MichaLSA wrote:
It appears many are on a similar track and I guess the current raise of Microlights is connected as sign for transitioning from cruise travel GA to Sunday coffee table round?
It certainly looks like it in some countries, particularly Germany and by the looks of it France. Also in Spain and Italy Microlights are booming.
All of this shows the clear tendency to escape the hassle of maintaining a certified airplane in favour of a largely unregulated environment. It also means giving up touring for 50$ burger runs primarily.
It should not be forgotten however that this tendency is not open to everyone. This escape puts an end for family flying, for people with higher weight, who can use a PA28 but for whom 99% of ULMs will not work, even as single seaters.
One of the reasons people were leaving during covid might have been due to the fact that cost of (at least lower end) planes at least doubled between 2018 and 2022.. I bought my cherokee on fall 2019 for 20K, sold it 2021 for 40 (only in condition that it will remain in Estonia, I think I would have gotten 50K from abroad). Of course I flew and also put a lot of money into it, but still,it was a good time to get out. As for family flying- we did it 3-4 times per year, mostly local flights, so its by far easier to rent my old plane than keep it maintained for whole year.. For touring- all of my longer trips have been with some UL-s in the group.
And there are some upsides of having a STOL besides cheap maintenance.. My Savannah parked at my home:
Indeed; an excellent point. Not so much right now but a year ago was “getting out at the top of the market”, with “40k” (early-model) TB20s going for 100k.
ivark wrote:
And there are some upsides of having a STOL besides cheap maintenance.. My Savannah parked at my home:
Must be nice to have the space and tolerance of your neighbours to do that.
the last time I was at the Aero, I looked at a UL Helo which looked like it might easily land in mine or on my roof. However, when I asked the nice young lady next to it, she said something of the sort, sorry, not your size, go find yourself a Huey. Turned out, that helo fuelled up had a payload of some 50 kg.
Apart from the probability that my neighbours would be thrilled enough to have my fly all hours from my roof, they would probably fly off the handle instead.
Must be nice to have the space and tolerance of your neighbours to do that.
Fly when they cut their grass? 
you won’t have issues with farmers but someone retiring from city or doing the work from home tend to have lot of opinions on UL flying 
Ibra wrote:
Fly when they cut their grass
LOL, in my neighbourhood I am the only one who has to cut grass. A full 100m2 of it. The other houses have no grass left to cut and everything around our common plot are rental houses with 30-50 flats each. Apart, they just finally caught a guy who had the habit of going to work with his Harley at 4am. Don´t know where he is gone to but neither he nor his bike have been seen recently….
What do you expect of folks who paint “SHUT UP” and “QUIET” signs on the entrace of playgrounds.
Apart, they just finally caught a guy who had the habit of going to work with his Harley at 4am. Don´t know where he is gone to but neither he nor his bike have been seen recently….
Scary s***t
Mooney_Driver wrote:
LOL, in my neighbourhood I am the only one who has to cut grass. A full 100m2 of it. The other houses have no grass left to cut and everything around our common plot are rental houses with 30-50 flats each. Apart, they just finally caught a guy who had the habit of going to work with his Harley at 4am. Don´t know where he is gone to but neither he nor his bike have been seen recently….What do you expect of folks who paint “SHUT UP” and “QUIET” signs on the entrace of playgrounds.
There are sayings that the Swiss are “more German than all Germans” and it shows in description like these and also in the fact that many Germans who found work in Switzerland return quickly because while the pay is good, they just can’t stand to live in such a rigid society and are looked down upon as foreigners (both of which must sound hilarious to any immigrant from the Mediterranean living in Germany).
MedEwok wrote:
they just can’t stand to live in such a rigid society
At least it is one and yes, moving out of the geographical area formerly hosting two German nations to a country with working society structure of any kind IS scary ;-).
