Clipperstorch wrote:
It seems that Germans like to stay in Germany
I had the exact same thought. Some people must fly very close to the border to Poland without ever crossing it. We dare to do so and I really enjoy flying in western Poland. It is perfect for training and airwork as there is so little traffic. Also the fuel is cheaper and the Polish are nice people. So everybody do not be afraid and visit our neighbours more often!
Peter wrote:
I am sure that is true for every country – to at least 95% – except possibly Luxembourg
You are probably right. Though sometimes it seems that 95% don’t even leave the local traffic pattern.
Clipperstorch wrote:
Though sometimes it seems that 95% don’t even leave the local traffic pattern.
If you look at the statistics, about 90-95% of people stop flying within 2-3 years after they have their license. Which means that 80-90% of their flying is training (more or less within the traffic pattern). On the other hand, SD isn’t used much (if at all) during training. So the map obviously shows the population density of SD users among the pilots with a license.
How popular is SD? I can’t for the life of me understand that most people aren’t using SD, but most people aren’t 
Lots of people are using old school combined with aircraft installed moving map, and to be honest, it does the job just fine. In Norway Air Navigation Pro is very popular, probably more so than SD.
SD is gaining in popularity in France, but has a long way to go.
It’s interesting that, for a VFR app, some airways are very well represented.
It’s interesting that, for a VFR app, some airways are very well represented.
I would assume that there is a certain amount of people running SkyDemon in the background when flying IFR – if just for the logging.
Way back when SD was starting, I was feeding feature tips to the dev. One of these would have done away with Jepp Flitestar (a popular product then, about £500/year) for most European GA IFR work. He protested, basically saying nobody flies IFR, but over the following years this was put in. Not sure if he did the strip charts, but nowadays few people fly with paper anyway.
Underlying that heat map is something which becomes repidly known to anybody who exports to various countries in Europe. Some are easy and some are hard. It’s deeply cultural and deeply language related (even though the app itself has translated menus).
Clipperstorch wrote:
It seems that Germans like to stay in Germany.
While I do think there is some truth in it, I also think the assertion of “liking to stay in their own country” based on the number of flights not leaving the country is not accurate.
Looking at myself – I love flying outside Germany. From the first days of having the PPL, I never understood why people have an issue with border crossings. The plane doesn’t care. One of my first flights post PPL check ride was from Germany into NL (after having learned to fly in the US). A year after the check-ride, I rented a plane for two weeks and explored the Balkan countries. A few days ago, I returned from a week-long trip from Northern Germany to Southern Spain and back.
However, still the majority of my flights are within the country and shorter. Yesterday, I visited my parents near Düsseldorf. The weekend before that, we flew to meet up with friends in central Germany. Another day I fly with my family to one of our nearby islands. All these accumulate to more than the flights outside of Germany – not because I don’t “like” to leave the country but because of the occasions that present themselves to fly domestically vs. abroad.
Granted: When flying to the islands for a daytrip, I seem to be biased towards the German ones vs. the Danish ones at a similiar distance for the time being. I think the main reason is the (minor) nuisance of having to file a flight plan an hour before the flight for the latter ones – and maybe the price level on the ground. 
airways wrote:
This heatmap pretty much confirms a lot of what is being said on this forum regarding popularity of GA in different countries.
Interesting how the Stockholm/Arlanda (ESSA) control zone stands out.
Also interesting to see the very notable difference between the former West Germany and East Germany.
Peter wrote:
The difference will be accounted for by the much greater acceptance of a “British” product in Germany, due to a) very different ELP and b) France being traditionally hard to sell foreign products (of any kind) into.
Besides, isn’t SDVFR free (or almost free) of charge – albeit limited to France only?
