Ibra wrote:
Twice bonus points if skipping Spain & Morocco
Haha, you really made me think! But it’s too far, about eight hours without wind. We once did GCLP (La Palma) to LPCS (Cascais), it was our first really long flight over water.
Buckerfan wrote:
Thats another possible option, especially as my wife has family near Palm Beach in Florida. We have talked about the possibility of basing an aircraft in the US all or part time. Unlike Europe, there are GA friendly airports literally around every corner, all with hundreds and thousands of hangars
I have a good friend who lives at Spruce Creek, the giant fly-in community in Florida. This led my wife and I to evaluate the possibility to live and fly there in the winter and ride motorcycles in Europe in the summer. Several Europeans we met there do basically that. I concluded that except for the housing cost difference, the US west coast is better: in normal times it doesn’t take significantly longer to reach than flying to Florida (for the OP there would be nonstop flights from LHR), and the climate is much better should you decide to stay through the summer. Also no mosquitos and more interesting geography.
If any of that bears more investigation, I’d recommend central California. Paso Robles Airport would be one option. Nice wine country.
If this thread is continuing to go off the tracks like this, poor Buckerman might very well become the first inhabitant of Mars. Gonna need a long runway there though
About 20 years ago after experiencing South Africa, my plan was to emigrate there, buy some land and open an Airstrip.
The long term plan was for bettet Wx, cheaper cost of living , build a home, landing strip and eventually continue to build visitor accommodation and stuff to do.
The political landscape changed somewhat and S.A friends and family started to persuade me away from it.
Over the last few years I’ve started to wonder if I could move to France, as far south as possible, and do it there.
The trouble is I just dont have realistic finances to make it work and i get the feeling that every year that goes buy the beauracracy increases and it would be problem after problem.
Anywhere within an hour flight of Cannes would in my opinion be magical in terms of what could be achieved destination wise. I know the winters aren’t hot but they’re shorter and I could cope with that.
Buckerfan wrote:
On the other hand, it’s not like flying over the Alps to Venice, or popping over the France for lunch.
Now I really have to make a plug for SoCal. You get all the amenities of Florida (minus Florida), but you also get mountains, ocean, lakes, wineries, amazing food and scenery. The only downside is that it’s not a cheap place to live and taxation can be an issue.
Ibra wrote:
Untill terbang does it in a 252, I am not very convinced it’s doable in a SEP
Well, that distance of 700-750NM can be done with a lot of planes, even SEP’s. Even if you wanna be feet dry most of the time and go Malaga-Tan Tan Plage – GCRR it is a doable plan of about 750 NM. A 1000 NM range plane will have quite comfortable fuel remaining on a 650-750 NM leg and there are plenty if expensive alternates. Direct Portomaio to El Berriel is 662 NM, which in a 140 kt airplane should mean some 4-45 flight time. A 180 kt airplane will do it in under 4 hours.
A normal F or J model with normal tanks can do around 900-1000 NM, let alone an Ovation, which has a 1200 NM range or, with Monroy tanks, closer to 1700 NM so in theory, they even can make it back
. Which, in a good Long Range cruise regime might even mean Switzerland to the Canaries non stop. I recall one arriving in Switzerland from Casablanca non stop and that one had normal 89 USG available. Even a Monroy’d C or E can do 900+ NM. I don’t know about Terbang’s 252 and it’s exact specs but I’d be surprised if it was a less than 1000 NM plane.
The TB20 should be able to do Portugal – Lanzarote or El Berriel non stop, seeing what Peter has done in his. So should a Arrow III or IV,
My pick for something like this would be a Twin Comanche with 120 USG or a long range Seneca (123 USG) available or, as suggested a Jet Prop or Malibu.
What about Cyprus? Recently been there. Nice climate, good tax situation, nice people, good food … does someone know about the GA situation in LCPH/LCLK?
I would also suggest Guernsey-arguably more sensibly run than Jersey and a better GA airport. Weather is on the whole very pleasant.
Today in effect CV-19 free.
BerlinFlyer wrote:
What about Cyprus? Recently been there. Nice climate, good tax situation, nice people, good food … does someone know about the GA situation in LCPH/LCLK?
I’m based in Cyprus (LCPH). We have a hangar. It’s good but the capacity is limited. They plan to build one more, however. GA is almost non-existent in Cyprus. One flight school at LCPH (with one plane and one instructor) and two at LCLK. LCLK is very busy in summer (was in non-COVID times), LCPH – not much. Access to the plane at LCPH is not very convenient – you have to be escorted to pass through the airport. Must be better at LCLK – they have a dedicated GA terminal and more people flying but mostly school planes.
Weather is much warmer than in Greece. We have day temperatures of 18-20˚C right now, although it’s a bit non-typical for January. Anyway, even in colder weather, it’s rarely uncomfortable outdoor. And you can fly every day (except for thunderstorms). There is not much to fly locally though. LCPH and LCLK plus a few training zones. Flying anywhere else is quite far away and over the sea. Rhodos is the closest Greece destination and it’s 240 nm from LCPH (not recommended – expensive and awful handler!). Avgas is about 3 euro/L here and in Greece and very few places in Greece have it. Flying on Jet fuel must be much easier.
On a positive note, you don’t need to learn the local language (Greek). Everybody speaks some English and every service is available in English (including government services).
172driver wrote:
OK, so while we’re getting into more exotic and far flung locations, you could, not too far from the Canaries, also look at Madeira! Stunningly beautiful, mild climate year-round and an international airport that can be, ahem, a bit challenging, so you won’t get bored
As a matter of fact if thinking of Madeira, Porto Santo comes to mind, particularly with a Jet Prop (as it has no Avgas). But it is a lovely and very quiet airport with a long runway and the island is very quiet but with a huge 9 km sandy beach in the south. If you need Avgas, you can pop over to Funchal, they do have, but other than that it is almost ideal. Also, from what I hear, charges are very low indeed (one pirep of 2020 sais some €40 parking and landing fee, no handling for 3 days).
If I’d have to choose, I’d probably live in Porto Santo and fly over once in a while to Funchal for fuel and shopping 
It actually is “only” 450 NM over water from Porto Maio, so less than to the Canaries. Certainly feasible but a twin is probably more comfortable. But even my M20C could do this in about 3-45 with about 35 USG of fuel…
Flight report in German:
https://www.kienzi.ch/flights/2010/2010-06-24a.htm
