Your 2023 flying year, how many hours, and aspirations for 2024?

at a certain point time I thought my engine sounded different, louder

Your engine’s a Rotax right? Not to worry, they all sound this way. You just can’t have such a minute powerplant producing badass power whilst sipping fuel thru a straw, and then expect a normal sound in return.

PS
I’ll sure keep my voice down… but sure will have a screwdriver at hand for the other ear, who knows…

2013: 145 hrs
2014: 187
2015: 179
2016: 160
2017: 120
2018: 138
2019: 122
2020: 103
2021: 130
2022: 126
2023: 95

For various reasons, not a good flying year. I think mostly due to fewer long trips.

I am looking forward to a fly2ski which should happen in January.

Then, as every year, I am looking forward to Aero Friedrichshafen which is our usual “German meet-up”.

And more trips to lovely destinations like Croatia and maybe even Greece.

And more meet-ups locally.

The TB20 continues to do exactly what I need, mostly with the 1990s avionics

The main challenge is as every year: keep flying interesting. The social aspect has become more difficult, with most of the group of regulars, who used to do UK and France, having packed up flying, or just disappeared, during covid. In fact a large % of pilots who “went places” seems to have vanished. I think the most experienced ones, being generally the oldest, got fed up with a lot of stuff during the covid years and retired.

Difficulties with France continue with so many destinations being 24/48hr PN so most people just don’t bother anymore. I think this is a big loss to UK GA and to a number of French airports whose revenue has shrunk.

I have also just reached 3000hrs TT.

Some impressive GA hours on this forum, outside work only managed around 20 hours. Airplane getting paintwork and the usual avionics gremlins (slaved gyro acting up, although works in free mode). Hoping to make the European Bonanza maintenance clinic later next year, and hopefully a few longer European trips.

A little less than usual. Only about 65 h for various reasons. Perhaps more next year, but realistically no, as several other projects and stuff need attention.

Will be getting close to 400hrs this year, thus missing my goal not to fly more than 350

In general less teaching, more learning. Highlights were a lot of Husky flying for the mountain rating in spring (which I really love), and also around 80 hours of gliding in my Ventus, almost all of which in the mountains in southern France.

Also bought a WT9 NG RG in August together with two colleagues. Really pushes the limits of (VFR) flying for me, as it is suitable for flying into 250m altiports (provided the terrain is smooth) as well as cruising at 170 to 180 knots at altitude.

I hope you all have nice and calm holidays with some more flights, folks!

Great thread, thanks for starting it @FlyingAppel and congratulations!

When I see what other members here are flying, with a full time job and a family, I realize that’s there is a lot of room for improvement on my side!

2022 was a disaster from a flying point of view. Actually, that was just the consequence of a couple unfortunate events in both my professional and personal/family life. Not complaining by any means: sh*t happens to everyone, we just have to take the blow and move forward. While not being exactly thankful for what happened, I grew up as an individual from it. But as a result, I flew less than a dozen hours in the entire year.

My goals for 2023 were to fly more and, particularly, re-gain the self confidence I lost during 10 years of flying interruption (2011-2021). I flew 25 hours (still not enough!) and several long cross-countries. Main highlights in no particular order:

• Flew through the Geneva control zone at FL100 with airliners landing underneath me and the Mont Blanc in front of us; the view was spectacular!
• Took a nice trip through the Alps. The view was spectacular!
• Came back from Austria to EDQN through a depleted thunderstorm front. I had doubts we could come through, gave it a try, and it worked better than expected. The view was spectacular!
• Participated in 2 fly-ins. Oldtimers were spectacular!
• Took my son (3 1/2 yo back then) in the air for the first time. He slept almost the entire flight, and did not see anything spectacular :D
• And, while playing a concert in March, became friend with a violist who turned out to be an aviation geek. She does not have a flying license, but has graduated to becoming my “official copilot”. I will not comment about the view :D :D :D

All this might sound dull to all of you old pros; but to me it is a big step forward.

Aspirations for 2024:

• Landing in Porta Westfalica, where my spectacular “new flying friend and official copilot” comes from (Note: no romantic aspiration here! :D)
• A trip to Laeso in Denmark with my “official copilot” to visit a common friend
• Perhaps fly to Hamburg to visit another friend,
• Certainly a few trips to my home region,
• Do more with my family and particularly my son
• Also, repair the vacuum pump (in order to get the autopilot working again) and present “Emmie” with a few cosmetic upgrades. I offer my partner some jewelry for Xmas, why not doing the same to my aircraft :D

As a side note, happy to meet any of you, at home or anywhere else. Let me know if you pass by EDQN!

All the best to all of you for 2024!

Etienne

2023 aspirations:
get US 61.75 pilot certificate with IR included to be able to fly the M20J internationally
lots of nice trips
get back in shape and get the CPL done

2023 reality:
got the US 61.75 pilot certificate, no IR as I couldn’t get myself flying to US just to pass the IFP test
52 hours flying on very nice trips to Italy, Germany, Croatia and Slovenia. All on C172RG as M20J unavailable.
No CPL yet.

2024 aspirations:
Get the IFP test done and fly M20J to lots more nice trips.
Get the CPL…last year to get it done due to the ATPL exams 3 years expiration.

In 2022 I flew 125 hours and looking back at last years thread I see I set myself the goal to get to 150 hours and to visit some of the countries that I dont know well.

So, very happy that wxceeded the goal, with160 plus hours in 2023. The PA46 owners forum always maintains that it is necessary to fly 100 hrs per year to keep proficiency in such complex types at a good level and I did that this year. Our flying exists at the two ends of the spectrum – long (500 to 800 nm) cross European flights in the Jet Prop radiating out from S England to places which are warmer and trips within 30 miles of our home base in the Piper Cub. In terms of newish (to us) countries, we made out first trip in many years to Portugal in January (Portimao) and found delightful weather even in the depths of winter. We discovered Slovenia (Portoroz) for the first time and used it as a launch pad into Croatia. We also made our first flight to Italy (Bologna) in many years and (re)discovered Tuscany. We also made it half way to Israel by plane, on October 7th, at which point it became clear we should turn around. We still haven’t made a long awaited trip to the Rhine region to pay my respects to Emperor Charlemagne (Aachen) and drink riesling in a charming weinstube.

For 2024 our goal is to see if we can move our centre of life to Tuscany without losing our sanity, find a sensible place to base the Jetprop and a nice local Aviosuperficie where I can own or rent a little “bimble plane” and enjoy some dolce vita. Having embarked on this crazy idea less than three weeks ago we have actually made much better progress than I would ever have imagined. In week one we found a terrific lawyer, found a house and signed a purchase contract, and in week two secured hangar space at an international C&I on fairly reasonable terms to start in April. The airport is not as convenient as I would like, but it will give us time to try and find hangar space at my dream airport in time. I am pretty sure I know where I base my local area flying as well. Once installed in Italy, I look forward to exploring places like Sicily, Puglia and Malta by plane. And we will try for Israel again to spend some time there with our son – he works there part of the time. My even get to another long awaited goal, the Greek island of Milos!

44 hours this year, almost all of which was instruction as an FI.

Having a full-time job and instructing on the side can be very tiring, especially when one must have a life outside of work and aviation, but it is one way to keep me motivated to fly.

Sadly plans to get a full-time flying job haven’t materialized since 2018, and now that the cost of living has increased, getting a flying job is prohibitive financially even if somehow my applications would start biting.

Oh yeah, I also let my MEP expire because who cares anyway?

So I guess my goal for next year is to get my students done and I will see how motivated I am to keep flying after that.

Just over 70 hours this year, which is almost exactly the same as 2022; a surprise as we lost the first two and a half months of this year waiting for a new prop spinner as well as a month later in the year waiting for a fuel pump to be repaired.

A very successful year – completed the CB IR and (today, actually) the night rating. Did some great VFR trips, to Sweden, via Denmark and back via North Germany, and down to Reims to drink some champagne, as well as a few trips to the Channel Islands and Ireland. Did my first trip with the IR as PIC to Rouen with friends to watch some rugby match.

Looking forward to the forum fly2ski next year, and many other trips. I am mulling over a Faroe Islands trip, as well as further into Scandinavia and the Baltics. Croatia would be great to explore as well. Let’s see!