Aviathor wrote:
It pays the trip home – no question. My question was whether it also pays for the trip back to Carcassonne to pick up the plane.
Affirm again, FFA pays trip out for pilot + passengers, trip back in (to fetch the plane) for pilot only (all including train in 1st class + taxis)
Nestor wrote:
Affirm again, FFA pays trip out for pilot + passengers, trip back in (to fetch the plane) for pilot only (all including train in 1st class + taxis)
Such a plan would be awesome to have elsewhere.
IMHO, at some places I can think of, it would collapse due to abuse.
Some airports took ages to get into the Strasser Scheme for this reason, and that concession is worth far less than the FFA one: just the landing fee, which in most applicable cases is frankly trivial on the scale of avgas etc costs. One time I diverted I was offered the £10 landing fee waiver (at Blackbushe) but I paid it on the grounds that it was ridiculous to try to save £10. I think the hotel was £100…
Why this works in France is an interesting question. Obviously it works because not many claims are made under it. But that isn’t the answer.
Aviathor wrote:
what kind of documentation do you need to provide, if any, to benefit from that service?
Absolutely no documentation needs to be provided. It’s a standard travel insurance included in FFA’s yearly membership fee. It covers trip curtailment due to weather and travel back from local airfield to home base for pilot + passengers (taxi + first class train, one-way rental car or standard air ticket), as well as travel for one pilot to fetch the plane when weather permits. I only dealt with the insurer’s call center by phone and sms. They were extremely helpful and responsive. The only information I had to give was my FFA member number, airplane registration, and airfields names (local and home base).
FFA is the French Federation or Aeronautics (and the federation of 99% of French air clubs).
FFA membership is mandatory for members of all affiliated clubs as it’s the standard personal insurance that you get when flying in the clubs. It includes a death/injury insurance in addition to the travel insurance described above. Introduction of the travel insurance was intended to reduce accidents due to VFR pilots inadvertently entering in IMC. It is mandatory in the package. Wikipedia says: As of 2007, the FFA includes about 600 aeroclubs over 450 aerodromes, 42,000 pilots, 2,200 instructors and 2,200 aircraft.
Peter wrote:
Why this works in France is an interesting question. Obviously it works because not many claims are made under it. But that isn’t the answer.
I think it would work in the UK for the same reason. Of the 70-odd members of my local flying club, I can think of only two who have ventured out of the Scottish FIR this year.
A few might be tempted to abuse it, but in those circumstances the insurer is not obliged to pay – under the general principle that an insured person must not take greater risks than he would if he had no insurance.
Edit: what might kill it in the UK is the lack of a membership organisation with clout equivalent to the FFA.
Yes… I think it works because France has
so most of the mission profile has a very low diversion risk.
The UK GA profile is also mostly local burger runs but the wx is a lot more changeable, and people do a lot more stuff alone, and don’t like unwanted input into their decisions.
what might kill it in the UK is the lack of a membership organisation with clout equivalent to the FFA
Very much so. UK AOPA really struggles to get any sort of penetration of the very tribal UK GA scene. Having had a quick look at some French forums in the past, I think they have the same problem (who doesn’t) but the mandatory club membership deals with it.
It’s interesting how the DGAC achieved this, and why something like that has not developed elsewhere. For another thread I guess 
Peter wrote:
* much better wx especially south of roughly La Rochelle…
what might kill it in the UK is the lack of a membership organisation with clout equivalent to the FFA
Very much so. UK AOPA really struggles to get any sort of penetration of the very tribal UK GA scene.
We also have AOPA France, but it’s mainly an aircraft owner’s club. I’m a member of the US AOPA because I rent aircrafts in the US.
FFA was part of le Mouvement de l’Aviation Populaire initiated by the Front Populaire government in 1936, reason for France having largest GA and pilots community in Europe. France is and has always been a compromise between East and West ;-) – this is history (for more you can read this).
It’s interesting how the DGAC achieved this, and why something like that has not developed elsewhere.
DGAC, to my knowledge, was not involved. They, however, like the fact of having a strong body representing a large population of pilots/stakeholders who can enforce any agreement they reach even though it makes the negotiation tougher.
Unfortunately I could not make the dates for this trip, but inspired by the flyout I’m going down next week.
I was interested in the refuelling system and whether the NOTAM is strictly enforced. I have a BP card and will be leaving on Saturday so should be able to refuel on Saturday morning, but I always prefer to refuel on arrival-just to remove one of the many moving pieces on departure day. Is it possible to refuel on a weekday?
It seems strange to have an automated refuelling process and still restrict access??
Thanks.
The reason for the fueling restrictions is that the fuel pump is located in the ENAC apron (which is private) and they do not want visitors to disturb their activities.
The restrictions are not strictly enforced. Prior to the fly-in I talked to people at ENAC who basically said that long as we did not create any fueling bottleneck, we could refuel.
Those who actually used the facility shoukd be able to tell you about any other issues they had with the system (including electrical problems)
