Glider Flight Instructor Manual

For decades and in the interests of greater flight safety, Competence criteria have been introduced in professional training.

The results obtained in professional aviation are indisputable and the proposed new paradigm aims to increase the pilot's ability to resolve, in particular, unfamiliar situations.

There is no doubt that during soaring, the conditions faced are, as a general rule, highly variable, which requires the pilot to be highly adaptable. However, even though this flying technique is the one that requires the most resilience, there is no single criterion in the development of training that would lead the future pilot to develop the necessary skills, nor is there a single evaluation criterion that would determine a common standard.

From my experience in professional teaching in organisations such as CAE, the experience as an EASA inspector and my own experience as a gliding instructor I wanted to propose a new way of teaching and, above all, of assessing a future glider pilot with COMPETENCE criteria in which the elements of CRM and TEM are always present together with the application of KSA.

In this text I hope that gliding instructors will find a tool for teaching their classes and a greater standardisation as a guide to develop their own Competence Based Training and assessment adapted at the local conditions and gliders. The future is not white or black but an infinite scale of greys where different solution could be proposed successfully. By this the list of mission proposed is my personal view adapted to my programs but it not pretends to be an absolute criterion.

Hope you will enjoy

Happy landings!

Francesco Padovano