dublinpilot wrote:
I would say that it’s gotten a lot easier to be an informed, competent, well organised VFR pilot with a good clear plan for your flight.But I’d also say that it has become less acceptable not to be an informed, competent, well organised VFR pilot with a good clear plan for your flight!
I think you summarise it very well ;)
In other words progress has been made in something that doesn’t matter, extreme compliance with arbitrary rules, at the expense of potential progress in something that does matter, making lives easier and more pleasant via technology. And more technology is now de facto mandatory, reducing access. All thanks to multiple overgrown bureaucracies focused on remaining relevant regardless of need, serving no one but themselves.
gallois wrote:
I think the cartoonist has got it just about right, very funny:))
Yah, you know that most of the time I feel more like french than german 
Mooney_Driver wrote:
A lot of desirable airports are outpricing GA or get rid of it via PPR. Southern Europe gets less and less attractive and therefore goes the goal most people think they have when they start flying.
Flying has never been something for people without real motivation, VFR or IFR, and “Southern Europe” covers a lot of different countries with very different situations. Where there is a will, people find a way. But that may need some adaptation.
As larger airfields with good infrastructure (such as hard surface, customs, IFR, etc) have increasingly migrated to commercial operation orientation, many smaller airfields have popped up with shorter grass runways. France and Italy are good examples. GA is still thriving in these countries but at a different level using 2-place Rotax <700kg MTOW, or “ultralights”. Just look at an Avioportolano map. This crowd doesn’t tour as much internationally, but they are still active nationally. Many are just happy to be flying.
The area of GA that seems to be suffering the most is the “middle class” which is so common in the US, SE & ME prop 1000-3000kg MTOW, due to needing/wanting the infrastructure that is being priced out of reach or simply discouraged for that market at many of the airfields with the facilities. Thankfully, there is nonetheless still a fair list of airfields if one takes the effort to search them out…. they’re just not as many or as easy to find as before. The numbers vary largely from one country to the next and IMHO trying to generalize across all of Europe doesn’t really make much sense.
Spain just chopped down prices for GA, from three-digits fees in some AENA places to one-digit fees. Handling no longer necessary.
In Germany AOPA reports that from 2022 on the need for flying with “Flugleiter” is dropped.
So there are places where things are improving.
Seems like UK and Greece are the places where direction of changes is worst. But I would not count this as “VFR flying is worse than before”.
UdoR wrote:
In Germany AOPA reports that from 2022 on the need for flying with “Flugleiter” is dropped.Seeing is believing. Here is why: The fire extinguishing and rescue service might not be necessary anymore (after 2022), however, airfields do still need a change in their operational license after the law change. I heard already some first rumors, saying that our local CAA won’t approve new operational agreements for legal movements without anybody being on-site. So post-2022, a Flugleiter might not be needed anymore for rescue service, but a “competent person” might still be necessary to enforce house rules. Maybe also depending on the aerodrome. I highly doubt that every aeroclub will allow movements on their airfields, when nobody is on-site. The future will tell us what will happen. At least, I remain skeptical for now. I don’t think Germany will become a second France, or even not a second Switzerland. Maybe some states will allow more than other states. There is already quite a difference between Hesse and Bavaria, for example. Hesse has already quite a few airfields, where flying without a “Flugleiter” is allowed for home-based pilots, which might be unthinkable in other states.
Flying has never been something for people without real motivation, VFR or IFR, and “Southern Europe” covers a lot of different countries with very different situations. Where there is a will, people find a way. But that may need some adaptation.I agree. Every country has its own challenges. Personally, I think that fuel planning is also quite difficult in Central European countries, like Poland or Slovakia. Avgas or Mogas is mostly only available at some selected aerodromes, and you need also somebody to be on-site, how is able to sell you some fuel. Those countries don’t need a “Flugleiter” like in Germany, but they also don’t have unmanned fuel stations, like in France, Switzerland or Scandinavia, where you can often refuel in self-service with credit- and/or carnet-cards.
Frans wrote:
Personally, I think that fuel planning is also quite difficult in Central European countries, like Poland or Slovakia.
Agree. I’ve planned group trips in both countries in the recent past and fuel planning was the biggest challenge when selecting a route, especially since some of the planes in the group didn’t have long range or didn’t want to fly long legs. 200nm is a long time in an L-4.
Is there any way to find out the extent of the French “Paris area” notam, banning VFR above FL115?
The lower altitude enroute chart (ENR. 6.1) shows the ACC sector boundaries. While Paris Control indeed manages only about a quarter of the country, that quarter is very much in the way for anyone routing south or southeast from the southeast of England. But then almost nobody wants to fly VFR at levels above FL115 in the flat parts of Europe.
