Having been to a lot of places in Germany and Switzerland, it looks like there is a lot more money sloshing around the GA scene there and importantly people are much more willing to throw it around.
Go to say Lausanne and look around. The hangars are freshly painted. Everything is spotless. It’s immediately obvious that somebody is throwing a lot of SFR at it. In the UK you don’t see that. Shoreham’s main hangar has huge holes in the roof and water pouring in, doors which can’t be closed so birds crapping all over the planes… OTOH Shoreham was asset stripped in the best financier fashion, some years ago…
The nearest to the wealthy places in central Europe is maybe Gloucester where there is a lot of money being splashed around by some people. There is/was a big hangar there with just one bizjet, in a demonstration of pure opulence. There is a Cirrus dealer there so a big captive audience, which helps. Biggin Hill too, with a huge hangar full of bizjets, and some light GA but god knows what they pay in rent. OTOH Biggin is in the middle of nowhere so I bet many people have a long drive to fly.
But, as with the constant comparisons with the USA, one cannot compare directly. In the UK, very few airfields get taxpayer money.
But isn’t it just the UK standard transposed to aviation, Peter? Outdoor plumbing, sash windows the wind blows right through, the shag carpet in the bathroom, the Victorian faucets that don’t mix cold and hot water, the shitty trains, the motorways that are 12ft wide etc? I say this as an Anglofile that loves the place, but stuff is generally just either in bad shape or rather stuck in Victorian times in the UK compared to the rest of the world.
Peter wrote:
The nearest to the wealthy places in central Europe is maybe Gloucester where there is a lot of money being splashed around by some people.
I think there are plenty of “London” airfields with money being splashed about. Cambridge, Oxford, Biggin, Gloucester. Some, like Shoreham, may be underinvested but that is not universal.
JasonC wrote:
I think there are plenty of “London” airfields with money being splashed about. Cambridge, Oxford, Biggin, Gloucester.
Don’t forget Farnborough! Their TAG Hangars and Terminal buildings are probably the best (and most expensive) anywhere in Europe.
But isn’t it just the UK standard transposed to aviation, Peter? Outdoor plumbing, sash windows the wind blows right through, the shag carpet in the bathroom, the Victorian faucets that don’t mix cold and hot water, the shitty trains, the motorways that are 12ft wide etc? I say this as an Anglofile that loves the place, but stuff is generally just either in bad shape or rather stuck in Victorian times in the UK compared to the rest of the world.
Couldn’t have said it any better Adam. Likewise, I love the place, for a holiday, but it’s really second world in many regards.
How does this specifically relate to the topic?
UK has moved on a lot from that 1960s picture, which I remember well from arriving in 1969. You still see the stupid washbasins if you stay in some country B&B, or visit a dentist or a street corner solicitor, but nobody with any money has that stuff at home.
I think the reason is that most low-end UK AOC ops are not approved for GPS approaches.
Peter, am not sure such a thing as a low end A to B AOC still exists? They have all gone the way of the dodo, or nearly all.
I’m digressing here, but I can’t help it.
My first bedsit in London, and this only about 2003 or something, had a sash window so rotten that the curtains blew around the room from the wind. I was never as cold as I was in that bedsit, and I say this as a Swede used to polar winters. The shower was shared and the pressure was like if a kid had sprayed you with some tepid mouth water through a straw at McDonalds. It took like an hour just to get your entire body wet. All whilst the other 8 bedsit tenants were banging on the door in their bathrobes. It had a little meter on the wall where you fed it £1 coins to keep the electricity going, and it lasted about a day. Inevitably, it went out during the night when you were sleeping, so you woke up with condensation from your breath and rime ice in your chest hairs in the wee hours. And when it went out past midnight, and you’d forgotten to get a coin or was skint, it was Dickensian. Wrap up in big wooly blanket to protect from the cold, brew a cup of tea (gas stove, you see) and read a book by the candlelight. Preferably Dickens, to get in the right mood. Yet, I stayed there for 3 years and I was actually quite happy there. Life was very simple and cheap then. 
On to flight training and Lydd Aero Club and they had G-BIJV that at that time had 13000hrs on it. Flew it all the time. The door used to pop open in flight and I for certain thought it was on it’s last legs. But no, not at all. Instead, they have her repainted and she’s still in service! Must have north of 15-16000hrs on her now. It’s bizarre, because a good lower time 152 only costs £20-25K, so why cling to an airframe that really should be retired? I’m not saying it’s not safe, I just find it a bit, well, English. 
Adam did you star in Rising Damp? (UK residents of a certain demographic will recall this brilliant Leonard Rossiter vehicle)
The school were I spend most of my time has 5 aircraft one of which is kitted out for GPS approaches. Although that aircraft for sale as the primium price means it doesn’t fly much.
Another school I visit alot also has 5 aircraft and again none are kitted out for GPS approaches.
I also moonlight at a school that offers CPL traning. There single has a kns80 their twin has a gtn650.
