Lovley, always too many places and to short of time! Thx for sharing?
Mende – Brenoux – for the movie and aviation buffs, that’s where the epic final scene of La Grande Vadrouille was filmed, with two gliders being towed away by a driverless car towards the drop-off end of the runway. I think the wreck of the car is still to be seen at the bottom of the cliff :)
http://touch.dailymotion.com/video/x2l4mk_la-grande-vadrouille_shortfilms
Just wondering how many new pilots will start their PPL by reading trip reports like this…
Well done bosco! Thanks for sharing…
Just wondering how many new pilots will start their PPL by reading trip reports like this…
I am afraid not many.
We, as pilots, have (me included) the habit of the “preaching to the choir” too much. Now, while this is undoubtedly useful (i.e. encouraging inexperienced PPL holders to spread their wings some more), what would be at least as important would be to make non-pilots want to become pilots.
How would a non-pilot ever find and read this forum?
Also, let’s face it: in order to be able to do trips like this one, one needs a) a capable (read: expensive) aircraft and b) lots of experience
Since it’s a gradual process, experienced pilots tend to not be aware of how far they have evolved from the basic, plain-vanilla PPL holder. I get some sort of “reality-check” every now and then, since I occasionally do instruction. Last week, I had a lenghty ground school session with a low-hours pilot who had asked me to teach him the basics of flying abroad and particularly of flying in Italy. Each time again, these sessions are quite revealing (for me!). One often has to start all over, with lesson zero.
So, as much as I would like to, I just don’t feel like telling novice pilots the old tale of “it’s quite easy doing such trips; just get your PPL and then you can do it, too.”
The truth is, before one can do trips like this one and really no longer be stressed by the flying part, it will usually take years.
Due to all the involved complexities, PPL flying nowadays is for the really enthusiastic flyers. Not for those who are merely excited by the prospect of being able to go from A to B reliably and in a “relaxed” manner.
Thanks for sharing! Great pictures and what a wonderful piece of kit you have!
Great write-up and very inspiring
Agree with your point that there’s a big gap between freshly minted PPL and trips like this, although some clubs do organise good long VFR tours. I think you’d be surprised how many find these write ups and read them – including prospective PPLs. I certainly did at that stage.
I agree that these long trips – even if done purely VFR i.e. without an IR – do take a while to do with confidence.
But there is no really good reason why it should take a few years post-PPL before on can do it. A great deal of the knowledge required is “operational” in nature and can be picked up quickly by hanging out with experienced pilots.
I think the biggest problem is that experienced pilots are not encouraged to hang out around the flight training scene. I see this in the UK a lot. It is done presumably to keep the “learning environment” sterile so that the authority of the school system is maximised. As a result, the vast majority of new PPLs never get to meet anybody who has been anywhere, before they chuck their PPL away (on average a year later). I can strongly relate to this myself… it took me a year after I got the TB20 before I started doing long trips, though the delay was mostly due to teething troubles with the aircraft (avionics) and to a shortage of people to fly with.
Having a high performance – specifically I would say long range – aircraft is a very big help, because you aren’t stopping for fuel every 2-3 hours. Most of the fuel stops which one ends up doing when touring in say a PA28-161 are going to be in absolute dumps so there is no value to the stop; it is pure annoyance – other than allowing those who can’t/won’t pee into a bottle to use a toilet 
How would a non-pilot ever find and read this forum?
Assuming he/she uses the internet, it hangs very much on the SEO performance of the site, and EuroGA has been done by a real specialist (David) and ranks very highly. My own site also draws a huge number of hits on the various terms, and place names, which come up. It takes a while to get this established but basically google owns the world nowadays…
This is turning into a very current and relevant discussion for me.
Just minutes ago, I got off the phone with a friend whose marriage just went down the drain and who would like to get “out” for a while. We fixed a week in the beginning of August and I suggested a wild, unplanned (mind you, in the context of the week, not in the context of the individual flight legs 
) flying trip across Europe – depending on where the weather will allow us to go (and hopefully back). I also suggested a longer train trip to Teheran, which has been on my to do list for a while, but he claims he’d rather not sit on a train for hours where he can think about his misery and prefers to fly with me, which he finds a bit more alarming/hence less time to reflect. I take that as a compliment in this case.
The parameters: I’ve flown for a year and a half, reaching 100 hours this month (including lessons), longest trips so far to the Frisian islands (day trips, or one overnight). International experience: NL multiple times, Belgium/UK/France as a “co-pilot” (ahem… RHS passenger with COM/NAV tasks), US for PPL training. I doubt I can get the local company’s C172 for a week (in any case, one is still in repair after the major storm we faced and the other one was wrecked and replaced but the paperwork is still in progress) , so it’ll be one of their C152. VFR obviously. The aircraft is well-maintained to my knowledge and will be GNS430 equipped and I carry SkyDemon on an iPad Mini for convenience.
Based on our agreed budget, the trip (weather permitting) will probably take us somewhere within a 600-700NM radius or so from the Rhein/Ruhr area. I’m envisioning destinations such as Dublin, Oslo, Riga, Lviv, Croatia, Barcelona, San Sebastian, … But really do want to decide all intermediate destinations (and naturally, the final destination, too) from wherever we are on the go. I’m allowing myself a two-day buffer to counter get-home-itis. (i.e. plan to be back by Friday or even Thursday, but reserve AC and time until Sunday).
I’m very excited about this. Anyone thinking this is overly ambitious or just about the right thing? Any other input/warnings etc. all welcome.
Ah @boscomantico: Another great trip report and a very inspiring lunch break reading indeed. BTW I’m on a conference in St. Leon-Rot on Thursday and Friday and if weather outlook improves a bit until then, I’ll be flying to Mannheim for the first time…
How would a non-pilot ever find and read this forum?
Don’t underestimate the power of curiosity, or that non-pilots may have previous experience in aviation that gets them going in some direction. People with the ambition to become pilots are a curious bunch When I was looking at becoming a pilot ‘for real’ after a flirtation 20 years prior, I first figured out what kind of plane I might want, then I found an Internet forum devoted to the type, then through the forum I met a local guy who flies and restores them, then I went flying with him, then six months later when he bought a ‘new’ plane I bought the plane in which I’d gone for a ride… which had meanwhile become non-airworthy despite having won prizes two years before. Then I located an instructor who was also a mechanic/inspector. Then we fixed the plane together, and he test flew it because I couldn’t. Then he taught me to fly it.
In retrospect its amazing that it all worked out, but I think anybody with an idea can be the most powerful force on earth. Somehow, and regardless of the environment, a non-pilot can wiggle their way towards useful information. Figuring out the key words for a Google search may be all it takes today, and I think this group would be friendly to a person in that situation.
Great trip report, great photos!
PS the old C150 doesn’t look like its rotting away to me. It’s not the nicest 150 in the world, but the cockpit is covered and the tires are inflated. Its a ’65 too, which to a tiny group of people is a desirable year Somebody might love that plane!
