For that kind of money you can probably really consider a helicopter transfer from Cannes ;-)
Last time I was there return ticket from Zagreb and helicopter transfer to Monte Carlo (shared with 3 other passengers) was below above specified amount.
Good afternoon,
I’m a US-based pilot (FAA CPL w/ IFR single-engine w/ tailwheel) that will be spending some time in the Cannes area later in March (24 March to 1 April specifically). My wife and daughter will be at a Tennis academy, so I had hoped to do something aviation related.
Unfortunately the two flight schools that I located at LFMD (Cannes) have no availability for dual instruction (since as an FAA pilot I cannot be PIC of a French-registered aircraft, even after a checkout).
Does anyone have any creative ideas or know of any independent instructors in the Nice/Cannes (+/- 100km) area? Or any kind pilots that are going to be flying anyways and have an extra seat? (I’d of course be happy to offer the same in Arizona or California when someone visits USA). I’m very flexible on the type of flying, my goals are simply (1) Do something aviation related, and (2) improve my familiarity with the airspace as I might be bringing my Cirrus to Europe summer 2022.
If it matters: I can speak basic French, read/write lower intermediate French, I’m a citizen of US, Canada and Austria.
Thank you!
Todd Cusolle
Scottsdale, Arizona (KSDL)
N551JW
I do indeed know someone. I’m not sure about his level of English though. Let me check with him. He also has a 172 that you could fly in.
You can survive with English on the radio as long as you don’t go anywhere uncontrolled.
I will be around myself for some of that time and would be happy to take you for a flight in my plane.
There are several clubs at LFMD and between them I’m pretty sure there’s an English-OK instructor. But they probably want you to join before they’ll let you fly their planes – which is around €300 depending on the club.
John
Thanks @arj1 for flagging John!
@johnh Thanks for your message. If I can do any type of flying at all (instructional, pleasure non-instructional, IFR, VFR, whatever) it would really make my trip. So even if the instruction with the 172 doesn’t work out I’d be beyond grateful to join you flying. At home I’m used to flying 3-4 times per week, so I’d be sad to be grounded during our entire trip.
My French is functional enough that I could probably make it work with an instructor that speaks zero English. If the instructor speaks even a tiny bit of English, then I think our “Venn diagram” circles will overlap more than adequately.
(I tried Aéroclub Cannes, but they have no availability, but I will try some of the other clubs. I’d be happy to pay their membership as I expect to be in Cannes 2-3x per year… hopefully eventually with my SR22 if I can get some reasonable insurance to bring it from North America)
In addition to Aeroclub Cannes, there’s also Aeroclub d’Antibes and UACA.
Let me see what I can figure out.
Worth checking but I recall DGAC does allow one to fly some F-reg vintage aircraft (they are called Annex2 like Cubs & Jodels but not Cirrus) on FAA PPL but limited to inside French airspace only
If you are not French resident, you can rent & fly N-reg (Cirrus or Cubs) on your FAA PPL, surely you can find few around by talking to owners, however, if you are French resident, you can’t fly N-reg on FAA papers past Jun22 deadline and this is not going to be extended
You may want to get in touch with someone at Orbifly, I am sure they can give some pointers
Good luck & bienvenue !
You can also join Orbifly. They are based in Avignon but they often go down to Cannes. Alexandra Zainal has a ton of FAA qualifications and does ME/SE/IR, in the region.
They will be able to help you I think.
https://www.orbifly.fr/index.php?mode=bases&lang=FRA
Thanks everyone for the excellent suggestions – I’m amazed by the response, thank you! I’ve now reached out to a few additional Cannes aeroclubs as well as the intriguing suggestion from Greg re: Orbifly.fr
Please don’t ever hesitate to contact me if I can ever be of assistance on flying in US/Canada or anything Cirrus-related.
Merci!
IIRC you used to be able to get a dispensation from the DGAC to fly F reg on FAA licence for a limited period of time, like a vacation. It might be worth an email to one of the DSACs. I’ve always found them very helpful.
Remember with most clubs you would also have to join the FFA at €75 without Info Pilote. This will cover a small life insurance policy plus a get you home service and cover the club to be able to recover the plane or send an engineer to get it.
