I wonder how ffplum get their figures for the number of hours, as far as I know ULM hours do not have to be recorded in France. There are around 20 ULM’s here at LFFK and many of their owners do well over 40 hours a year. There are two clubs which are also ULM schools. One is a DTO to SEP/PPL level the other is a gliding club. To hire either clubs ULM costs just over 50% of the cost of renting the Aeroclub’s da40, ie between 70 and 80 euros an hour. However the ULM renters must arrange their own insurance.
The Aeroclub’s ULM does about half the number of hours per year of the da40, but that is not surprising as having got their licence most ULM pilots go on to buy their own aircraft. The club hours are therefore mostly made up of SEP/PPLs who instead of flying the da40 locally will cut their costs and bimble about in the ULM.
The number of prospective ULM pilots to student PPLs is at the moment in the region of 4:1 and the gap is rapidly increasing.
As I have written before the ULM scene in France is very different from the rest of Europe and the USA, and is becoming/is a major percentage of GA flying here.
As I have written before the ULM scene in France is very different from the rest of Europe and the USA, and is becoming/is a major percentage of GA flying here
Where do you see the root cause for the difference compared to Europe or the USA? My first guess would be the very liberal regulatory framework for French ULM?
Interestingly, looking at the summary in your first post, ‘hardware issues’ (engine failures, aircraft structural issues) seemed to be the minority; and pilot errors again, as usual, being the largest contribution to accidents?
Worth noting the French ULM needs no medical, within France. May be a factor. Most UK NPPL is in the medical self declaration so probably is a factor.
Let’s not forget that Iceland, Slovenia and Switzerland are worse off than France.
Yes the French ULM scene is very liberal, you don’t have to land or take off from an airfield, you can use any piece of land or water providing you have the landowner’s permission, as Peter says a medical is unnecessary and people can maintain their own aircraft, nver having to have checks from some kind of regulatory body.This liberalisation may or may not be behind many accident and fatalit8es in France but it is certainly behind the huge rise in ULM pilot numbers over the last few years.
I copied the figures into excel and got these graphs (hours are on the same scale, but number of members isn’t)
GA number of members and hours flown
ULM number of members and hours flown
Peter wrote:
What are the benefits of being a member?
I only have experience of the FFA licence, which is about €80 per year. I guess it’s roughly the same as AOPA. For that you get on a personal level:
In the bigger picture they do loads for GA:
I’m a big fan, as you can probably tell 
Reading the mandate on the FFPLUM website they generally do the same things. I think maybe members can choose to declare their hours when renewing membership.
LeSving wrote:
Let’s not forget that Iceland, Slovenia and Switzerland are worse off than France.
Whenever I’m in Slovenia there seems to be a plane crash on the news (my family are usually the first to tell me ) Small GA or microlight, and usually valley flying under the clouds; this is anecdotal though. I have a feeling due to the small population there might be a higher percentage of pilots..?
Capitaine wrote:
50% discount at Edeis airports
On a personal “why isn’t the world tailored for me” note, it sucks that one cannot be a FFA member without being member in an aeroclub.
@Capitaine I believe you forgot one or two things such as provision of legal assistance where necessary. I just paid this years subscription to was 77euros without the magazine “info pilote”.
@Lionel I think you can join FFA without being a member of a club.
@Capitaine “Asterix rules o.k.”
gallois wrote:
I think you can join FFA without being a member of a club.
The FAQ on http://ffa-aero.fr/FR/frm_FAQ_gene.awp says:
Peut-on souscrire à la Licence FFA sans passer par un aéro-club ?
Il n’est pas possible de souscrire une Licence FFA sans être adhérant dans un aéro-club affilié à la FFA.
Retrouvez ici la liste des aéro-clubs
