Evening all!
Luckily for me I’m able to take a month or more away from work in the winter months from November to March. This year I’ve taken advantage and am currently in Malta doing my PPL.
I’m keen to take a month or two off next year to escape the grim northern European winter and head somewhere to make the most of some flyable weather. It doesn’t have to be hot, just favourable for VFR flying. Obvious choices are the southern US (California, Arizona, Florida etc). I have family in Phoenix near Deer Valley which would be perfect, but a couple of colleagues who have trained in the KPHX area advise against it due to huge amounts of traffic (which I think is a theme I’m going to come across a lot in the US). Another option is Namibia, and I could combine this with a need to learn German! Cross country flying seems limited in Namibia unless I fly to a different dirt strip each day (which is fine, but I imagine dirt strips in the desert are all fairly similar).
Another idea is honing some skills and taking a mountain flying, taildragger, aerobatic or other similar course.
Budget is unfortunately not infinite, but could be in the region of €3000 for flying.
Thanks for any ideas you can plant in my mind!
Between the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada, you have a huge, good weather, low traffic area. Northern Arizona and New Mexico, West Colorado, and Utah is my favourite US flying area. Cheap Motel 6 in Grand Junction, near the airport, well equipped C172s, at reasonable prices.
Videos of ||Utah from a C172 in 2010. I first rented at Grand Junction in 1997, 3 months after getting my UK licence, and days after getting my 61.75 US licence. Mixing flying with desert hiking is useful for safety.
Another idea that might provide entertainment between flights would be to base yourself closer to the Pacific, but inland of the coastal marine layer. Of course that depends on your non-flying interests but if you’ll be there a month, I’d guess you won’t want to fly every day. Palm Springs, California comes to mind or Corona (a small quieter airport between Los Angeles and Palm Springs), or maybe Chino. Regarding traffic and airspace in the US, take a look at the charts on Sky Vector. You are correct that urban Class B terminal areas can busy, but if you base yourself on the outskirts of such an area and generally fly away from it, it’s a different situation in which (for example) radio work away from airports is usually optional. You could take a lot of flights, including cross countries to the areas Maoraigh describes, and to visit your family in Phoenix.
Looks like you’re flying a Tecnam 2002, I enjoyed flying that type 
Maoraigh wrote:
Cheap Motel 6 in Grand Junction, near the airport, well equipped C172s, at reasonable prices.
I spent a night in Grand Junction once and the scenery East of the airport is spectacular. Thanks for the suggestion. Great videos too!
Silvaire wrote:
Looks like you’re flying a Tecnam 2002, I enjoyed flying that type
Thanks for the suggestion. I had pretty much thrown the whole west coast from San Diego to San Francisco idea away as it looks like the most crowded area for GA but I’ll have another look.
As for the Tecnam, I certainly enjoy it! (Though, admittedly, I don’t have much basis for comparison). I did have to double check that I’d be earning a full PPL and not one for microlights when I saw that Vr was 44kts!
I lived 3 years in NOCAL (flying out of KOAK) and that was the best flying experience I ever had. The Bay area is really busy, and some if the airports on the coast are really busy. But there are lots of places with “normal” traffic volumes. And if California is not big enough, try Nevada, Arizona, Oregon, Utah… Death Valley, Shoshone, Lassen, Lake Tahoe, Clear Lake.The Sierra Nevada foothills, the Goldrush county
I have just been flying in Florida – down to the Keys – Key West, Everglades etc., good weather, good aircraft, plenty of scenic destinations. Pretty much any time during the European winter works well.
Downwind (ish) actually ifr radar vectors for Key West International.
Fuel is still cheap (compared with Europe) and its all well done facility wise.
Does anybody have any experience anywhere other than the US? I appreciate the US is the obvious choice for all the reasons mentioned above and more, but would like to expand my horizons a bit further!
How about New Zealand? I haven’t been there but I hear good things if what you want is scenic VFR flying.
The Windies are great with a few good rental locations. The problem is that to solo you either require an FAA licence and / or local air law in most cases so it does complicate the paperwork. Australia is great and a lot easier these days and SA fine although in both cases a little more paperwork and preplanning is necessary.
I guess even the States these days without an American licence or a 61.75 and BFR is far from straight forward as one or the other needs to be in hand first.
Sadly I cant think of anywhere you can go these days outside Europe with just EASA paperwork, but I am sure I am wrong?
