I have a close relative currently travelling in Argentina for a few days on a business trip and having noticed an Argentinian shop @LAEREO on the forum I thought of sending her over to survey GA in the area.
I had (am ready for the bashing) half-thought Argentinian shops would be dust-covered barns surrounded by airplane scrapheaps, with opened engines full of dust-contaminated oil and roughly patched-up airframes…like this
…maybe I have watched too many movies and travelled too little that part of the world…
Instead, LAEREO’s shop looks more like this as posted herein.
Looking further, I notice it is at Cordoba so too far away from Buenos Aires for a survey by my relative…
It nonetheless brought thoughts of the GA scene in Argentina …what is it like? Is it declining like verywhere else? Are you free to fly around most everywhere? Is it increasingly full of microlights or still dominated by part-23 aircraft?
When I lived in Spain, a good friend of mine was Argentinian and a pilot. According to him GA is almost non-existent there. Never tried it myself, though. I do have a standing invitation from another friend in Argentina and hope to go next year. Will try to do some flying then.
A good friend is building a jet powered Velocity experimental down there, so am guessing there is an experimental category for LV registry. I believe there are forty official exchange rates at the moment, plus the informal BLU, so securing imported spare parts must be a challenge. The country has been in its most recent period of default since 2018, and therefore back in its favourite economic model: high inflation, exchange control autarchic.
There is a corporate GA and AG sector, not sure how vibrant private GA is at the moment.
HAHAHA, SOME WORKSHOPS LOOK LIKE THAT!!!, BUT IN GENERAL THERE ARE GOOD FACILITIES, THANK YOU FOR CONTACTING ME AND BEING INTERESTED IN OUR GA. LUCKILY WE CONTINUE WITH MANY PART23 ALTHOUGH THERE ARE MORE AND MORE CERTIFIED ULTRALIGHTS LIKE TECNAM, WHICH ARE USED IN FLIGHT SCHOOLS. PRIVATE OPERATORS AND CORPORATIONS OPTE FOR MORE RELIABLE AIRCRAFT BECAUSE CROSSINGS IN ARGENTINA ARE LONG, WE HAVE A VERY EXTENSIVE COUNTRY WITH VERY VARIED GEOGRAPHY, ULTRALIGHT AIRCRAFT ARE LIMITED IN LONG CROSSINGS DUE TO WEATHER AND GEOGRAPHIC CONDITIONS AND FEW ALTERNATIVES ON LAND.THE GA SCENE IN ARGENTINA TODAY IS NOT DECREASING, THE COUNTRY’S ECONOMIC CRISIS IS VERY COMPLICATED BUT MANY OPERATORS CONTINUE FLYING AND BUYING AIRCRAFT, HERE YOU CAN FLY FREELY ALL OVER THE COUNTRY, EVEN BORDERING COUNTRIES LIKE BRAZIL, URUGUAY AND CHILE, SOME BOLD EVEN HAVE FLOWN TO THE MALVINAS ISLANDS WITH SINGLE ENGINES.
WE ONLY WORK WITH PART 23 AIRCRAFT AND LUCKILY THERE IS A LOT OF WORK TO DO, CORDOBA IS A STRATEGIC POINT FOR REGIONAL GA FLIGHTS, I WOULD LIKE TO RECEIVE COLLEAGUES IF THEY HAVE THE POSSIBILITY OF GETTING HERE. ANTONIO YOU ARE IN MALLORCA LESB SPAIN, I RETURNED FROM SPAIN LAST WEEK, I LOVE SPAIN! GRACIAS POR LOS COMENTARIOS!
Gracias @LAEREO . Where in Spain did you visit?
It is interesting that GA in Argentina does not follow the country’s economic crisis. Some of the posts in this thread on the GA activity decline are relevant.
Why do you think the activity does not correlate to the general economy? Is it possibly because the unofficial economy is alive and kicking (my relative cannot find a decent way to use the official currency exchange places in Argentina) whereas the official one has no way of making ends meet? or is it because of the GA environment (large country, long distances, few restrictions) …?
@antonio. I spent a month in Europe where Spain was my base of operations, I have my sister in Madrid, where I visited the Casarrubios aerodrome, I was in Valencia and Barcelona with a fellow instructor at the EAS flight school. Also visit UK, London, Shuttleworth Collection in Biggleswade and Duxford Flying Finale Show, an inexplicable experience! I hope to be able to return to Europe soon.
Argentina is a very strange country, it lives from crisis to crisis in an environment full of resources, the most vulnerable classes unfortunately always suffer the consequences, corruption is installed in politics, GA operators are companies or entrepreneurs, it does not hit them In the same way, sometimes they are even opportunities, GA activity may drop but it does not mean that the operators sell their planes.
Antonio wrote:
Is it possibly because the unofficial economy is alive and kicking
the restrictions and different types of exchange that only confuse the population and benefit a few make the informal way increase and become part of the daily economy, it is complicated and very stressful.
@terbang . I read your report of the trip to South America, what an excellent experience! There are a lot of Mooney fans here, there are even Mooney-only events a couple of times a year.
