I should have completed my recurrency training and SEP checked in April… now with the new measures its doubtful I will get to continue once I get back. Switzerland will rightly impose quarantine now. So I may be stuck here if the airline I fly back with packs up.
Peter: “It seems obvious that many have completely packed it in – all over Europe”
I don’t see that at all, in my limited experience of 2 South of UK airfields – group aircraft bookings are packed-out.
Regarding fly-ins, at least for Brits – maybe enforced quarantine isn’t appealing, and mooted “air-bridges” are still (?) a figment of UK Gov’s optimistic imagination?
From the tools I have available, such as looking at the bookings at the school I rent from, the number of aircraft flying over our house to either avoid or enter the Hannover CTR and the activity at the airport when I’m flying myself, I would say we are back to pre-Corona levels of activity in GA.
I cannot exclude that some people here may have stopped flying altogether, but even for the at-risk group, the risk of infection seems low for GA. You can easily avoid close contact with others, and contamination of surfaces seems to play little role in the spread of the virus. Aerosol seems to be the main vector of infection.
I wish I could say it’s Covid that has me sitting on the ground, but it’s the usual stuff. Haven’t flown in 18 months since she got dropped off up in Oregon. Kept my IR currency in sims, but now I need a medical, flight review and to get up to speed for the eventual ferry flight back end of summer. Tough times for everyone, I think. Don’t see it improving for a bit and not going to be able to afford to fly much the next year or so, my guess. Hope I’m wrong.
After the ATC shut us down for a month from Mars to April, I think there has been business as usual. Already been to one fly-in.
Here in California, there was definitely a lot less flying going on. My airport, Palo Alto (KPAO), was down to at most a small handful of movements at once. The tower is running part time (0800-1600 instead of 0700-2100) – it feels very strange treating it as an untowered field.
Lately there has been a bit more traffic though it is still way below pre-covid levels. Most of the clubs either shut down or limited members to solo flight only. The instructor I have been working with is just starting to do training again.
The weirdest thing was flying a Bay Tour, which involves flying along the edge of SFO, and being the ONLY aircraft on tower frequency for the whole 5-10 minutes I was there. Normally it’s hard to get a word in edgeways. And flying this week, I noticed that Norcal approach is combining several positions, so you switch frequencies and you’re still talking to the same controller.
I’m still tearing holes in the sky.
Notwithstanding those on EuroGA still flying a fair bit, at least locally, I reckon most have pretty well totally packed in longer trips, especially with the international restrictions. My local airport used to open till 8pm local but now closes 6pm because there is just no traffic.
This year my annual total has dropped to about 50 hours from a normal average about 180 hours.Should this situation continue beyond this summer I would definitely question continuing aircraft ownership.What does surprise me is the extremely buoyant second hand market for clean mainstream SEP aircraft.Used values appear to have risen substantially and sales achieved quickly.Ever diminishing supply of good examples and an aged pilot community eyeing unproductive money in the bank making dreams come true I suspect.Regards Stampe
I would say the summer was quite normal. I heard of many pilots traveling but all within France.
Mainly, all fly-ins were cancelled and they trigger many international travels.
This will show in the “2020 flight times / plans for 2021” thread.
