Safety
Situational Awareness. The thermal cross country season is well underway. And so is the busy flying season for all air sports, the display season, the parachuting season, etc. Most airfields are fairly busy.
All pilots are respectfully reminded that it is their responsibility to ensure that they operate legally and with due regard to other airspace users. Operating legally goes without saying. A number of factors contribute to flying with due regard to others, not least of which are pre-flight planning and in-flight thinking. Most pilots get it right most of the time. However, each year, various organisations raise concerns about gliding including:
• Entering an ATZ without permission • Landing at an airfield without notification where notification is required • Landing at an airfield without taking into consideration other traffic • Disrupting an air display • Disrupting a parachute drop • Unwisely ‘loitering’ in an ILS approach path clearly marked on a chart
It is very important that all pilots: • Are fully aware of the environment in which they are operating • Check NOTAMs before flying • Plan ahead and think ahead • Make their presence known by radio if flying close to an airfield where there is a
likelihood of interaction with local traffic. A recent BGA and LAA study identified that 53% of powered aircraft collisions and 80% of glider collisions occur close to airfields
Events, involving airspace restrictions, that are taking place within the next few weeks include:
 Queen’s Birthday Flypast. 14th June with rehearsals between 10th and 12th June. See AIC Mauve 15/2014. These involve 31 aircraft, including the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, the Red Arrows, other fast jets, transport aircraft and helicopters. Restrictions cover large parts of East Anglia and south central England.
 The British Grand Prix at Silverstone (4-6 July)  The Royal International Air Tattoo at Fairford (restrictions 9-14 July)  The Farnborough International Air Show (7-21 July)
The Red Arrows will be displaying at locations across the UK. Details of displays through to the end of July and the Temporary Restricted Airspace to protect them are in AIC Mauve 032/2014.
Details of the Airspace Information Circulars (AICs) relating to the above and other events are on the NATS web site at http://www.nats-uk.ead-it.com. Additional details about the Queen’s Birthday Flypast are in Airspace Co-Ordination Notice 2014-06-0302, a copy of which is at http://www.gliding.co.uk/documents/ACN-2014-06-0302.pdf. A calendar view of all RA(T)s that might affect gliding operations is at https://www.gliding.co.uk/bgainfo/airspace/rats.php.

Parachuting After a Mid-Air Collision. Most glider pilots wear a parachute. A recent collision between two gliders resulted in one pilot successfully using a parachute and another landing safely with a damaged tail-plane. A number of points that all glider pilots should consider are discussed in a briefing document at http://www.gliding.co.uk/bgainfo/safety/documents/parachuting_collision.pdf.
Regulatory
Deregulation of Single Seat Microlight Aeroplanes. The CAA has issued an exemption for the deregulation of single-seat microlight aeroplane airworthiness. See a summary of advice from the BGA at http://www.gliding.co.uk/bgainfo/power/documents/microlight_dereg.pdf and CAA Information Notice IN2014/091 at http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/InformationNotice2014091.pdf for full details. Some single seat microlight self-launching sailplanes fall into the deregulated category. The BGA recommends that owners of such deregulated microlights carefully maintain the aircraft in accordance with manufacturers’ recommendations and discuss their operation with their club and their insurer. Formal guidance will be published when BGA Laws and Rules changes later this year.
TMG Privileges on a Part-FCL Licence. It has been brought to our attention that some aeroplane pilots have been given incorrect information by the CAA relating to TMG privileges on a Part-FCL LAPL(A) or PPL(A). Any Part-FCL licence holder who expects to have TMG privileges needs to ensure that these TMG privileges are annotated on their Part-FCL licence. Please note that TMG privileges can be annotated on both Part-FCL aeroplane and sailplane licences. Where pilots fly aeroplanes, TMGs and sailplanes, the BGA advises that the TMG privileges should be applied for on conversion to a LAPL(S) or SPL. For more BGA guidance on licence conversion, please refer to http://www.gliding.co.uk/bgainfo/licensing/easalicensing.htm
EASA Basic Regulation Consultation. Following pressure from organisations across the EU, EASA is reviewing its approach to the regulation of General Aviation. Advance Notice of Proposed Amendment 2014-12 "European Commission Policy Initiative on Aviation Safety and a Possible Revision of Regulation (EC) No 216/2008" has been published on the EASA website at http://easa.europa.eu/document-library/notices-of-proposed-amendment/npa-2014-12. The BGA will be responding to the consultation. Please keep in touch with the BGA website for further developments and remember that you can get BGA news updates by email; see https://www.gliding.co.uk/subscriptions/index.php
CAA Launches Consultation on Future GA Policy. In addition to the EASA review (see above), the CAA has announced the launch of a consultation on its future policy for General Aviation (GA) regulation. It builds on the recent GA Red Tape Challenge and the formation of the CAA's first dedicated GA unit and will define how the CAA regulates GA on a day-to-day basis. Details of the consultation are at http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?catid=14&pagetype=65&appid=7&newstype=n&mode=d etail&nid=2366. The CAA approach outlined is very much in line with what the BGA has been championing and we will, of course, be responding to the consultation. We will update you on progress via the BGA web site; at the moment we are not asking clubs and individuals to respond although you are, of course, free to do so if you wish.

BGA
TAG Farnborough ACP Consultation. The BGA was asked by the GA Alliance member organisations to take the lead, while continuing to work closely with the other air sport bodies, in responding to the recent consultation on the TAG Farnborough airspace change proposal. In doing this, we also worked closely with a number of clubs in the south in order to provide accurate information to as many stakeholders as possible to help them make their own informed responses. We have been advised that this effort has helped encourage more than 3000 responses from across the gliding, general aviation and non-aviation communities. We will report on further developments in due course but, for the time being, many thanks to everybody who took the time and trouble to respond to this most important consultation.
BGA Website. Work has now begun on the redevelopment of the BGA web site. As well as being a key marketing tool, one of the main objectives of the redevelopment is to help all pilots find the information they need easily and quickly. We receive many, mainly justified, complaints about the search capability on the current web site. Until the new site is available, you might find it helpful, when looking for a specific item, to use a Google search rather than our site’s inbuilt search tool. A Google search can be directed just to search the BGA web site by adding “site:gliding.co.uk” to the search term. For example, to find all entries related to the SHK glider, you would use “shk site:gliding.co.uk” as the search term.
Club Management
Child Protection Awareness/Blue Card Training. A Child Protection Awareness training session will be held at Cotswolds GC on Monday 23rd June 2014, starting at 7pm for 7.30pm. The session will last for 1 – 1½ hours and will include discussion, situational exercises and a Q&A session. We are also in the process of updating the BGA Child Protection Policies and Procedures and any input would be welcomed. To book your place on this training please contact Chris Power on 07535 134833 or Email chrispower0@gmail.com.
Competitions and Cross-Country
Competition Rule Book Update. There has been a very minor change to the 2014 Competition Rulebook in relation to Appendix 2 - Height Verification Procedure. The Rule Book can be downloaded from http://www.gliding.co.uk/forms/competitionrules2014.pdf
Juniors
RAeS Scholarships. Once again, the Royal Aeronautical Society Centennial Scholarship Fund generously provided funding which enabled us to offer up to 10 flying scholarships in 2014 to young glider pilots, both pre- and post-solo. Following an application process, ten scholarships of £300 have now been awarded to pilots between the ages of 14 and 21. The winners of these Scholarships are: Lucia Gray and William Andrews (both Yorkshire GC); Conrad Morris (Mendip GC); Sarah Aze (Wolds GC); James Taylor (Buckminster GC); Alistair Lounds (Seahawk GC); Rozanna Toomer (Lasham GS); Jamie Carruthers (Essex & Suffolk GC); George Hunter (Booker GC); and Nat Ridgeway (Essex GC).
RAeC Trust Bursaries. 28 bursaries have been awarded by the Royal Aero Club Trust to enable young air sport enthusiasts to advance their existing air sport qualifications and, once again, glider pilots have featured strongly in the awards. The Peter Cruddas Foundation Scholarship was awarded jointly to Joseph McCarron (Kent GC) and skydiver, Emma Dayman. Edward Eveson (Norfolk GC) received the Bramson Bursary and Gareth Furlong (Kent GC) the

MacRobert Trust Bursary. Other bursaries were awarded to Liam Telfer (Essex GC), Lewis Horsley (Staffs GC), Jon James Young (Bristol & Glos GC), Jake Toomer (Lasham GS), Matthew Jump (Windrushers GC), and Amy-Joanne Randalls (Angus GC). Congratulations to the winners and thanks to the RAeC Trust and its benefactors who do so much to encourage young people to develop their potential through air sports.
General
RAeC News. The Royal Aero Club has published the summer 2014 edition of its newsletter. At present, this has not been added to their web site but you can read a copy at http://www.gliding.co.uk/documents/raecnews-summer2014.pdf
World Air Games 2015. The FAI has announced that the 2015 World Air Games has been awarded to the United Arab Emirates and will be held in Dubai in December 2015. The FAI World Air Games is a combination of elite competition and spectacular demonstrations, which exemplify the very best that air sports have to offer. The 2015 Games will include Powered and Glider Aerobatics, Aeromodelling, Amateur-Built and Experimental Aircraft, Ballooning, Gyrocopters, Hang Gliding, Helicopters, Microlights, Paramotors, and Parachuting.