I believe the Cardinal for Costa Rica is an active pilot. Only helicopter traffic in the Vatican though :)
Minister of the interior Alain Berset used to fly GA, not sure if he is still active. He certainly had no time since February as he was (is) the head of the crisis team. But maybe that had something to do witht he fact that GA was never grounded on a federal level in Switzerland.
National Counciler Thomas Hurter is a Swiss Pilot in command. Not sure if he flies GA too but he is quite active in lobbying for aviation.
There must be more but I don’t know off hand. Unfortunately quite a few people do keep their GA connections under wrap the moment they enter politics.
Romain wrote:
Our current minister of transport in France is a former NetJet then JetFly pilot. Not sure he still fly GA…
He’s secretary of State, not minister.
I have no idea of what he flies but have some doubt after the disastrous management of the crisis in France : the whole GA strictly grounded for 2 months, the only place in Europe to suffer such a shame.
During that time, I watched on Flight Radar my Swiss neighbours flying everyday along valleys and around mountains ; this turned me mad.
In “Aviation et Pilote” last issue, they say it is highly stunning that Ministry of Transports is a subset of the Ministry of Environnement. Just like to have lambs looked after by wolfes.
Michel Bianco, Grenoble, France
michelb wrote:
the whole GA strictly grounded for 2 months, the only place in Europe to suffer such a shame.
This is not true. France didnt ban GA. The problem was that GA was and still is, considered a “leisure sport” and the Law did not allow “leisure sports” during confinement. At no time wast there a NOTAM preventing IFR or VFR flight in France, Unlike say, Belgium and Norway. If you had a legitimate reason to fly (ie business) you could, and some did fly for business reasons.
michelb wrote:
In “Aviation et Pilote” last issue, they say it is highly stunning that Ministry of Transports is a subset of the Ministry of Environnement. Just like to have lambs looked after by wolfes.
I totally agree and this is/was part of the problem as I indicate above, GA & Transport should be under trade/business.
Regards, SD..
skydriller wrote:
This is not true. France didnt ban GA.
OK, let us go this way : the whole “leisure Aviation” strictly grounded for 2 months, the only place in Europe to suffer such a shame. Is that better ?
Also to be noticed, in the editorial of the issue I was talking of above, Nicolas Chabbert, Daher CEO, explains how he considers incoherent and thoughtlessness the crisis management.
And I don’t think he is mainly concerned about “leisure Aviation”.
Michel
I’m not sure I agree that GA should be treated under transport rather than under sport and leisure. For many,perhaps most, in France flying is a “passion” (hobby). Moving it to business and transport might well destroy many of the 500 or so small airfields around the country a) because many of these small fields are supported by the local CCI culture,sport and leisure departments as are many flying clubs and b) because it brings more regulation in terms of security etc to those airfields. Small towns may well say we don’t need an airfield, we have a motorway nearby and good train links with the rest of France and indeed with the rest of Europe. The transport department might well need to look at the ULM scene in terms of its effects on aviation in general. At least under sport and leisure, our ability to offer ‘vol decouverte’ (short flights to a paying public over the local area) , for school children and to groups, more unfortunate than ourselves eg Kiwanis all counts for something in the local area and which would count for nothing under transport where it would become part of the departmental budget rather than the regional one.
As for the banning of leisure and sport flying whilst I was biased against ban I could understand it in the sense of égalité.
IMHO one needs to be careful what you wish for.
gallois wrote:
IMHO one needs to be careful what you wish for.
michelb wrote:
the whole “leisure Aviation” strictly grounded for 2 months, the only place in Europe to suffer such a shame.
Absolutely. GA was not banned, but because most activity was considered leisure/sport, that part was banned, yet as @gallois says, this is what allows “vol decouverte” and the multitude of other benifits that GA has in France that dont occur in other European countries. BTW, GA was banned in other countries as I said above, and also restricted by similar laws as in France.
My own view is that an aeroplane is no different to a car, it just doesnt need roads or racetracks, but a runway…
Regards, SD..
Keeping this on the topic of politicians in GA…
I doubt many could do much for GA during the virus times because of the really bad PR potential, and the appearance of behaving in a self serving manner. Maybe in some countries, self serving (looking after one’s own personal interests) is more acceptable?
In times of crisis hardly any politician will have the leasure to go flying, so it may well be the case of being more knowledgable about a subject as opposed to others who will fight GA for whatever reason they can come up with.
About 25 years ago, I was talking to somebody in the same industry I was in. He was from Denmark.
It turned out he was a pilot. Not only that, but he said that every male in his family – father, grandfather, brothers, uncles, etc. were all GA pilots as well.
Me: “isn’t it expensive to fly in Denmark?”
Him: “no, what do you mean?”
Me: “you guys love taxing everything!”
Him: “there is no VAT on GA in Denmark”
Me: " what? how did that happen?"
Him: “my uncle was finance minister in the last government!”
I am not sure if that is how it happened, but it does make for a good story.
