Mike,
At this stage, it looks like you already managed to talk yourself out of doing this adventure.
There is another angle to it, too: now that we have learned a bit more about your destinations and your schedule, it honestly looks like this is a perfect case of taking the airlines. I mean:
- most of your destinations are well served by the airlines
- you seem to know exactly when you’d like to go where, with little flexibility
When you first posted, I think most of us thought that you would have those long weekends at your free disposal for “fun stuff” and that you would go to some nice typical GA destinations to get to know Europe, deciding short term where to go. That would indeed be where GA totally shines.
But consider this: let’s say you did go to the mentioned (let’s say ten) Euorpean destinations, on a schedule that you already have. Well, if you book these flights today, they will probably cost you not a lot more than 2k$ – all the ten flight together!
That amount may just about be enough to hangar your MU-2 for one month in England. All in all, taking just the variable flying costs alone, this adventure (including insurance, fuel, hangarage, airport fees, airway fees, flight support etc., but also the cost of the transcontinental flight) might run into well over 50k$.
So whilst it’s not all about money (you only live once…) you should really ask yourself: will I really enjoy all this, including learning to master a very different, in many ways more difficult GA environment?
boscomantico wrote:
At this stage, it looks like you already managed to talk yourself out of doing this adventure.
If so, that would be a shame. An adventure of a lifetime…
Where’s the fun in that, Bosco? Pilots and aircraft owners should fly their own plane. Mike will have no problems at all. 
The ease of flying “seriously” in Europe depends on the airports used.
And Mike already has a very capable aircraft.
If you stick to “proper” airports, it will be pretty smooth. And if I was flying a MU-2 I would stick to big ones, IFR, ILS, keep my life simple. Use handlers, too. They love you.
I know a pilot who hangs out on forums, under at least two nicknames and personas that I know of, who used to have a 421C. He used to be in finance and got his employer to let him do 1 flight per week to visit a customer, for a year. He was based at Bournemouth (ILS, good hours, etc). Most of his 50 flights went to capitals e.g. Rome. He “lost” only 2 out of the 50 he did, due to wx. But the “missions” were pretty smooth. He nearly always used handlers because they lubricate the whole experience – just like a good FBO does in the USA.
He never did the stuff off the beaten track e.g. the wonderful Greek islands, or even the wonderful Croatia. Just big easy airports. And being based where he was he could do a lot as a day trip. In the UK, very few airports are open for long enough to make that possible. Oxford, Bournemouth, Cardiff, Southend, East Midlands (H24?) and some others.
In Europe, avoiding handlers is the holy grail for light GA (because a lot of them charge so much) but if you are already spreading your money liberally, they have their place.
That’s the key to doing it easily, really.
Yes, and I have to say, all things considered, it seems to be acceptable price levels. Obviously there are the hubris airports like Sabadell, Gatwick, Munich, Paris etc that need to be avoided as they skin you alive, but the other numbers I’ve heard are acceptable. Like Bromma, ESSB, that I recently checked. About $30 landing fee, $30 parking fee and a $50 mandatory-come-pick-you-up-at-plane-in-silly-golf-cart fee. All in all, $110 for a big turbine twin isn’t the end of the world, in my opinion.
Not Sabadell (€80 via 100ALAS and that includes a drive into town) but you perhaps mean the other one at Barcelona?
…Paris…
Paris? Le Bourget? I was there today. There is no better business airport in Europe than Paris Le Bourget. My all-time favourite. Bar none. A large choice of handling agents, all-time, all weather, 20 minute taxi ride to the centre of Paris (outside peak hours of course), excellent facilities, hotels, restaurants, museum in walking distance, a huge airshow every two years (and the business airport remains open during the show!). Good stuff does not come cheap, but it is worth every Cent. BTW: Today we had to wait briefly for a Cessna 172 or 182 which was taking off before us – Le Bourget is not for bizjets only!
With an instructor, I collected my new TB20 from Le Bourget in 2002.
We discussed this here recently and I recall the price list started at €800 but maybe there are non-obvious concessions. There is a pirep for a PA46T of €540 from 2013 and another for an SR22 of €300, also from 2013.
I know a bizjet owner who happily pays GBP 3000+ to divert to Gatwick, so I guess it is relative. But clearly the C172s aren’t paying €800 so there must be more to the story.
This looks fun
But clearly the C172s aren’t paying €800 so there must be more to the story.
Absolutely. My present company gets invoiced by the handling agents so I have no idea how much we pay (but certailny less than one third of what it would be at London City or Farnborough or Samedan). Last time I paid there myself was for a Cessna 421 about eight years ago and if I remember correctly it was around 400 Euros.
Yes, my mistake Peter. The other one in Barcelona.
