You may be a skilled pilot, or progressing towards this,  but can you legally fly a glider solo in Australia?

3 requirements

• You must be a financial GFA flying adult or Flying Junior member
• You must be a financial member of an affiliated GC
• You must have a current Medical certificate

Are you financial?

If you are paying your GFA membership automatically (you ticked the subscription box in your membership application) your payment will be automatically deducted from your credit card.

Credit cards have typically a 2 year life before they are renewed, and if your card expires then the automatic payment will fail. “Just Go” will send you a reminder and ask you to update your card, before it tells you that your payment has failed.

You can solve this problem directly in Just Go, by clicking on the green Finance Tab in the main menu. This will let you update your credit card details. If you get the email saying that your payment failed, please just update your card details, and if you need help phone the GFA Office. 03 93591613.

Clubs can print off a list of their members who have not paid their GFA membership (Look under Reports/Membership) and we encourage clubs to chase this up. Your membership is valid for a month after it expires but after that you could be in the hands of CASA, Lawyers or Insurers.

Have you told us which gliding club you are a member of?

You are asked to nominate your Gliding Club when you first join GFA, but quite a few new members do not fill this section in. If you change clubs, you need to tell us this also.

In “JustGo” click on your Profile and to the right of your details you will see the section called My Clubs. It will show you what you have already told us. If your club is not listed, you can “select club” by clicking the mall green + symbol. Select your club from the list provided. Once listed, you can select which club is your primary club , or remove a club, by clicking the three dots.

Do you have a current medical?

If you want to fly solo you must have a current medical certificate.

The easiest option is a self-declaration, provided you do not have any underpinning health issues. If you are an AEI or Instructor or towpilot you will need a certificate from your doctor, or a CASA medical.

The credential application will lead you though the process and give you the correct forms to use

In “JustGo” click on your Profile and in the third row of menus across the top of the page click on “Credentials”. This will list your current credentials and also any that have expired. With any credential you cannot change a credential, you must add a new one. You can add a new credential even when a previous one has not yet expired.

Click the green box “add credential” and then select Medical Certificate or Declaration. The system will ask if you intend to fly solo. If your answer is NO then it asks you to fill in the date that you want this declaration to go to, and then you should click Save at the top of the page.

If you say that you do want to fly solo, it asks what sort of flying you want to do.

1. For glider flying it asks you to confirm any previous medical conditions. If you don’t have any of these you can fill in the declaration of physical fitness and upload a copy of this as your evidence.
2. If you need to get a GFA Medical Practitioner’s Certificate of Fitness, download that form and have your doctor sign this.
3. If you need a CASA medical you should arrange this and upload your CASA certificate.

The most difficult thing to do is to save a copy of your signed certificate onto your computer and then upload this as evidence. A photo or a screen shot are also good options.

Once you have uploaded the certificate, click save at the top right of the page.