Why thank you, Bosmantico, but it’s been a lot further than that. Best trip was to Gliwice, southern Poland, 17°E.
Came back NORDO after the radio went TU.
I’m cheating, it is a Supercub cruising at 70it.
Nice! Central France to Bidford and back is quite a trip for a Cub. Way to go!
Interesting takes on the problems of traveling in a light aircraft. I fly a cub, so it always takes me a long time to get anywhere, and it is VFR only. I live a minimum of four hours from most of the frontiers (central France) and usually do a couple of week long trips each year, either solo or with my husband, also a power pilot.
My latest was to Avignon, that was a solo trip for international women’s day, which is 8 March, not ideal from the weather point of view as a rule. It was actually severe cavok both ways, straight there at FL 75, back at 65. Lovely. The way flying should be.
The idea was to carry on to England and do the annual…..on Monday. Hah! The weather had different ideas. I got half way (to the French coast from home) on Wednesday, and to Bidford on Thursday. So, not a disaster, but three days late.
Time to spare, go by air.
The return trip a week later involved taking refuge at Lasham for a couple of nights, instead of via Popham LFRK dct Poitiers for customs and ten minutes to home. Nice weather in UK, nasty at home.
Ok, did some gliding, cub in the hangar, nice food, good company, but not exactly as planned. Monday departure involved finding a fax machine first as in this marvelous joined up world I can’t file a flight plan using Olivia, because I am flying FROM England TO France and I can’t have an AFPEX account because I don’t live in the UK.
Lasham being a gliding club isn’t really geared up for such things, but they dusted off the fax machine for me and printed out the flight plan form so I could fill it in by hand.
Finally got airborne to find the cloudbase and visibility on the coast a lot less nice than forecast. Scrabbled across the channel via Lydd, cap Griz Nez instead of SFD dct LFOI, long white stick past LFAT and arrive at Abbeville to find no fuel until 14:00. Oh well, that gives the weather a chance to improve, says I. Did it hell.
Restaurant shut on Monday, aero club sold me a coke and I found a not totally disgusting cereal bar in the bottom of my bag, fueled up the cub and set off into the now moderate headwind. This is a cub with a fine pitch prop….As I passed the Loire the weather improved to 8km and a reasonable cloudbase, 10 knots on the nose. Got home somewhat later, to find the aircraft in the hangar had mysteriously closed in on my space. Removed one microlight, one motor glider, one glider, with the help of the friend who was driving me home, parked, replaced the other aircraft somewhat at random, and left.
This sort of thing is just fine if one doesn’t need to be at work and owns the aircraft, but may explain why the slowest aircraft on the site does most touring. It just isn’t realistic to hire an aircraft and take a week off work with this level of dispatch reliability.
I found it wasn’t so much the distance – I learnt in the US, with a PPL cross-country of over 300nm through class D with flight planning etc – I felt well prepared for the flying. What stopped me was hiring planes, the likelihood of cancellations, the received wisdom that flying across the channel was reckless (or at least specially hard) in a single, and a general awareness that things were different abroad but no real idea how to find out everything I needed. For me the biggest change was the introduction of SkyDemon (other planning tools are available :-) and a flying club that was really supportive.
I think what would have really got me going on long trips ten years earlier would be flying with someone else at the club, to show me what could be done. Maybe it would have helped if I’d tried harder to set up a way of matching seats wanted/offered in a club environment.
northern Europe = icing
expensive hobby = lack of FIKI
This is definitely an issue around here, but that concerns any flight – even a day trip to Le Touquet.
Icing? What’s that? 
I guess I’m living close enough to the equator to not be affected by it much, I’ve never seen a freezing level on the Area forecast that was below 10000ft, in winter it might get a bit lower but then it’s usually CAVOK so not much of a problem. In the local Sunshine Coast parlance ‘freezing cold’ is anything under 18 degrees Celsius (and this warrants wearing a beanie and uggs apparently). Which is fine by me: I spend the first years of my career breaking ice in the Baltic, so I’ve seen enough of the stuff for a life time.
But in seriousness, it is probably a big issue flying IFR in places like Victoria and Tasmania in winter.
Of course you may. It is interesting to hear from such exotic places as Australia which must be a little like the western US in terms of weather, although different I often thought that the day I make it down under I really need to organize a flight throughout at least a part of the continent.
I reckon Australia is one of the few places where flying a small aircraft is really the way to go; the J-curve may have semi-decent roads but once you go out a bit further west and north it is really much more convenient than driving. With a few exceptions (go visit YORC when you’re here!) it will not be cheaper than driving but it will be heaps quicker and safer than sharing the roads with roos and road-trains, and in most of the places the airstrip is next to the pub/hotel (and otherwise circle over the pub a couple of times and they’ll send old-mate in the ute out to pick you up 
)
expensive hobby = lack of FIKI
Sounds like something a marriage councelor might say At least in German speaking environments.
But joking aside, I agree. Weather is the most restrictive problem around here. North of Alps and Alps I’d say. South, things do improve even though this winter it was also quite “interesting” in certain places.
BTW, I have found that being really good at weather has preciously little to do with knowing where to find the models than knowing their individual weaknesses. Drives me nuts even 13 years into the job. They did work well though today. 60 kt gusts predicted, seen 56 kts before I went off duty and had the rest smashed against my window while I was trying to catch an afternoon nap.
If I may chip in, even though I’m not in Europe anymore?
Of course you may. It is interesting to hear from such exotic places as Australia which must be a little like the western US in terms of weather, although different I often thought that the day I make it down under I really need to organize a flight throughout at least a part of the continent.
northern Europe = icing
expensive hobby = lack of FIKI
This is definitely an issue around here, but that concerns any flight – even a day trip to Le Touquet.
If I may chip in, even though I’m not in Europe anymore?
Here in Australia (not abroad obviously, trans-Tasman crossings in a SEP are not for the faint of heart) we should be having much less issues with long flights: In the right season you get usually excellent VFR weather (and even in summer the thunderstorms usually start only in the afternoon), charts and ERSA are not too expensive and can be had electronically anyway (www.ozrunways.com $70 a year for the whole continent/country, they are expanding coverage to the rest of the world as well), language, customs and immigration are a non issue and most airports are quite welcoming to VFR traffic. For instance; at Gold Coast airport you pay less than half the parking fee for a C172 than you would for the family car, and a clearance into the class C airspace is a non issue if you file a flight plan (landing fee + nav charges around $25 I think).
However many people still don’t venture away from the familiar circuit, I would say the GF/Wife factor is the biggest one. Never mind the parachute but non-flyers seem to get a bit nervous about flying a 40 year old aircraft, especially if it looks its age (“We are going to fly at 8000ft in that!!??”). New AC can be rented of course, but they are usually pretty heavily utilized by the flying school, so they won’t let you take it for a week or even just a weekend and you pay a big premium. (banged up 40 your old C172M $200h, nicely done up C172N $250 and an IFR G1000 172SP for around $310p/h).
I reckon the retired guys who fly LSAs are the ones getting most of the long distance flying done, just don’t be in a hurry if you want to traverse the country in a Foxbat or a drifter (and pack light!).
As a newly licensed PPL with long leave periods suitable for flying I’m really making an effort not to fall into that trap, but I’m still looking around for better rental options (seeing the SID bill for a well maintained and reasonably nice looking C172 made me reconsider ownership for the time being).
long distance = clouds.
northern Europe = icing
expensive hobby = lack of FIKI
I feel, that for half the year, it’s simply not possible to cover any material distance (and get back!) free of icing risk – unless one has exceptional weather knowledge. Its possible to get CAVOK for a good distance but after you’ve had dinner and a day or two on the beach, it’s mostly likely a front will be appearing. It’s easier to go for a 100nm burger run and come back same day. It’s likely my lack of experience but there is often a reason not to undertake a particular flight and a linear relationship between distance and weather effects.
DMEarc
Sprucegoose I think your comments are really relevant. I have been flying for quite a few decades and also have a IR Restricted so am able to mostly go where and when I choose within reason. The biggest problem I find is IMC currency. For example where does one go to practise ILS approaches? I have a few thousand hours and am truly aware of the need to stay current. I am surrounded by RAF stations with all the navaids but even to just run down the ils for practise costs a great deal of money. I find this inexcusable when one considers we, the taxpayer, own these facilities yet the MOD have decided we must pay for them all over again. Peter has often highlighted the poor ATC services OCAS (not a dig at the controllers themselves BTW) so that is also a factor in deciding if one should go or stay. I believe in the big sky as far as collisions go but I feel more comfortable having someone on the ground also watching over me. In order to stay safe we must all practise. I agree wholeheartedly that SkyDemon is a huge advantage and is thye best I have had to date.
