Shadin Digidata v. Shadin Microflo

(my office manageress says she once managed 1 litre,

Interesting discussion, should do a survey here in the office

there will be a flight when you are a bit cold or had one coffee too many and you will be absolutely desperate. It's a rubbish position to be in.

I always carry 5 or so Japanese mobile toilets after having had one passenger that insisted on landing "immediately" because he has to pee. That will never happen again. However, there are still reasons to not plan 6h legs. If you live in the northwest corner of Europe, it's a different story of course.

I don't find legs over 4h very enjoyable. Redoing the upholstering of my seats is on my list of things to do. My backseats can be reclined to an almost flat position. If I also manage to install a coffee maker and the extra alternator that goes with it, then I might start enjoying those 6h legs.

Peter,

90% of "GA" Pilots will never leave the local airport area or do flights of maximum 1-30 hrs. That is the fundamental difference between European GA and US GA, the latter of which is considered a means of personal transport, whereas in Europe, GA is considered a hobby, spare time. That is also why we don't get proper lobby, representation and nobody takes us seriously.

Face it, why do you think websites with trip reports get such attention? If we look at what Americans do with their GA planes, they would laugh at us for "bragging" about a simple 2 hour VFR flight on a website. (and yes, I have been accused of bragging with my site too, even if I see it as an encouragement for others but it has had VERY negative comments from co-workers and other casual visitors). They fly LAX-NYC with their TB's or Mooneys like we drive to the local Tesco and back.

So Euro GA in smaller planes such as ours consists 90% of 100$ hamburger rides and extended traffic circuits. Some still manage to run out of fuel doing that. Do they need a fuel computer? Most would not know how to use it.

Re the Miniflo L, I have it but I basically never use the different settings other than fuel flow. The rest is in the GNS430. If I loose that, the fuel computer would loose it's information as well, that is it won't know how far my destination is and be unable to compute a destination fuel. It can tell you the remaining fuel and fuel used plus the flow, that is about it.

Therefore, why change what works. Expensive and not a lot of profit.

Best regards Urs

Achim,

you should try it in a short body Mooney :) I've done so far several legs over 4 hours and it is doable and one gets used to it. With a station wagon space like in a 182... luxury :)

Just think of our common friend's journeys in his Twin Com... 15 hours being the longest one? Was it Gander to Jersey? And that plane is not necessarily a lot bigger, only the crew was in better shape than I am, that is for sure :)

Why do our planes have the range if we don't use it....

If we look at what Americans do with their GA planes, they would laugh at us for "bragging" about a simple 2 hour VFR flight on a website.

With the slight difference that after flying for 10 hours in his 172, the US pilot is still in the same country with pretty much everything still being the same. With the exception of weather and topology, there is little operational challenge.

30 minutes of flight time will get me to 3 different countries with a lot of differences (ok, Austria is just a more relaxed version of Germany and Switzerland a more expensive version ;). 3 hours VFR in Europe is much more challenging than 3h in the US.

But I agree, the utility value of GA in Europe is almost nil. 10 years ago this was different but then Easyjet etc. launched their attack on the utility value of GA.

Achim,

With the slight difference that after flying for 10 hours in his 172, the US pilot is still in the same country with pretty much everything still being the same. With the exception of weather and topology, there is little operational challenge.

Ah but isn't that what the EASA supermen are trying to tell us is the same in Europe?

30 minutes of flight time will get me to 3 different countries with a lot of differences (ok, Austria is just a more relaxed version of Germany and Switzerland a more expensive version ;). 3 hours VFR in Europe is much more challenging than 3h in the US.

Well, if I hear politicians within the EU this should be the same or at least within Schengen. Ah well, yea, I forget that you still can't fly from Schengen to Schengen (Switzerland) without customs and that the UK is now practically banned from flying to France.

Topography? The Rockies give you all the Alps do and then some. Weather, well, if you reduce the US to south of Mason Dixon then maybe, but S of our Alps, things are less challenging too most of the time.

The utility of GA in Europe is nil because in the heads of people it is nil. Clearly, EASA and all that don't help, but GA could do a lot more if it was not for clubs and pilots roundtables with their horrible negativism and horror visions of aircraft ownership. As long as schools insist that most of people's flying life should happen there and ownership is an obscene habit of the petty bourgeoasie and as long as owners are shunned by society for the misconception that all pilots are kazillionaires who are exploiting the working classes to fly their 50 year old single, things won't change for the better.

For some time I've wondered why I can ride my motorcycle (or drive a car) anywhere in the Schengen Area without taking to any aspect of officialdom, no border stops, potentially carrying a lot more 'stuff' than I could put in my aircraft. Cars don't file 'intermational drive plans'. I can equally get on a bus in St Moritz and let the bus driver do the talking as I carry my bag of contraband over the border into Italy (or vice versa).

So why do aircraft have to file international VFR flight plans and (as I remember) deal with some level of customs? Is the answer as simple as VAT or other national tax collection on the aircraft, if it were being imported? We don't file state to state flight plans in the US, despite them all having completely independent tax collection.

It is certainly right that if aircraft had the same freedom of movement as cars within the Schengen Area, their utility value would be much increased. The typical distances in the EU are actually just about right for GA, 1000 NM or so, whereas in the US a transcontinental flight is really too far for practical use of slower aircraft unless the objective is to permanently move the plane.