And certainly never seen one in the Class E routes, which are great for longer distances, FL065+.
I never care for the routes (flying VFR) at whatever FL I fly
I usually decide my altitude/FL based on winds aloft (and now with the help of SkyDemon 
@MooneyDriver : I think most VFR pilot don’t have to care about cancelled planned trips.
They unfortunately don’t even plan them in the first place because of a mix of the aforementioned factors.
Owning an aircraft with identical range/endurance as the TB20, I would feel severely restricted by what the Cirrus offers.
I wonder what the French constructors have with range. It appears to me that they have produced some of the most remarkable airframes in terms of range, the TB20 being one, the HR100 being another and in recent times very different airframes such as the A330 which can with full tanks do ridiculous range flights, not to speak of the A340-500. I also heard from the folks at Mooney that the concept of very long range came during the time they were owned by French manufacturers, one result of that being the TBM 700 (which was developed out of the Mooney 301) which again has a huge operating range.
I am not sure what exactly the Cirrus ranges are, for some reason I never got a POH I could play with, especcially not of the newer versions. One guy I know who keeps flying these across the NATL tells me that under normal conditions, it can easily do it on the integral tanks, so range can´t be that bad?
I think most VFR pilot don’t have to care about cancelled planned trips.
They unfortunately don’t even plan them in the first place because of a mix of the aforementioned factors.
I think most of them go through the same process I did. First enthusiasm after the PPL they plan all those great trips which mostly fail or become a nerve wrecking experience on the way home, think it is a “one of” bad luck, then it happens again and again and again. Finally either they give up or go IFR.
I have been musing over this quite intensively in the recent years, particularly what we could do in the weather forecasting front to help this kind of stuff. I am working on some project right now, on my own time, to figure out whether we can improve VFR long range forecasting by working with stuff like VFR climatologies for certain regions (what is the probability in the long term statistic that VFR is possible at a given date), by possibly providing long range VFR products like a 36 hour GAFOR like prediction and similar stuff. But it is not easy and very time consuming.
We seem to agree that “abroad” is not really a factor, but the length of a trip is. Especially so for those who fly VFR only, and I assume these are a majority among GA. With this proviso, I’ll start a new thread under a more appropriate title. If the forum management think the argument is better continued here, they are of course free to join threads accordingly.
There are two books which focus on flying VFR across borders in Europe.
One is called “Cross border information – VFR around Germany” and was published by DFS, the German ATC company. It contains excerpts from various AIPs (Belgium, France, Denmark, Austria, the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Czech Republic) and, like the AIPs, has the texts both in German and English next to each other so it would be of use to non-German speakers as well. It focusses by country on topics like Mandatory Flight plan filing, airspace structure, VFR-rules, minimum heights, altimeter and transponder settings etc. I am not sure whether this one is still in print and up-to-date as I could not find it any longer at the relevant pilot supplies stores.
The second one is “Cross border information – VFR ins Ausland” by a lady named Heike Schweigert. Available e.g. here Link
I have the slight suspicion that this one might be the successor to the book I mentioned first. It also provides the relevant information on a country-by-country basis (for 22 European countries) but it seems to have the distinct disadvantage in that it has the text in German only.
Yes, one is the successor of the other. Oh, and they’re both total crap…
Don’t know what it is with the range of the Cirrus SR22. It is excellent.
The pre-G3s (81gals) do 1000 miles plus reserves.
The G3 and G5 (92 gals) do 1150miles plus reserves. Both is for the NA.
TB20 is only a tiny bit better it seems, and then only calm winds. In headwinds, the SR22 will win the battle because it flies much faster and thus is less affected by any headwinds.
Back on the discussion, it semms like “fear” is a dominant factor.
I really don’t get this. It’s a hobby for modt of us and it is supposed to be fun. Many people seem to have fears in flying, but nevertheless don’t quit. A healthy portion of respect is what is needed, but fear not good.
bosco
Oh, and they’re both total crap…
Can’t say as I have not read them. They are in the books collection of my local flying club. Care to elaborate how you come to such a bold statement?
I wonder what the French constructors have with range
I think range is more important in Europe. In the USA, you have a runway next to most significant towns and they all have avgas.
SR22 will win the battle because it flies much faster
Only a little. “Much faster” would be 250kt+.
In reality, for some reason, one sees very few modern planes at the endpoint of long trips to the south. I suspect there are several reasons for it, with the proximity of avionics dealers being one.
In general I think we get a very poor service in terms of charts here in Europe.
Why is it so that only jepessen can get the charts together and present them in a standardized format?
With all the money that goes to Eurocontrol and EASA why can’t there be any European standardized charts available – I really do not understand… On one hand discussions about making EU more competitive vs the rest of the world and on the other – there is no common charting for Europe. Not to mention the cockpit business of Garmin and jepessen – prices here are outrageous, even airliners can’t effort – nothing happens to cure the situation. Why? Is that all so niche?
I completed my first trip abroad with a friend, who asked me to help position his Bonanza down to Empuriabrava. I agreed, because I was to complete the trip, to Majorca, the following month, in my own Bonanza. I thought the experience would be invaluable. He was IR rated. We routed via Jersey, and the first issue was that we were routed all over the UK to get there. Making us late. He told me flying IFR was fraught with these issues. We left Jersey, late, and the private field at Epuria had no lights. Weather had also closed in. He nearly killed both of us going into Perpignan. He screwed up the DME arc, and we only got in because I got a quick glimpse of the runway through the crap. The following morning we ran scud run round the coast at 500 feet to get to his holiday home.
My trip, full VFR, in contrast, went almost perfectly. Few scary moments, but I learnt a huge amount. Biggest learning point- that VFR flying in France and Spain was relatively easy, if prepared. Much easier than the previous IFR trip. Since then I have done a number of long VFR trips in Europe. I agree that weather patterns in Northern Europe last few years have not made summer VFR flying that reliable, but if you can go above, on top, then it makes it all pretty worthwhile.
