I just finished a detailed write-up elsewhere, and I am tired, but for now the official news is that the weather and aviation gods smiled, I was adequately prepared, and the DE really knew how to make the tests simple and smooth, but appropriate for this add-on rating.

Short oral, two flights, and into the bag with that mutha.  Done deal.  I can now carry pax and start learning how to really fly these things. 


Turned out to be a nice glider-club day in general; I was glad I stuck around afterwards... Andy passed his CP-G; the usual motley crew was hanging out; Greg appeared and made a flight; and even young "Grasshopper" returned to restore his solo privileges with a few flights.

Hagar wrote on May 31^st, 2010 at 3:35am:


Well, not really... in 75 flights I've only gone as far as about 7 nm. 
But I know what you mean, and I agree. I won't say I have "become one" with 94H, and I have a great deal to learn yet, but I think I have a good grasp of the basics.

If anyone's interested, especially any power pilots out there contemplating the glier add-on, here's some details...

In the USA, the rules for ASEL holders seeking the PP-G state that since the applicant has already passed a written test for the ASEL, no written for the glider rating is necessary. However, because this check ride counts as a Flight Review (for continued PP-ASEL privileges), the examiner might very well dig up some questions for the oral that pertain to things covered in the ASEL curriculum.
I was a little worried about that, but as it turned out, this DE really didn't ask about anything that didn't overlap the two worlds (power and glider). He also approached the whole thing, oral and practical, from a healthy standpoint- the idea is to not weed out the unworthy so much as to make sure the applicant is still willing to learn. Because like the PP-ASEL, the PP-G is a "license to learn".

I knew to keep my answers short and sweet, to say "I dunno" instead of guessing, etc... so it went very quickly and easily. Questions included:

-Runway markings: he showed me a picture of a hold-short and a closed runway. that was it.

-Airspaces: I was expecting a question about flying the transponder-less glider higher than the ceiling of the Class B, outside the Bravo but within the Mode C veil... but he threw me a little curve by asking what we'd need for the glider in oder to enter the Bravo. I knew the answer, but had to think a bit about that.
There was more discussion about the Bravo later, during the flight portion... I just needed to indicate the landmarks I used to remain clear of it when above 3000 MSL.

-Navigation: Here I was trusted to have learned something when earning the PP-ASEL. He didn't ask me anything about that. Glider navigation (profiles, etc) is very different from X-C flight in power planes, but both kinds of flying have their similarities. Obviously, I have a lot of learning to do yet about X-C glider flight, but there was almost no emphasis on this during this test.

-Light gun signals: PPASELs are supposed to know these, but as he said "seriously, if you're approaching a towered airport in a glider, needing to land, and they tell you not to land, what are you going to do?"

-Glider speeds: he asked for best l/d and min. sink with two aboard, and that was about it. He also asked basically how to fly in lift or in sink... no complicated scenarios, just the basics.

-Glider performance: asked what the spoilers do, how they differ from flaps, and what "reflex" flap position and water ballast do for gliders equipped with those features.

-Tow signals: none of the ground-handling hand signals, just the ones we all should know: wave-off, spoilers open, go left, go right.

-Instruments: nothing complicated; he only asked about a clogged-pitot scenario.

-Weather: I had studied and printed out a Skew-T, METAR, FA, and prog chart, and wrote up some notes about the important stuff. I didn't have to show him all that, but he saw I had it, so my answer ("Good VFR for the area, winds W/NW; good soaring predicted; no SIGMETS/AIRMETS") was satisfactory.

-NOTAMS/TFRs: Only things were the ASOS outage at Princeton and the Jones Beach airshow TFR... not critical to our flight, but I'd advise any applicant to show that they checked for such things.

-W&B and glider systems: this stuff was covered as we prepared to fly- "what kind of wheel brake?" and "Are we within gross weight/CG limits with the two of us aboard?" As for the W&B, I had drawn it up, but because I remembered (amazingly!) our gross weight and CG position, he didn't ask to see that.


Documents: know what you need on your person or in the aircraft to fly legally... papers for you and the glider. I knew, and there was no inspection of all that stuff.

The flight test:

First hop was to 3000, with a box.
I'd been told that if I did OK boxing the wake on the first flight, there probably wouldn't be three flights, but three may have been required.

I made sure to talk aloud- checklists, 200-foot point, everything. I've gotten into the habit of thinking aloud when I fly... I think it is a good way to go in general, and it is VITAL on a check ride. You're being tested mostly on how you think, not what you know... they're looking for PIC behavior, not machine-like recall. And the DE likes to know what you are thinking, whether you are doing well or screwing up. It's obviously good to not make any mistakes, but knowing you have screwed up and knowing how to fix it (and talking about it!) is good enough, usually.

My box was not my best, but he seemed happy.... I took my time, tried to be smooth and consistent, and described everything aloud.

We got off at 3000 (look both ways! Note that the rope is clear! Look again before turning right! Note the position of the towplane as you turn away!), and he first had me do a straight-ahead stall (I remembered to do two clearing turns first). He had mentioned having me do one with spoilers cracked, but I guess my 1st stall was so awesome, he just had me do a turning stall, with full recovery to wings-level flight (I had asked beforehand if that's how he wanted it, as opposed to recovering while still banked).

I made sure, throughout both flights, to look outside a lot, and make sure he noticed that. He also took his "2nd pair of eyes" role seriously, calling out traffic just to be helpful, not to say "why didn't you see that first?".
The key to success there is that if the DE calls traffic, make sure you spot it right away, where indicated. Talk about what that traffic means to your current position and intentions. No problems for me, there.

There was some pretty good lift NW of the field, so he said that if I wanted, I could show him how I turn steeply and fly slowly by trying to core the thermal. He was more than happy to just let me soar for a while, but I was eager to get to Round 2, and wanted to practice "forcing" the glider down. A couple of circles near the IP, including at 1/2 spoilers, then a big slip, talking the whole time... I made a good entry and touched down pretty well, making sure to stop within the 200-foot area (I chose the area between the glider tie-downs and the patch of "brown" grass, which is aligned with the east end of the dirt berm that separates the ultralight/banner area from the rest of the airport).

He seemed satisfied, so we prepped for another hop. He told me "I'm not going to pull a low-altitude rope break on you",
which I foolishly assumed meant no rope break at all... didn't seem to be any point in doing a SRB from higher than the usual 300 feet or so. I figured he'd do the covered-instrument drill on me, maybe with a wave-off (towplane rocks wings, which means you have to release) at 1000 or 1200. But he didn't cover the instruments. 

As we climbed out on tow, he asked me several times where I'd go if the rope broke at that point. At the usual 300-foot point, at about 500, then as we made the first turn downwind. At about 700 or so, just NW of the departure end of the runway, he asked again, and I looked quickly and said "heck, I could easily make the runway from here." He said "Okay, let's see you do that", and hit the release.   

This was a surprise, but not a big deal. I thought for about a second about trying to go across and fly a pattern, but it was simpler and safer in the long run to just get rid of a little altitude and enter a left base for a downwind landing on the grass. Again, I rolled out and stopped within 200 fet of the brown patch.

And that was it!! Again, it's worth remembering that this was an add-on ride; first-timers should expect to work a little harder, and possibly do three flights. But whatever the case, if you are prepared and relaxed and just act like you are in command (because you are, even if this your first pilot rating!), you will do fine.