Gliding Rules

EASA – European Union Aviation Safety Agency

In year 2002 European Union established the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), based on binding EU legislation (an EU Regulation) proposed by EU Commission and accepted by EU Parliament. Main tasks set for EASA are summarized for general public on EASA Home Page under “EASA Light”: https://www.easa.europa.eu/light/easa .

However, for aviators and aviation industry professionals the more appropriate place for seeking information is the webpage “EASA Pro”: https://www.easa.europa.eu/home . There is also a compact summary under section “Agency” on: https://www.easa.europa.eu/the-agency/the-agency.

EASA – Basic Regulation (EU) 2018/1139

Establishment, authorization and tasks for EASA are based on – as described above – binding EU legislation and given by the EU Regulation (EU) 2018/1139. This Regulation, as its precessors, ofter referred as “EASA Basic regulation”. It is available on all EU-languages on EurLex home page: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/ for a search by reference number. More direct link:

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32018R1139&qid=1605435748870

However, for easier access EASA has published an “Easy Access Rules” document for Basic regulation available on EASA Home Page:

https://www.easa.europa.eu/document-library/easy-access-rules/easy-access-rules-basic-regulation-regulation-eu-20181139

Gliding as a part of European aviation regulatory environment

Gliding (or Soaring) by gliders (sailplanes) under the scope of EASA in EU/EEA-countries is taking place under European Union aviation legislation and under control by EASA and national Civil Aviation Authorities. Therefore the EU regulatory environment is nowadays quite intensively touching also gliding sports, like other recreational flying. However, Annex 1 of “EASA Basic Regulation” gives, an option for EU/EEA Member States – if they wish to so –  to maintain national regulations and control on gliders that are covered by Annex 1.

In late 1990´s and early 2000, when the debate was going on around an obvious establishment of an European aviation authority for EU/EEA taking much power from national CAA´s, common opinion of Members of European Gliding Union EGU was to keep gliding sports within European aviation regulatory development. That was seen important for ensuring access to same environment where other flying is taking place but also for avoiding possible blocking out, to a certain assigned/limited areas only.

Access to regulations

Texts of EU aviation regulations and AMC/GM documents can be searched under the ”Regulations” section on the EASA Home Page: https://www.easa.europa.eu/regulations. Monitoring also for future updates, if any, may be easiest via EASA Home Page.

Access to EU Legislation (e.g. to EU Regulations) in national languages can be found in EurLex: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/. However, the AMC/GM materials supporting use of regulatory texts are created and published by EASA and are available only on EASA Home Page. In English only.

For easier access, EASA has published ”easy access rules” –documents, e.g. on Basic Regulation, on Part-DTO for Declared Training Organizations and also for gliding (compilated into a Gliding Rule Book –publication).

Gliding OPS

Requirements for gliding operations are laid down in Regulation (EU) 2018/1976 which entered into force 9 July 2019. In 2020 were certain points of the regulation, as regards sailplane pilot licences, amended by implementation regulation (EU) 2020/358, as a consequence of publication of the Part-SFCL.

This gliding operations regulation, (EU) 2018/1976, applies on operations with saiplanes and powered sailplanes, including TMG´s (touring motor gliders). It should be noted that for TMG-operations, the gliding operations regulation applies regardeless of the class of pilot´s licence whether a SPL for TMG´s, or a LAPL(A)TMG or PPL(A)TMG.

• Main content of Gliding OPS regulation:
• Annex I – Part-DEF: Definitions
• Annex II –Part-SAO: Sailplane Air Operations
  • Subpart GEN: General Requirements
  • Subpart OP: Operating Procedures
  • Subpart POL: Performance and Operating Limitations
  • Subpart IDE: Instruments, Data and Equipment
  • Subpart DEC: Declaration.

These rules are so called ”hard law”of EU and are applied directly in all Member States. Regulation text can be found in all EU languages on EUR-Lex Home Page: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/, using regulation reference number in search.

AMC and GM materials to Gliding OPS

EASA has published supporting materials to gliding operations regulation – Applicable Means of Compliance (AMC) and Guidance Material (GM) – on 28 January 2019 as ED Decision 2019/001/R. Annexes I and II contain more deep information on how to fulfill the requirements set by the gliding operations regulation.

Main content of ED Decision 2019/001/R:

• Annex I contains GM to Article 3 of gliding operations regulation and defines principles related to possible cost sharing, aerial sport or leisure aviation organization, as well as term ”marginal activity” in context of flights offered for promoting gliding.
• Annex II contains AMC and GM to Part-SAO as in gliding operations regulation (EU) 2018/1976.

These AMC and GM materials are so called ”soft law” but they must be followed, unless there are alternative AMC/GM methods officially accepted to the gliding operator. Information given by AMC/GM are of such nature that pilots operating with gliders should be aware of and follow.

Access to regulations

Texts of gliding operations regulation and AMC/GM documents can be searched under the ”Regulations” section on the EASA Home Page: https://www.easa.europa.eu/regulations. Future updates, if any, will be available there.

For easier access, EASA has publised an ”easy access rules” –document for glider pilots, a Gliding Rule Book, containing these regulatory documents in once place. Search for the EASA Gliding Rule Book under the ”Regulations” section and behind the category ”Sailplanes” on the EASA Home Page: https://www.easa.europa.eu/regulations

Rules for glider pilot licence

SFCL – Sailplane Flight Crew Licencing

Rules for glider pilot licencing were renewed from 8^th April 2020 by a new Regulation (EU) 2020/358. Annex III of the regulation – Part-SFCL – contains revised requirement as regards Sailplane Flight Crew Licencing. The Part-SFCL replaces former requirements set in Part-FCL for sailplane pilot licences.

In practice, the Part-SPL – as in Annex III of Regulation (EU) 2020/358 – establishes now only one type of a licence for gliders: SPL. It enables either a SPL trained and limited for sailplanes only, extensible further for TMG´s (as a “TMG-extension”), or a SPL trained limited for TMG´s only, extensible further for sailplanes (as a “sailplane-extension”).

Applicability of the SPL, either within or outside the EASA countries (EU/EEA area) depends then only on the category of the licence holder´s medical certificate. Minimum requirement is the LAPL-MED, but outside the EASA countries an ICAO compliant medical certificate, e.g. MED Class 2 or higher, is required. That is because the LAPL-MED does not fully meet all requirements of ICAO. This has, however, simplified the situation compared to time with two earlier type of glider pilot licences, LAPL(S) and former SPL. Another markable change is that the new SPL has no any expiry date. No administrative renewal periods for the SPL exist any more.

New glider pilot licences issued after 8^th April 2020 will naturally be the SPLs issued according to Part-SFCL. But this new Part-SFCL touches also on those who were already holding a LAPL(S) or a former SPL issued under terms of Part-FCL. They shall now, i.e. from 8^th April 2020 onwards, follow the terms of Part-SFCL when using their existing LAPL(S)/SPL, not anymore the rules of former Part-FCL.

Main content of Part-SFCL:

• Subpart GEN: General Requirements
• Subpart SPL: Sailplane Pilot Licence – SPL
• Subpart ADD: Additional Ratings and Privileges
• Subpart FI: Flight Instructors
  • Section 1: General requirements
  • Section 2: Flight instructor certificate for sailplanes – FI(S)
• Subpart FE: Flight Examiners
  • Section 1: General requirements
  • Section 2: Flight examiner certificate for sailplanes – FE(S)

Part-SFCL enables various privileges, ratings and certificates to be associated with SPL:

Privileges for various launching methods – in SFCL.155:

• Aerotow,
• Winch tow,
• Car tow,
• Self-lauch (by a self-launcing powered sailplane),
• Bungee launch.

Privileges for aerobatics – in SFCL.200:

• Basic aerobatic privileges,
• Advanced aerobatic privileges.

Privileges for sailplane cloud flying – in SFCL.215.

Certificates:

• Flight instructor certificate FI(S) – in SFCL.300,
• Flight examiner certificate FE(S) – in SFCL.400.

Ratings:

• Sailplane towing and banner towing rating (by a TMG) – in SFCL.205,
• TMG night rating – in SFCL.210.

These rules in Part-SFCL are so called ”hard law”of EU and are applied directly in all Member States. Text of Regulation (EU) 2020/358 can be found in all EU languages on EUR-Lex Home Page: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/, using regulation reference number in search.

AMC and GM materials to Part-SFCL

EASA has published supporting materials to Part-SFCL licencing regulation – Applicable Means of Compliance (AMC) and Guidance Material (GM) – on 18 March 2020 as ED Decision 2020/004/R.

Annex to ED Decision 2020/004/R, Issue 1 contain more deep information on how to fulfill the requirements set by the Part-SFCL licencing regulation, especially for

• logging of flight time for SPL,
• requirements for the content of theoretical training syllabus for the SPL,
• requirements for the content of flight instruction syllabus for the SPL,
• requirements for theoretical examinations,
• requirements and contents for practical skill tests.

It covers not only a basic training for the licence but also those various privileges, ratings and certificates that can be associated with SPL. Therefore the content of AMC/GM for Part-SFCL has great importance to gliding training organisations (DTO´s and ATO´s), including training for flight instructors and flight examiners.

These AMC and GM materials are so called ”soft law” but they must be followed, unless there are alternative AMC/GM methods officially accepted to the gliding operator. Information given by AMC/GM are of such nature that pilots operating with gliders should be aware of and follow.

Access to regulations

Texts of gliding operations regulation and AMC/GM documents can be searched under the ”Regulations” section on the EASA Home Page: https://www.easa.europa.eu/regulations. Future updates, if any, will be available there.

For easier access, EASA has published an ”easy access rules” –document for glider pilots, a Gliding Rule Book, for containing various regulatory documents in once place. The revised edition of Gliding Rule Book for containing Part-SFCL requirements for SPL is expected to be published in late 2020. Search for the EASA Gliding Rule Book under the ”Regulations” section and behind the category ”Sailplanes” on the EASA Home Page: https://www.easa.europa.eu/regulations.

General

Training for a glider pilot license and associated ratings shall take place in a gliding training organization that is composed and is operating according to organizational rules. In addition to rules regulating the training organization itself, the content of gliding training given, for both theoretical and flight training shall comply with the syllabus required for the SPL or associated rating.

Gliding training in European countries is typically available at local gliding clubs and/or gliding centres, which have created – inside their club or gliding center operations – a gliding training organization. Such a gliding training organization for gliding training may be either

• a Declared Training Organization – DTO, according Part-DTO of Regulation (EU) 2018/1119

or

• an Approved Training Organization – ATO, according Part-ATO of Regulation (EU) 2011/1178.

Training organization (a DTO or an ATO) need not be binded into a single gliding club or gliding center only. It is also possible that a national gliding association, or a regional gliding center in a country, has formed a gliding training organization (a DTO or an ATO) into which the local clubs have joined and under which they run their local gliding training in practice.

Part-DTO – a Declared Training Organization

A Declared Training Organization (DTO) must – as the name says – only be declared to national authority (CAA). It does not require a specific approval admitted by the CAA, like an Approved Training Organization (ATO). Furthermore, administrative requirements for setting-up and running a DTO are easier for club-based training, like for gliding. A DTO can make training for PPL-, LAPL-, SPL- and BPL-licenses and privileges. The organization, e.g. a gliding club or a gliding centre, must choose which kind of training it wants to make. Each type of training to be declared by the DTO needs a defined training program. Such a program can be created by the organization itself. Basic requirements for training syllabus (theory and flight training) to be covered can be found in AMC/GM-materials published by EASA for each type of licenses. The DTO can start its operation and training when the declaration, with the training programs, are sent to the CAA.

An informative summary of various type of trainings allowed for a DTO, according to its detailed declaration:

For more information on Declared Training Organization requirements in addition to Regulation (EU) 2018/1119 can be found in AMC/GM materials published by EASA:

https://www.easa.europa.eu/sites/default/files/dfu/Annex%20I%20to%20ED%20Decision%202018-009-R%20%28AMC%20%26%20GM%20to%20Part-DTO%29%20.pdf

Furthermore, EASA has in June 2020 published an “Easy Access Rules”-document for Part-DTO:

https://www.easa.europa.eu/sites/default/files/dfu/Easy_Access_Rules_for_Declared_Training_Organisations-Part-DTO-Jun20.pdf .

For further updates on AMC/GM-materials you may search under “Agency Decisions” section – “Acceptable Means of Compliance (AMC) and Guidance Material (GM)” on the EASA Home Page:

https://www.easa.europa.eu/document-library/acceptable-means-of-compliance-and-guidance-materials .

Content required for of a training program

A training program for making a declaration by the DTO must include:

1. The aim of the training course
2. Crediting of previous experience and pre-entry requirements (including appropriate procedures for students whot wish to complete their training after having started at a different training organisation);
3. A list of all air and FSTD exercises to be taught, including a description of the objective of each exercise;
4. A syllabus summary;
5. Structure and content of the theoretical knowledge instruction;
6. Structure of the entire course and integration of theoretical knowledge instruction, FSTD and flight training;
7. Student progress checks for theoretical knowledge and flight training, as appropriate.

Although a DTO may start training after sending its declaration to national CAA with a training program, the CAA has a right to supervise operation and take actions if requirements set by EU Regulations are not met. The AMC materials published by EASA give advice on how the regulatory requirements can be fulfilled. GM materials are for informative advice and not as binding as AMC´s.

Part-ATO – an Approved Training Organization

The Approved Training Organization (ATO) is much more complex in its requirements than a DTO. An ATO-organization needs more people, (Accountable Manager, Head of Training, Safety Manager etc.) and it must also have training manuals, safety manuals and operation manuals. Therefore it is likely that the DTO will be mostly used in leisure aviation e.g. for gliding whereas an ATO remains mainly for training for professional aviation.

For more information related to AMC/GM materials for Part-ATO, please see, e.g.: https://www.easa.europa.eu/sites/default/files/dfu/Annex%20to%20ED%20Decision%202012-007-R.pdf

For EASA Easy Access Rules for organizational requirements in Part-ORA, related to ATO´s, please see, e.g.: https://www.easa.europa.eu/sites/default/files/dfu/Easy_Access_Rules_for_Organisation_Requirements_for_Aircrew_Part-ORA.pdf

For latest published information related to linked documents for ATO´s above, please search EASA home page regulatory section, if necessary.

European Gliding Union EGU encourages its members to take advantages of Declared Training Organizations (DTO) instead of ATO`s.

Training that does not belong under a defined training organization

Only training for licenses, certificates and ratings or certain privileges must take place within a training organization (DTO or ATO). Training flights for recency, or for launch methods and training for new types of gliders can take place outside a training organization.

Access to training regulations

Texts of gliding training organization regulations and AMC/GM documents can be searched under the ”Regulations” section on the EASA Home Page: https://www.easa.europa.eu/regulations. Future updates, if any, will be available there. The same applies for regulation and AMC/GM materials on Sailplane Pilot Licence (see also EGU website – Regulations – Glider Pilot Licence).

For easier access on training organization requirements, EASA has publised an ”easy access rules” –document ”Easy Access Rules for Declared Training Organisations (Part-DTO)”, containing regulatory documents with applicable AMC/GM materials related to DTO´s in once place. Similarly, document ”Easy Access Rules for Organisation Requirements for Aircrew” contains relevant materials related to ATO´s. Search for the documents under the ”Regulations” section and behind the category ”Aircrew” on the EASA Home Page: https://www.easa.europa.eu/regulations.

GUIDE TO EASA AIRWORTHINESS DOCUMENTATION

CONTINUING AIRWORTHINESS AND MAINTENANCE

All current EASA Continuing Airworthiness (and maintenance) documentation stems from Regulation (EU) No 1321/2014 as applicable from 6^th January 2015. These are the Implementing Rules (IRs) or Commission Regulations, which are the ‘hard law’ that cover the following key areas of continuing airworthiness and maintenance for all classes of aircraft. These were originally:

•             Part M (Continuing Airworthiness and Maintenance) – (Annex I)
•             Part 145 (Also CA&M but relevant to larger aircraft and commercial activities) – (Annex II)
•             Part 66 (Personal maintenance engineer licencing) – (Annex III)
•             Part 147 (Training organisations) – (Annex IV)

Of these, Part M and Part 66 are (or at least were) most relevant to general aviation (GA) and gliding. These annexes have been periodically reissued and amended under separate issue since 2014. This made their utility and readability extremely cumbersome. More recently EASA has issued so called ‘Easy Access Rules for Continuing Airworthiness’ – Regulation (EU) No 1321/2014, which is a ‘living document’, incorporating all subsequent amendment and developments. It is this document that is the most useful on a day-to-day basis, although you must check the issue date on the site to confirm applicability. Search for it under the ‘Regulation’ section on the EASA Home Page: https://www.easa.europa.eu/regulations

Since 2014, and in response pressure from the general aviation community, EASA have added additional codes to Implementing Regulation 1321/2014 as Annex V.  These are:

•             Part T (Third nations regulations)– (Annex Va)
•             Part ML (Part M Light) – (Annex Vb)
•             Part CAMO (Continuing Airworthiness Organisation, separate from Part M)– (Annex Vc)
•             Part CAO (Combined Airworthiness Organisation under Part ML) – (Annex Vd)

At the time of writing (July 2020), Part ML and Part CAO are now in the course of being adopted by general aviation (GA) and gliding. These will be replacing Part M (and it Subparts F and G) by all GA in the coming years, under the supervision of your national aviation authority (NAA).

Part 66L for personal engineer licencing for light aircraft and glider mechanics, is also in its implementation phase This has not been allotted a specific Annex and can only be found imbedded in the original Annex II. For detail associated with sailplane qualified engineers you will need to seek out the line items appropriate to the so-called L1 (sailplanes) and L2 (ELA1 aircraft, including powered sailplanes).

Associated with the ‘hard law’, above, there are additional supporting documents referred to as Acceptable Means of Compliance and Guidance Material, originally issued separately against each Annex. As the name suggest these documents expand upon the legal requirements with deeper descriptions and examples of what is intended. They are formally enacted by a different procedure to IR law, through ED Decisions (for example: ED Decision 2020.002.R) which may or may not accompany IR amendment issue. A major reissue and amendment occurred on 23 March 2020, bringing in guidance on the new lighter regulations under Part ML/CAO. It is a further convenience of the ’Easy Access Rule’ for Continuing Airworthiness’ that IR and AMC/GM material is brought together to provide a full presentation of a given Annex material.

The key documents for the future for general aviation (GA) and gliding are Part ML and CAO and Part 66 as amended to introduce the Part 66L licence for maintenance personnel. Thankfully, these three regulations form only selected sections of the overall ‘Easy Access Rules for Continuing Airworthiness’ document whose overall length is currently 1089 pages. Pages 6&7 of ‘Easy Rules Rules’ give an overview of the uptake of original documents.

INITIAL AIRWORTHINESS

The procedure under which an aircraft is designed, built and first certificated are regulated under Part 21.  Formally Part 21 is Annex 1(the only Annex) to Implementing Regulation 748/2012 which was first issued on 3/8/2012.  More recently it was amended by ED2019/003/R which gave more proportionate regulation and simpler rules for small aircraft including sport airframes and gliders – a so-called Part 21 Light.  An ‘Easy Access Rules’, living document version was created in 2018, and can be found on EASA website under Regulation – Initial Certification.  This code is only of limited interest to operators such as gliding Associations and clubs, it but can give an insight into the procedures required of manufacturers.

PHYSICAL STANDARDS AND CHANGE INSTRUCTIONS

EASA apply physical standards for equipment as so-called Certification Specifications (CS). There are numerous of these covering different classes of aircraft and onboard equipment.  They can be found on the EASA website under Regulation – Initial Certification – Certification Standards. Two of these are of particular interest to sailplanes and gliding:

•             CS-22 – Sailplanes and Powered Sailplanes

The standards to which sailplanes are designed and certificated is CS-22.  Historically these have been adopted from JAR-22 which in turn was derived from OSTIVAS, so the gliding community has a strong historical link to these regulations. Further OSTIV retains a technical link to the continuing development of these design requirements.  CS-22 is strongly recommended for anyone who has a design or technical interest in sailplanes.

CS-STAN – Standard Changes and Repairs

This is recent addition to EASA regulation to enable installation (or replacement of onboard role equipment and minor changes and repairs, and it is particularly applicable to sport aviation including gliding.  It is based on a simple, locally raised documentation and enables such changes without recourse to formal modification action.  The document consists of a compendium of cases applicable to diverse classes of airframes and gliders has a specific section.  It indicates to degree of competence required of the person making the change.  Indeed, some changes can be implemented by the pilot/owner himself.  The range of applicable changes is being added to on an ‘as required’ basis, and update occurs roughly annually.  It is a welcome addition and simplification of operation under the EASA regime.