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If you could change your flying what would it be?

I did make a complete change a couple of months ago – I bought a (low wing) Jodel D140 to fly while rejuvenating and upgrading my Maule (wing in the proper place).

I’ve absolutely no need or desire for a “faster” aeroplane like Cirrus or whatever. They would actually be slower on 90% of my A to B journeys because they would have to depart from and land at “proper” runways C and D – if I didn’t decide to go by car.

As for RVs, I gather that by the time you ditch the wheel pants and put proper off-airport tyres on them (without which they lack prop clearance and can’t operate in winter without making ruts in grass runways), the cruising speed is not much better than a four-place Cessna or JoJo.

Glenswinton, SW Scotland, United Kingdom

Jacko wrote:

As for RVs, I gather that by the time you ditch the wheel pants and put proper off-airport tyres on them (without which they lack prop clearance and can’t operate in winter without making ruts in grass runways), the cruising speed is not much better than a four-place Cessna or JoJo.

I find that hard to believe unless the Cessna is a 206 but what do I know (I don’t know what a JoJo is)

172driver wrote:

PC12 kitted out as a bushplane / camper

Almost sounds like an AN2 would fit the bill – and, arguably, the big radial is cooler than the turbine.

tmo
EPKP - Kraków, Poland

I have done just this and now have a Zodiac in the hangar. European trips from the UK seem unlikely any time soon. It isnt big and it isnt fast but allows for a completely different style of flying and as others say access to other areas of the country where we no longer have hard runways accessible to GA.

EGBM, United Kingdom

tmo wrote:

Almost sounds like an AN2 would fit the bill – and, arguably, the big radial is cooler than the turbine.

If you are into camping but not in the 12 POB league of AN2 or PC12, you can still get a small family fun in Max Holste Broussard or Yak12

Last Edited by Ibra at 27 Oct 16:47
Paris/Essex, France/UK, United Kingdom

I don’t want to change

However that’s largely because I can’t. If I got anything more capable I would want my own hangar for it, where maintenance was possible. Then, I would probably get a Jetprop.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Ibra wrote:

Bush flying in my PC12, one with tailwheel ideally

Umm. Well, yea. Why not. But you can have that a LOT cheaper:

That beauty of an AN2 has a georgeous cabin and is probably one of the best there is. It will do a lot the PC12 does but at a much lower pricetag. With the difference you can buy a lot of fuel…..

https://www.planecheck.com?ent=da&id=26726 planecheck_SP_GRW_26726_pdf

LSZH(work) LSZF (GA base), Switzerland

Interesting actually that many people would change towards STOL / farmstrip flying.

I would imagine that this makes perfect sense looking at the current situation, where international travel is basically shut down and there is no sign of it coming up anymore anytime soon.

One thing I’ve been musing about is is whether to look at helicopters. They promise a degree of freedom not found with airplanes, however in Europe are not of much use for private ops as you have to operate from airport to airport still, you can’t just have one in your back garden and go fly from there. Otherwise, that is what I would love to explore.

The question of course is cost. What I heard about helicopter maintenance is horrific, much worse than airplanes. At the same time, the “affordable” helos apparently have strict life time limits and basically are junk thereafter (Robinsons). Personally I like the UH1D, some of which will be retired in Germany and might end up on the private market, but cost of maintaining one of those would probably be in the region of a biz jet. I don’t particularly care for the non-turbine helos as they seem to be quite accident prone.

LSZH(work) LSZF (GA base), Switzerland

I will soon HAVE to change my flying, since I am moving from the US to France (Nice). My TR182 is about the perfect compromise for general flying in the US. It can get into anything anyone would call a runway, is reasonably fast (155 KTAS at 8-10,000 feet), nice for IFR.

But what flying will I do in France? In theory I could fly to our beach house on the Atlantic coast (Biarritz or Dax) or even to see my family in the UK. But for the later, EZ is cheaper and more convenient. For the former… maybe, but we have friends and family all along the route so would probably drive and stop to see them. (I’m assuming that life returns to something like normal one day).

I don’t want to stop flying, for sure, but will I do much “flying to go somewhere”? Does it make sense to bring my TR182 to France? Maybe I should get something like a Decathlon and just fly for fun. Dunno.

@Mooney_Driver: helicopters are for people with serious money only I’m afraid. I have a PPL-H and love flying them, but the cost… round here an R44 goes around $600/hr, no doubt a lot more in Europe. If you buy… insurance will see little change out of $15K/year. ANd for maintenance you can add a zero compared to typical GA piston planes.

The R44 is a very nice aircraft, despite all the negative vibes you will see. It is certainly a lot easier to kill yourself in it than a 182, but that mostly comes from people doing silly things with them. They’re not “junk” after 2200 hrs / 12 years, but it does cost $250K or so to get them flying again. You have to factor that into hourly and yearly cost of ownership. The problem is that if you’re even a high-time GA pilot, you will hit 12 years long before you hit 2200 hours, which makes the hourly cost horrendous,

LFMD, France

Is “EZ” a Vari-EZ or Long-EZ? They need a fair bit of runway. Also note that much of France doesn’t allow VFR above FL115, so a certified type is desirable, unless you can pull off one of the very rare jobs, plus the big one: France requires homebuilts to be F-reg.

IMHO, when you move to France, you will want to travel around Europe. You clearly have ELP so won’t be limited to flying within France.

If you have a plane which fulfils your “mission profile” and is reliable etc then it is best to keep it. Transport it in a container…

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom
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