February 4, 20242 yr Meters and km/h for speed 🙂 It's complex... In Portugal we are only allowed inside G airspace, and we do not have transponders, although most are equipped with FLARM or more "sophisticated" ADS-B devices and are easily identified by other gliders, monitorization software at the airfield, and most possibly at the NAV centres too. Of course we can, and should use QNH, but since here in Portugal there is no Area QNH, we would have to request it from the flight information services but, we do not submit flightplans... so, that would result in some rather unwanted situations... During weekends some reserved areas are not active, and we do read all of the NOTAM before going for weekend flying, but it feels like we're always outsiders.... Even so, there has never been a report of any incident and the only true threats happen when we fly close to each other, thermalling or in transit between thermals... But modern cell phones and specific instruments for collision avoidance equip most of the gliders around here, so it's a lot more difficult to run into trouble unless we're inconscient. The rules are more or less the same in Spain, but it's easier and safer to make long distances and coordinate with ATC. They're glider-friendly there :-).... France, Swiss, Italy, Germany, Czech Republic ... that's Paradise for glider flying... Edited February 4, 20242 yr by jcomm Flying gliders since 1980 Flightsimming since 1992 AMD Ryzen 5600x, 32GB RAM, GPU Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti 8 GB, 1 TB and 500 GB nvme2 SSD drives, HP 27" 60Hz LED monitor @ 1920x1080, T16000, Hotas from old X52 Pro, Saitek Combat Rudder Pro (2010 model)
February 4, 20242 yr 1 hour ago, SAS443 said: It's gets even more wack when you realize gliders use meters instead of feet for altitude (in the regions where I fly) Some swift mental math is required when sharing airspace with descending gliders and trying to understand their position/altitude reports 😁 Here in the UK they use their own dedicated frequencies so nobody else even hears those reports (like the QFE thing this might be fine when in the vicinity of known gliding sites but on a cross country?, nah), I guess they don't worry as they usually have Flarm and parachutes.
February 4, 20242 yr 10 minutes ago, jcomm said: Meters and km/h for speed 🙂 It's complex... In Portugal we are only allowed inside G airspace, and we do not have transponders, although most are equipped with FLARM or more "sophisticated" ADS-B devices and are easily identified by other gliders, monitorization software at the airfield, and most possibly at the NAV centres too. Of course we can, and should use QNH, but since here in Portugal there is no Area QNH, we would have to request it from the flight information services but, we do not submit flightplans... so, that would result in some rather unwanted situations... During weekends some reserved areas are not active, and we do read all of the NOTAM before going for weekend flying, but it feels like we're always outsiders.... Even so, there has never been a report of any incident and the only true threats happen when we fly close to each other, thermalling or in transit between thermals... But modern cell phones and specific instruments for collision avoidance equip most of the gliders around here, so it's a lot more difficult to run into trouble unless we're inconscient. The rules are more or less the same in Spain, but it's easier and safer to make long distances and coordinate with ATC. They're glider-friendly there :-).... France, Swiss, Italy, Germany, Czech Republic ... that's Paradise for glider flying... Sorry but that's a list of excuses for not doing what other airspace users do from simple airmanship and as for feeling like outsiders I'm afraid that is self - inflicted. Gliding is a wonderful, skillful sport but the exclusivity embedded in the community is not a good thing for anyone
February 4, 20242 yr 2 hours ago, Lonesome Cowboy Burt said: Sorry but that's a list of excuses for not doing what other airspace users do from simple airmanship and as for feeling like outsiders I'm afraid that is self - inflicted. Gliding is a wonderful, skillful sport but the exclusivity embedded in the community is not a good thing for anyone I couldn't agree more Lonesome Cowboy, and that's pretty much how I feel since the early eigthies of the last Century, when I started doing x-country... I could never understand why some of my colleagues fear being in touch with ATC so much... OTOH it's also true that it can get complex in our small and rather tricky airspace because there are so many reserved and / or prohibited areas, that in a glider, to plan a x-country flight around here and fly the task safely and without the feeling of having infringed some rules it's complex... Then we have some sort of rather "anti-glider" mode where ATC would still require from you to fill a precise flightplan... something we can't really do, as you can guess or know by experience (well, I know flying in the UK is different, because your sources of lift are a lot more "aligned" with flightplanning 🙂 At airfields with information service I've been told that I was the 3rd on final when trying to land there and having to circle to land with various powered aircraft including a Citation in approach ... I was the 3rd, the Citation being behind me... I asked "should I increase speed ?" 🤣 Another aspect I was always criticized for defending was "lighting" !!! It's finally turning into a standard, with those new flash lights installed at the front of the fuselage, but I always defended that position lights and even strobe and nav lights should be installed, specially with the advent of LED... Edited February 4, 20242 yr by jcomm Flying gliders since 1980 Flightsimming since 1992 AMD Ryzen 5600x, 32GB RAM, GPU Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti 8 GB, 1 TB and 500 GB nvme2 SSD drives, HP 27" 60Hz LED monitor @ 1920x1080, T16000, Hotas from old X52 Pro, Saitek Combat Rudder Pro (2010 model)
February 4, 20242 yr 3 hours ago, SAS443 said: It's gets even more wack when you realize gliders use meters instead of feet for altitude (in the regions where I fly) Some swift mental math is required when sharing airspace with descending gliders and trying to understand their position/altitude reports 😁 Huh - that seems very confusing. When I was an active glider pilot, I always converted meters to feet when giving position reports. It's just common sense to fit in when operating in an environment that otherwise uses feet.
February 4, 20242 yr 2 hours ago, jcomm said: In Portugal we are only allowed inside G airspace Wow... that seems very restrictive. How high does class G airspace go?
February 4, 20242 yr 38 minutes ago, martinboehme said: Wow... that seems very restrictive. How high does class G airspace go? FL095, which means, too low for some x-country flights... specially over the north-west mountain ranges... OFC we're allowed to cross ATZs in coordination with their information / control services, but its always a mess 😕 Edited February 4, 20242 yr by jcomm Flying gliders since 1980 Flightsimming since 1992 AMD Ryzen 5600x, 32GB RAM, GPU Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti 8 GB, 1 TB and 500 GB nvme2 SSD drives, HP 27" 60Hz LED monitor @ 1920x1080, T16000, Hotas from old X52 Pro, Saitek Combat Rudder Pro (2010 model)
February 4, 20242 yr 2 hours ago, jcomm said: FL095, which means, too low for some x-country flights... specially over the north-west mountain ranges... Got it. Well, that seems workable at least. In Germany, which I'm used to, airspace G only goes to a maximum of 2500 feet AGL - which would be much too restrictive. It's interesting how differently different countries use the airspace classes.
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