The Vancouver Soaring Association ( VSA) offers a full range of glider pilot training including programs for those with no prior aviation experience. Here is the information that you, the prospective student glider pilot, require to make the first steps towards your dream of flying gliders.
The first step that you should make is to dip your toe into the water and
take the plunge and go for your first flight.
This is important. No amount of pictures
or reading books can convey how you
will feel when you take your first flight in a glider. The VSA offers you two options in this regard.
The first is to take our single introductory
flight.
The second option is to purchase our 5
flight “Introduction to Soaring” training package.
The 5 flight package is an ideal solution to begin your initial flight
training and see what it is like before making a larger commitment such as
joining the club or purchasing a discounted training package.
The Introduction to soaring package includes 5 full instructional flights
with pre and post flight briefings and also includes a student log book so these
flight can be logged for credit towards your glider pilot license.
You have clearance Clarence. Spousal approval has been granted ( where applicable),
you have the time, the money and the goal has been set.
You have taken your initial glider flight(s) and you are hooked.
Now we look at the pathway to reach your goal of obtaining your glider
pilot license and joining the fraternity of soaring pilots.
Once you have joined the VSA (Refer to membership/training
package options below) you can start your training immediately.
Most people think that you have to take a ground school course before
commencing flight training. This is
not correct. You can start your
glider pilot instruction from the “get go” and attend the VSA ground school when it is held in the November.
The medical requirement for a glider pilot license is a Transport Canada
class 4 medical. You will fill out
a student pilot permit application form. Part
of this form is a self declared medical questionnaire.
In general if you are in good health and can drive a car, Transport
Canada will issue a class 4 medical as part of your student pilot permit.
Depending on your answers to the medical questionnaire, Transport Canada
may require you to go to one of their designated Medical examiners for a Class 3
Medical exam.
All VSA instructors are licensed by Transport Canada and take instructor training course sponsored by the Canada’s national soaring organization the “Soaring Association of Canada” or SAC. The standard set by SAC for instructor training exceeds the standards set by Transport Canada. In addition, glider pilot instruction is standardized across Canada in all SAC affiliated clubs in all provinces. VSA instructors volunteer their time to instruct and the students are not charged for instruction.
The VSA is an all volunteer organization.
In order to get to the point of launching a glider with you in the front
seat as the student pilot and the Instructor sitting in the back seat, a whole
team of volunteers is required. Soaring
is a co-operative activity requiring tow pilots who volunteer their time to tow
you, wing runners and point persons ( fellow club members) to launch you, a
field manager who runs the flight line, a timekeeper to record glider up and
down times and your instructor. As
a VSA member and student glider pilot, you will become part of this volunteer
effort. When you are waiting for
your flight, you are helping your fellow club members launch and retrieve
gliders. It’s a lot of fun too.
The day at Hope starts with the preparations required to begin flight
operations. This includes
conducting Daily Inspections ( DI’s) on the gliders. Each glider must be inspected daily to ensure that it is safe
to fly. The DI includes a full
interior cockpit inspection, installation of Battery and seat cushions, a full
exterior inspection and positive control check including tow rope release
checks. Learning how to conduct
these inspections is part of your training.
All flight line equipment must be brought out including tow ropes, weak
links, spare cushions, ballast etc. All
required paperwork must be put in our ops shack including daily time sheet, cash
sheet, roster etc.
At 10:00 AM the instructor of the day will conduct a pilots briefing. The briefing includes weather, safety issues, operational issues. At this time the senior instructor identifies who requires instruction ( that’s you) and then proceeds to organize the operation accordingly. The VSA tries to have at least 2 instructors rostered for every flying day.
Once the briefing is over and the gliders and tow plane are ready the flying
operation begins. Student glider
pilots have priority flying in the morning.
The instructors will start conducting pre flight briefings with the
respective students and then start instructional flights.
A student can expect to get 2-4 instructional flights per day depending
on how many students show up on a given day.
Instructional flights will be of varying durations from 10 minutes to one
hour depending on the soaring conditions. Once
the lift starts everyone wants to fly and the flight line gets busier with
longer waits between flights. Instructional
flights and general soaring go on until the operation is shut down at the end of
the day. As you can see, when you
come out to Hope to fly, you assume that you will be spending the whole day.
It is a long day, but also very rewarding.
In general terms a student glider pilot who is younger will take
approximately 40 dual instructional flights before flying solo.
Our experience is that it takes longer for a student to solo as he/she
ages. We have many members who
learn to fly later in life. This also assumes that the student flies on a
regular basis ( at least one day every weekend).
The more often a person flies the quicker they will learn.
The most successful students are the ones that fly as often as they
possibly can to maximize their training progress.
The largest investment that a person makes in achieving their goal of a
glider pilot license is their investment of time.
If you are to be successful in achieving this goal, you must be able to
have the time to invest. If you
start at the beginning of the gliding season (April) it is possible to achieve
your license requirements by the end of the season.
Once a student flies solo, the minimum Transport Canada requirement is 20
solo flights before the student can take the Glider Pilot Flight Test.
Typically a student will take 25 to 30 solo flights before having their
flight test. Once a student is
flying solo, in general they practice their flying skills and when they feel
comfortable they arrange to take the flight test.
Designated VSA Instructors perform the flight test exams.
Having said this, and our observation over many years, the majority of
Student glider pilots take two seasons to achieve their glider pilot license.
The last step in completing the requirements for your Canadian Glider Pilot License is to take a recognized ground school course. The VSA organizes and runs our own Ground School course. It is usually held during the Month of November on Saturdays. The ground school will prepare the student to write and pass the Transport Canada Glider Pilot written exam. The ground school covers topics such as aerodynamics, air regulations, meteorology, instruments, navigation, human factors and gliding operations.
The VSA ground school is taught by VSA instructors.
The training manual for glider pilots in Canada is “Soar and Learn to Fly
Gliders” and is published by our national soaring organization SAC.
This manual is for the flying part of things.
The manual for ground school is “From the Ground UP”.
This is the standard book used by power pilots as well.
“Soar and Learn To Fly Gliders” can be ordered from the VSA at a cost
of $25.00.
As mentioned above, there are few options in how a person can join the VSA and begin instruction with the club.
The option that most new student pilots choose is to purchase the VSA “ab initio” training package. This package includes your membership fees, pre paid glider/tow units for approximately 40 dual instructional flights ( 40 flights, 25-30 minutes per flight, 2000 ft tows) all log books and training manuals. The advantage of purchasing this package is that the glider time and tows are discounted by 20%.
Alternatively you can join the VSA as a flying member and then purchase pre paid glider/tow time in blocks of $400.00.
Finally, VSA offers weeklong gliding courses which include all expenses.
You can discuss these various options when you come up to the airfield.
The VSA’s number one rule is: We are here to fly gliders safely and to have fun
The VSA is always working to ensure that we run a safe operation.
As with any aviation activity there is by nature a certain degree of risk
when you leave mother earth and “Soar with the Eagles”.
We believe that this risk is manageable and work with our national
organization ( SAC) to do all we can work towards mitigating these risks.
The VSA participates in the SAC “Flight Training and Safety” program
and is currently working to adopt a safety management plan.
If you require any additional detailed information or have questions. Please email: info@vsa.ca. It may be helpful to include your telephone number in your email as a quick phone call can save many keyboard strokes.