For both certified glider pilots and students attempting certification in the glider category, this is an unparalleled...

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

Francesco Daniele Padovano is a gliding instructor with more than 15.000 flights in his experience along with training commercial pilots as a TKI at CAE. He has been one of the main instructors of the national school in Spain and holds active SPL FI-FI, Acro and TMG ratings. Among others, he has laid the foundations of the gliding training programme in Colombia and has taught in the Argentinean army in their courses dedicated to drone pilot training. He is currently developing a programme dedicated to children at risk of exclusion with a motivational programme through gliding and collaborating with various vocational schools to complement the training with gliding. He is the author of several publications in the aeronautical field: “El Manual del piloto de vuelo sin motor”, “Manual del instructor de vuelo sin motor”, “Meteorología para drones”, “Glider Flight Instructor Manual, development of the first period-basic course based on the EASA SFCL regulation of march 2020 with the introduction of competence criteria”. This book wishes to propose a standard for SPL examiners based on CBTA (Competence Training and Assessment) and related mission sheet. After the publication of the book "Glider flight instructor manual" with the introduction of the competence criteria (CBTA), this text is the natural evolution because, if a competence-based teaching system is proposed, the evaluation at examination level of the candidates for obtaining the licences and ratings, foreseen in the EASA regulation EU 2020/358, remains unresolved. Therefore, this text aims to provide a solution to the doubts that may arise for examiners when conducting an examination.