ADVISE PLS. FAA, CFI

[757200ba]

Hello.
I have a "question, problem", maybe you guys can clear me and help me.

Im taking my commercial rating.I guess all of you are aware of the requirements for that.
My 'question problem' is this one.you know that we must have min. 250 hours and 50 X country and bla bla!The thing is, i have a portugues glider license, and 375 hours.I know that those hours will count towards my US hours (so i have been told) but there is one thing.I have 75 X country glider hours, i have several check point x country, distance flights and proficience flights most of them with a durations over 4 hours, and some of them with 8 hours in Indurance "mode".

Now the thing is the FAA, states that x country on power airplanes have to be 50 NM and at least with one landing.
And FAA says that gliders x country as to be made in check points method and return to origin airport.

Ok gliders X country dont need to land, they just need to do those checks points flights and return to airport. The same method as in Portugal.

My question is how can i log my glider X country in my commercial, can i do it? How? if possible, i really wanted, not to spend money on X country since i have this hours.Another thing that i dont understand is they say that at least 10 h must be in airplanes, what they mean about it.

Sorry if my English and writing is

[Brett_Henderson]

If you are preparing for a commercial check-ride.. you, can ask the instructor about what can and can't be logged. And no matter what you can log, you'll still need him to sign you off before you can take the checkride.

So.. the question isn't how much you can log, but if you're ready to take the commercial checkride.

Off the top of my head, I'm going to say that glider x-country time is different than powered x-country time. And some of the manuevers you'll be asked to do, will require lots of practice in the airplane you'll be taking the checkride, in. You aren't goint be able to just jump into a Cessna 182 and fly chandelles (trust me

[Mobius]

I'm working on my commercial rating too!

[757200ba]

Well from your answer from Brett i know i didnt explain myself right.
What i want to know is if my X country glider hours can be add to the amount i need for the commercial requirements, i know the total time can be add, wich make me around 675 hours total (Glider time plus the power hours i have) so i dont need to worrie about the 250h min you need.I know the concept might be diferent but i think there is a way to consider them.Im aware of the requirements, but i wanted to know if gliders X country hours will count towards the 50 X country PIC you need for commercial.Like you said only 10h need to be in airplanes.But the FAARS also say that need to be at least 2 landings.

And by the way, you can do chandelles on a glider,and lazy eights and eights on pilons too. About the spins, what diference from a power airplane.When a glider spins or stall IT REALY DOES. .But its diferent i know.I done it.
Many Thanks for your help

[Brett_Henderson]

I understood your question    I was just trying to point out that it wouldn't matter if you had 1,000,000 hours. You're instructor will need to know that you're ready to take the test.

As for X-country hours..  those are for you to gain experience in powered flight-planning (like fuel burns).. navigation.. alternate airports.. all that stuff that doesn't apply to gliding. Your instructor will need to know that you've mastered that stuff..  so you'll be logging some X-country hours, too.

Let us know how it goes 

[757200ba]

Sir with all do respect, i guess you did not understand my question.
My question is:
From my glider hours that i have, plus the X country flight i have.Can i put them into my commercial?
I have at this time 23 X contry PIC im power airplanes , but i have 72 hours Xcountry PIC in gliders.Can they be join as total flight X country for the 50 that is required for the commercial rating?if yes i dont need to be worried on doing time builder, and spend money on X country.

They told me that flying hours are flying hours and all count as long they are on a personal log book.So i hope they also see that there are X country made, so i can meet the requirements.
And excluding fuel burn, in gliders we also need to have navigation techniques, and alternates to.Using VOR and gps, as navigation too. 8-)

[Brett_Henderson]

I think it's a language thing

[757200ba]

My glider X country are 100km (53.99 nm)-(2h35m)and most of proficience flight are the 100km (i have 6 of those) then i have the 300km (161.93 nm)5h30 , 500km (269 nm) 7h, then i have indurance flights of over than 7 hours and beteen 100 and 200km.
So i guess the 50 nm are cleared, thats why i want to know if they can be add, it would help a lot.

[Brett_Henderson]

We have a glider pilot here (Rotty), maybe he'll post soon.

I had no idea that you could glide for 50nm 

Now remember.. it's 50nm in straight-line distance from your departure airport.. NOT 50 nm flown.

I think no matter how you parce this.. you're going to have to log some X-country time.

[757200ba]

Well most people dont know you can glide over 200 nm never mind 50.Maybe Rotty can explain that to you.

The fact is, and once again sorry if im being miss understood, so far is just shooting arrows.Maybe you also need some reading, like i do.

I just want to know if i can log my glider X country into my requirements for my commercial.
I dont have any problem on understanding the FAARS the problem is i cant find the criteria to the X country, if they are not made on those they say "at least 10 need to be done in airplane".
The fact is i have 72 X country glider hours and i dont know if i can add them to my current power plane log.
In Portugal they are certified as X country i just want to know if the are valid here.

Many thanks

[Brett_Henderson]

OK.. I called my mentor... (30,000 hour, ex AirForce pilot.. 20,000 hours as a CFI)..

He said that X-country time used for a ASEL commercial rating needs to be flights that include a landing at an airport at least 50nm away.

[757200ba]

Like i said on my first post.

But, they say 10 must be done in airplanes, they dont say where the others can be done.Thats whay i think i can add mine made in glider.I know you can log 30 in simulator, but what about the rest?Can they be used the ones made in diferent categories?In glider we also do that, we mark distance in map and we fly chek points, but without landing, we have to return to the origin airport.
Snce the bigginig thats my question.
Thank you for checking, thank you very much.I guess i can log my total, and foirget the X country ones.
Many thanks sir,  for your help. :-/

[beaky]

Like i said on my first post.

But, they say 10 must be done in airplanes, they dont say where the others can be done.

The FARs say "100 hours in powered aircraft, of which 50 hours must be in airplanes".
This means if you have helicopter, gyroplane, or airship time, it counts towards the "100 hours in powered aircraft". But gliders do not count towards the "50 in airplanes".


Remember: THE FAA DOES NOT USE THE WORD "AIRPLANE" WHEN REFERRING TO GLIDERS!!!! IF YOU SEE THE WORD "AIRPLANE" (NOT "AIRCRAFT") IN THE FARS, THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT POWERED AIRPLANES, NOT GLIDERS.
You and I know that gliders are airplanes, but the FAA has its own special definition of what an "airplane" is.

Thats whay i think i can add mine made in glider.I know you can log 30 in simulator, but what about the rest?Can they be used the ones made in diferent categories?

More from the FARs:

"You must log at least 250 hours of flight time as a pilot (of which 50 hours, or in accordance with FAA Part 142, a maximum of 100 hours may have been accomplished in an approved flight simulator or approved flight training device that represents a single engine airplane)."


So, it's 50 or maybe 100 hours of sim time allowed (FAA-approved sims), and yes, when it comes to your total PIC time, gliders (and all other categories of aircraft) count.
But gliders do NOT count when it comes to the "50 in airplanes", or "100 in powered aircraft".



The other problem here, as Brett pointed out, is that the FAA defines "cross country" flights, for the purpose of any powered aircraft rating, as being a flight to an airport 50 miles away from the departure airport, with a landing at that airport.

[beaky]

[quote]We have a glider pilot here (Rotty), maybe he'll post soon.

I had no idea that you could glide for 50nm

[757200ba]

Its always a pleasure to know "'condors".
Most o f my flight time was made (and i havent flown a glider in 6 years)in ASW 20 (monoplace) and Grob Twin Astir (dual) and i have 4 hours on a Glaser-Dirks DG-100 ( the klast one i "had fun").And ofcourse most of my instruction was on the good old Blanick L-13 (what a lovely bird).

In my time my Xcountry were made in Portugal.With the weather and mountains we have you could go from north to south in last than 8 hours, in good conditions.Most of them were made by reporting points with ID from the ground, its not a big country so everybody use to fly the same courses.

The thing about all my questions is, even after you explanation there is one thing that or its not correct.This are the comercial req.

250 Hours minimum total flight time experience which includes: