The Gliding Federation of Australia administers a system of maintenance for sailplanes and powered sailplanes in Australia under delegated authority from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority of Australia (CASA). This is called the Gliding Australia Airworthiness System, which nurtures and develops an environment of safety and continuing airworthiness for all members’ aircraft as well as Gliding Australia Authorised Inspectors and Gliding Australia Authorised Organisations. The system maintains and develops standards for technical specifications, maintenance procedures, training and education as well as performing certification, audit, aircraft registration and technical advisory roles for members.
The Gliding Federation of Australia Airworthiness System rules are in the GFA Manual of Standard Procedures Part 3 (Airworthiness), referred to as the MoSP part 3, which explains the general procedures for administering the GFA Airworthiness System, including the roles, privileges and limitations of all GFA airworthiness staff, authorised persons and authorised organisations.
There are many layers to the Airworthiness System, however for the individual member they can be categorized into:
Owning a sailplane: the roles of Registration Holder and Registered Operator, forming a group (syndicate) that shares ownership, how to import a sailplane from overseas, and how to change of ownership.
Caring for a sailplane: getting the latest safety information, how to get maintenance and repair training, where to find help, modifications and more.
Building a sailplane: Some sailplanes are built from kits or from plans. If you are interested in taking on a self build project, this is for you.
