but I had a glider I wasn't flying and a boat I wasn't sailing and I had to choose one. I'd like to glide again, but with all the EASA stuff I don't know if I'll ever be bothered.

[1] The BGA once sent me a Certificate of Airworthiness showing my glider as a Glasflügel Astir. It wasn't made by Glasflügel, it wasn't an Astir and Glasfügel didn't make Astirs anyway.

[2] Except in cu-nims, and climbing in them is a very minority interest. People die doing that.

[3] The air brakes on older gliders had to limit them to Vne in a vertical dive[4]. Later that was relaxed to "in a 45o dive" and later still to "in a 30o dive"

[4] I tried that in mine once. It worked fine, but looking straight down at 135kt was a bit unnerving. Maybe I'd have felt happier with a parachute.
 
Halo said:
Wow serious thread drift !!
Has anyone piloted a tunnel borer
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6" Drill bits over 1000 m of horizontal inclination at 5000m depth with less than 0.25m tolerance on vertical displacement. It is now being done remotely from the rig and the tools steering themselves based on geological information modelled as well as real time sensing. I would have thought that planes and ships would be easy. The limit is not the data and steering, it is the operation hydraulics pressure loss over the length of the well and friction in the bore hole. Also if we can land a small probe on Mars or even pass around a distant planet, then we need to get over this pilot in charge crap and stop worrying about poor visibility. (-;
 
alant said:
Not really well organised one then.:p
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It was then that I realised I was unfitted to assume the responsibilities of high command.

But I had better luck in my next venture: running a whelk stall. :p

(By the way, would you mind not mucking them about. If you don't want them, other people may.)
 
alant said:
Want what?
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The whelks! Are you not familiar with the musical heritage of your country?

"If you don't want the whelks don't muck `em abaht
If you don't want `em other people may"

There's a fellow you should meet, runs a fish shop down our street
He wraps it up in paper every day
When they're crowding round the stall, he addresses one and al
And this is what you'll always hear him say"

Nah, if you don't want the whelks don't muck `em abaht
And take yer baby's fingers off the slab (They're covered in
chocolate!)
Lovely two eyed kippers, take `em for the nippers
Take a hake or a nice cod steak
Soles and eels for the old man's meals
They're lovely – they're all fresh in today
So if you don't want the whelks don't muck `em abaht
If you don't want `em other people may

If you don't want the whelks don't muck `em abaht
And move yer pram and let the others in (You're blocking the doorway)
Lovely two eyed kippers, take `em for the nippers
Take a hake or a nice cod steak
Roes or trout for the old man's gout
They're lovely, they're all fresh in today
So if you don't want the whelks don't muck `em abaht
If you don't want `em other people may
"
 
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