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If you could change your flying what would it be?

I think johnh is talking about Sleazyjet (EZ) ;-)

I think johnh is talking about Sleazyjet

He is (I am).

I’ve watched the Vari-EZ and the Long-EZ and while I’m sure they’re perfectly fine aircraft, you wouldn’t catch me in one. Actually you’re unlikely to catch me in ANY homebuilt, given the horror stories I’ve heard about them.

ELP

Well, yeah, I mean, I’m from Romford, innit.

LFMD, France

You would still need ELP on your licence, somewhere. Unless you go to Jim Bordeaux for that, in France you will be tested by a French examiner from the DGAC and they might have trouble with the Essex accent so you might just get a level 4.:)

France

they might have trouble with the Essex accent

Ca va pas, non! P*t**n c*n, I’ll put on my best Toulouse accent and that way they won’t understand me in French either.

LFMD, France

Mooney_Driver wrote:

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

Isn’t one reason for this the fact that you can rent (at least in the US, not so sure about Europe) a 4 seater tourer anywhere, while it’s really hard (impossible) to do so with a backcountry airplane? Here in SoCal I can rent anything from a C152 to a Beech Baron (or, indeed a CJ3, if you hold the TR) via any number of Cirrus variants while I’m not sure where I could find a Cub.

172driver wrote:

Isn’t one reason for this the fact that you can rent (at least in the US, not so sure about Europe) a 4 seater tourer anywhere, while it’s really hard (impossible) to do so with a backcountry airplane? Here in SoCal I can rent anything from a C152 to a Beech Baron (or, indeed a CJ3, if you hold the TR) via any number of Cirrus variants while I’m not sure where I could find a Cub.

Here in the UK it’s pretty hard work to rent anything more than a club trainer, e.g. PA28 or C152, and most of those will have fairly old avionics and be quite tired generally.

The smarter clubs/schools will have one or two smarter aircraft (still likely to be a Piper or Cessna, but might be a bit newer and might even have a glass cockpit) but any real variety is hard to find. In terms of something more capable, one or two places with a bigger fleet might rent you an Arrow, perhaps even a Cherokee Six or a Seneca, but you’ll pay through the nose for it and the checkout requirements are likely to be expensive.

I’m aware of one or two dedicated rental operations with smarter aircraft like DA40s and DA42s but again the rates are pretty eye-watering. Most rental, at clubs and dedicated operations, seems geared towards regular customers that they can take some sort of subscription or membership payment from and rather punitive on cost for a one-off customer.

I’d be genuinely surprised if anyone could find, say, a Mooney or a Beech of any sort for rental in the UK. Interestingly though, I do know where I can rent a Supercub!

This is before you get into the practicalities of being able to take a rental aircraft away for any reasonable length of time. If is often said that “you rarely need four seats so when you do, just rent it” but this ignores the fact that (in the UK at least) you can’t just rent an aeroplane like you rent a car. Pretty much everywhere will want a 1hr checkout as an absolute minimum, and then there’s the cost, the limitations on taking it away, and the fact that many/most places will require you to be a member.

Last Edited by Graham at 02 Nov 17:26
EGLM & EGTN
If I had unlimited finances- Jetprop. Has enough speed and range to get me everywhere I need to go for work (Scandinavia, sometimes Germany) and still would allow me to go to Estonian islands- 6-700m reinforced grass.. A little less realistic would be Maule- I could fly from home.. Realistically my “enduser” Cherokee 140 fills 95% of my needs..

Small helicopter like Cabri G2 would also be a fun (and they are not restricted to just airfields in the baltics, you only need landowners permission to land), but again, expensive..

EETU, Estonia

@172Driver there is an eclectic fleet near San Diego with some meat and potato tailwheel types.

https://www.plusoneflyers.org/fleet/gillespie-fleet

In the UK Stapleford has a Super Cub for hire.

Oxford (EGTK), United Kingdom

Peter wrote:

IMHO, when you move to France, you will want to travel around Europe

Absolutely, flying around Europe has some bureaucratic challenges, but is an absolute delight. Greek islands, Croatian coast, Venice, Balearic Islands, Alps, German medieval towns, Berlin, Scottish Islands and Highlands…. you can see it all, and its splendid history and culture.

Upper Harford private strip UK, near EGBJ, United Kingdom

RobertL18C wrote:

@172Driver there is an eclectic fleet near San Diego with some meat and potato tailwheel types.

More than one, in fact. Note Champ for $65/hr wet.

http://www.firstflightcorp.com/first-flight-corp.-fleet.htm

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