- Build your own plane: Guys, let’s not start the GA / horse / divorce debate again
Seriously. If you want performance (way) out of the ordinary in one or several categories (speed, aerobatics, STOL, bush plane, looks), like an RV, Glasair, Lanceair, Carbon Cub, Bearhawk, Velocity etc etc, or your own little private single seat “fighter” (Onex 
), then there are no other options but experimental aircraft.
A Glasair Sportsman can be built in two weeks at the factory for 150k €. You can even build it (in two weeks) with the Continental CD-155 diesel They are excellent for going places also, like this couple from Basel
I understand though. Building is not for everyone, you have to have a real interest for it, not just the end product. Still, taking a vacation for two weeks, building the plane at the factory with all the help you would ever need, is something everybody can do.
“Going places”. I can spend days at the field pulling gliders all day, going up and down, up and down, essentially going nowhere and having a good time. I guess people are different.
Alboule,
in Germany you get an entry in your PPL after passing the practical test: “Aerobatic Rating”. To pass ist you must perform the whole sequence of maneuvers twice 2000 ft above the airport: Roll, Loop, Hammerhead, Half Reverse Cuban Eight, … one touch and go … and more time.
I would certainly participate in a thread that discussed over sensitivity; there’s an awful lot of it about and it certainly does make communication difficult. But this is not a counselling site!
My view is that, generally, on EuroGA we have a lot less aggressive behaviour than there is on any other European pilot forum I have ever read, and it will never be eliminated.
But yes we do get some unnecessary attitudes… At the extreme end, there are people who will simply not accept that EuroGA is not [insert the name of your favourite unpleasant pilot forum] and some of them have tried to turn it into one. We will simply not allow that to happen.
Initially I would prefer to see people back off by themselves (most people here are adults) and maybe I might have a word with somebody behind the scenes, than deleting stuff.
If someone would still like to kick off a thread in Hangar Talk on this topic, feel free.
If you apply for the FAA “piggy back” PPL based on your EASA PPL (only paperwork) you can also add IR to that based on EASA IR, but you must do a theory exam for that (IFP-Theory). I did it at a approved testing location in the US.
Jonas
Dear all,
Thank you so much for your kind answers. As often, the threads has drifted a bit but here are my takeaways:
I initially got the PPL for 2 reasons:
To sum up your suggestions:
- Fly to different afield places (USA suggested by Boscomantico): fair, but complicated due to current home / family / budget constraints.
- Get a glimpse of IR rating: this is really appealing, although not simple to do in the neighborhood. En-route IR can be relatively affordable (say 5kEUR) but it is just starting in France and very few ATOs offer it. Googled it yesterday and found 2 (one in Paris, the other in Brittany). A few clubs in Aix (LFMA) have IFR planes and instructors but are quite upmarket (240€ / hour for a G1000 C172 + 50 EUR/hour for the instructor). I will definetely investigate in this direction, though. The extra safety level provided by such a training is a clear incentive,
- Aerobatics: I did a couple of hours in a Cap10 last year and it did not come up to be my cup of tea. It is an intellectual challenge for sure, but my stomach proved a bit fragile and spending 200€/hour to remain above the airfield did not really appeal to me. However, I will retain Flyer59’s suggestion to do it as a week training. Btw, what kind of rating / qualification do you get after a training like that one?
- Fly farther: Wilco. First step will probably a flight to the other side of the italian border (Torino probably). I’ll seek advice on the forum for that trip in the upcoming weeks. I hope I’ll be able to attend the next EuroGA fly-in. (Calvi was unfortunately out of reach due to avgas restrictions combined with a fully loaded TB…)
- Forget MEP: OK, I must admit that pushing a handful of levers looked kinda cool. But granted, I won’t be able to use it much anyway due to prohibitive costs. So I’ll drop that one.
- Try different kinds of planes (tailwheel / cub / etc): I do not want to feed the debate about what “a real aviator should be”. Just like an old MG (or let’s say an Alpine) is not everybody’s type, flying alone 70 or 80kt in cruise in a cub over a region I know by heart without anything close to modern comfort does not sound that great to me. Our Cessna does 130kt at FL105 with 5 hours endurance which, at the end of the day, suits my typical mission. But yes, it can probably provide additional, valuable flight experience.
- Build your own plane: Guys, let’s not start the GA / horse / divorce debate again 
- Jan’s special: seaplane training: Done already! I did it in Quebec last year on a 1945 cub. However, I haven’t completed the paperwork to have the rating on my EASA licence because very few options are available for this activity in France. The étang de Berre is still officially a water surface. Apart from the FD Canadairs, there is one Lake Bucaneer in Aix en Provence (D-ETII) available for 200€/hr.
This training in Canada was great, I’ll be happy to share if anybody’s interested:
.JPG)
As other said, do some flying in the USA!
Flying in the USA is very rewarding. I like their pragmatic approach to flying and teaching. USA also is so much more GA-frendly, you will love it! After 7 years of flying i have been checked out at four different clubs in the USA and 4 in Sweden. Really nice to fly with different instructors and trying out different planes, you will always learn new stuff! You will also gain confidence when you have trained and been “approved” by different instructors :) I like to go places so i took the JAA IR. Also recently took the FAA Foreign Pilots IR theory on my last vacation, pure fun! Have tried aerobatics that gave me a new dimension of flying :) One more rating on my bucket list and a really good reason NOT going to places :)
Define difficult. Is Courchevel difficult enough? Saanen maybe? Random unmarked bush strips? Are glaciers “difficult” enough? It’s all relative.
Are you sure? ;-))
I would certainly participate in a thread that discussed over sensitivity; there’s an awful lot of it about and it certainly does make communication difficult. But this is not a counselling site!
