172driver wrote:
Sure, it’s a few hours more on CAT (and more expensive), but you really cannot beat the flying out here
East coast versus west cost is roughly 9 hrs versus 12 hrs, both assuming nonstop flights. Add a stop and either gets much longer, so avoiding stops is more important than where you’re going. The west coast may or may not be higher priced – the variation over time seems to be more than the variation by destination.
Don’t think that has been mentioned yet, but as a non-US citizen or permanent resident, you’d have to own the airplane through a trust. There are several people on here who can fill in all the details. AFAIK no big deal, but another thing to deal with.
That aside, it doesn’t make sense, especially in the NE, where the wx in winter is a lot worse than in many parts of Europe. I would say: +1 for Plus One ;-) ! Seriously – either join them or a similar outfit somewhere in the SW US. You then have all the benefits without any (most) of the downsides. Sure, it’s a few hours more on CAT (and more expensive), but you really cannot beat the flying out here.
PS: there may be one alternative to the US and that’s southern Africa. Flying in SA and NAM is fantastic and from Europe it’s an overnight flight – no jet lag. I have flown and toured (rented) there a few times, but don’t know if anything similar to Plus One exists.
Check the cost of renting for several days from an FBO away from the big cities.
Jujupilote wrote:
The US are awesome but huge and monotonous
If you were based in Arizona (which is not my base, but as per my example above) you can fly to very different geographical areas about 2-3 hrs depending on the plane. Similar to being based in Central Europe, but without the planning hassles assuming you remain within the the US. A trip to Cabo San Lucas (Mexico) would provide a bit of challenge and variety too, via San Felipe. That might not be possible with a rental plane, but would be possible if you owned it.
It would be difficult to get the same cost-availability ratio than an aircraft for rent in the US.
Also, you would get tired of flying in the same area after 2-3 trips. The US are awesome but huge and monotonous. Look at these US pilots flying for DAYS to get to a different landscape. We Europeans are not used to that. That said, I know some french pilots are permanent members of Plus One (30$ a month).
I think your best way to go is to share tips (on EuroGA of course:) about easy rental companies in different parts of the US. This way you can get the aircraft you need for a place you want to see.
I can recommend a place in Ohio for VFR and IFR touring. Ask via PM.
That´s probably true, and Plus One is really cool, can´t do anything but highly recommend them! I maintain my membership even though I can use it only once or twice a year. It´s priceless when your little daughter asks you (while just walking through a code-lock door 5000 miles away from home, with the aircraft key in my hand): Daddy, are you part of the team here?
My thoughts would include nice weather in the winter, using limited time to fly when I couldn’t so easily in Europe due to weather, and a good place to store the plane if I bought or became partners in one.
Winters are very nice in Arizona and there are a lot of attractive places to fly from that base. Also an excellent place to store a plane without corrosion damage.There are some direct flights to Phoenix from Europe, and that would also play into my thoughts – having flown many times back and forth to Europe, a direct flight is so much easier and is more important to me than east cost versus west coast.
Florida wouldn’t be as attractive to me due to the humidity and the relative lack of interesting geography… Unless you really like the ocean during your non-flying time, as some do. I’d rather fly in the west, where you can fly to mountains, snow and the ocean all on the same day if you’d like to.
Joining a rental focused club like Plus One (located in California) or similar would be easier…
I knew a very nice guy who was an airline pilot here. He owned a C172 in Florida and had a pad there, went there as often as he could and that was a lot as he flew into his US homebase with the carrier he worked for. He mostly did long haul and often dead-headed back to FL after other flights he did, based in Switzerland.
He decided to upgrade his plane and sold the one he had, then went to pick up the one he just had bought somewhere near Denver. He flew over to MIA and connected to DEN, then after a short rest picked up his plane, did the paperwork e.t.c. and set out back to TPA. On the last leg, somewhen at 3am local time, he was under control of Approach and got his descent clearance but never answered repeated calls by ATC after the plane started to descend on AP. It crashed into a golf course and burnt out. Best guess is that he fell asleep at the wheel not 20 NM from his destination. A totally useless loss of life of a great guy. Yet he should have known better.
Think about it. You are based in Europe, want a plane in the US. To fly over there takes a day, to fly back takes two (nightflight and reasonably one day to recover). Once you are there, you need one day per hour time difference to adjust to the new time zone, even though many will tell me they will fly after a good sleep over there, people are different. Yet Long Haul flying takes a lot of energy and is a huge candidate for fatigue, particularly westbound.
I used to do stuff like this, albeit not flying… working an early shift, catching the ZRH-IAD Austrian A310, picking up a car at IAD and driving 3 hours to Gettysburg PA. In retrospect, rather stupid, my driving certainly was not up to the best, even though I was young and stupid then. I am old now… would not do that anymore. Even flying ZRH-MIA and driving to Naples thereafter is not very clever either.
Yet, I know several people who decided to spend their retirement in the US. They are doing fine. One of them owns a house and a Mooney on a FL airpark. He spends 6 months per year there (as much as his visa allows) and the summer elsewhere. The other one actually has a greencard, not sure where he lives now, he has been around the country in an old Beech for years. I did consider something like this at some stage.
I have just returned from a short visit to our American friends and we actually discussed this very idea! Having a simple, but reasonably capable airplane like a C172/180hp we think this would be possible, as long as you know enough people who have a desire to fly in the US. We also discussed the possibility to do one-way trips, like coast-to-coast, and leave the airplane there for the next pilot. It would certainly involve some coordination, but I think it´s possible. If you can plan three weeks ahead you´ll find plenty of roundtrips at less than 300EUR. I might pursue the idea once it´s time to build the 200hrs IFR necessary to become an FI-IR.
I agree with bosco and MD; I can’t see it working. Joining a local syndicate at some scenic part of the US should work however – for those who think nothing of sitting on an airliner for 10-15hrs before they can fly their plane. The US has plenty of really scenic bits.
