Fernando wrote:
Posting in the topic “Learning & Starting Out” makes me feel more at ease…
Good. IIRC that was a recent addition by Peter.
Niner_Mike wrote:
And when you are passionate, and you gather all this precious experience, you end up doing IFR, oxygen etc … – We are a self-selected bunch !
Not to pick on you in particular, but this is what I dislike about this forum, and also what keeps people away. IFR, oxygen bla bla I got nothing against anything of that, everyone to his liking. But – 
I remember a TV-program with Rowan Atkinson. He is loves cars, and drives lots of different cars. He also likes Porsche, but would never ever be seen in one, simply because he didn’t want to be associated with “Porsche drivers” who he didn’t like. Stereotypical yes, but stereotypes are not made up from thin air either.
Flyer59 wrote:
Many times I have the feeling that native English speakers don’t realize that this is a real handicap for us. I can only, maybe, express 50 percent of what I really think in English … and i think my English is fine.If anybody here speaks “ok German” … make a test: discuss a simple topic with me in German. You will see how hard it is.
I would need to live in the UK or USA for 5 years until i could express in English what i can express in German.
For what its worth I try to consider this when posting and reading, and for my own good do try to remain ‘proficient in the field’ … You can probably imagine the patience required of both parties if you were married to someone who speaks very limited German!
@LeSving not taken personally. Was trying to explain where this tendency comes from.
In fact, I feel similarly annoyed towards the PPL/IR bunch: self selected highly UK-centric, high performance, twins, …
I stopped being a member because I was not getting much out of it, and because my entry-level questions posts were hardly even answered.
172driver wrote:
Have you ever thought of buying one of those little Bluetooth keyboards?
I do have one of those (for 1 Euro from eBay :-) ) but tend to forget it at home. I will put it in my overnight bag so that I have it with me on days when I don’t get home at night.
And regarding the native speaker stuff: When I finally had a date for my English level 6 exam (which I took for no purpose at all but to prove to myself that it can be done) – which was before EuroGA existed – I read and posted as much as I could on English language forums of all kinds just for practice. Writing provides ten times better training than reading, even if the mistakes one makes can be embarrassing at times.
LeSving wrote:
He also likes Porsche, but would never ever be seen in one, simply because he didn’t want to be associated with “Porsche drivers” who he didn’t like.
I think that comparison is not appropriate. Oxygen, IFR, VFR is just a question of choosing the right tool for the given task at hand. I love flying locally in a Jodel with no electrical system just as much as doing long flights, and the IFR was just a recent addition. I’ve just come back from the US where I rented an SR22 with turbo, TKS and oxygen, which was all very useful on some flights just not to get stuck behind some weather. But I don’t think renting and using that plane for this occasion has made me a different person or has me looking differently at other pilots, as one presumes for Porsche drivers. I cannot think of a drive where you’d say “I’m glad I had a Porsche, if not I wouldn’t have made it”. Maybe the comparison would be more true if you compared IFR pilots to 4×4 jeep drivers.
When I was “VFR only”, I already did longer cross country trips, and maybe that is the differentiation that you mean which keeps being brought up here: between people using small planes to travel, and those that don’t. But many actually do both and I wouldn’t make this distinction.
EuroGA is often “accused” of being too high flying (see what I did there?), too much about IFR, long trips, etc. But has anyone posted a “basic” question, or a VFR question, and not had a good, non-rude, non-sarcastic answer? That’s a real question, not a hypothetical one. I’d like to see the threads and try to do something about them.
Maybe “Starting out” should have a description at the top which states that no question is too basic and nobody asking any question within our guidelines (which say nothing about the complexity of the questions or skill level of the participants) will have to suffer any negative comments because of it.
Hi all
Great topic!
On my side I’d say the 3 top preventers would be:
- lack of time: it is 8:30 pm and I’m sitting in a commuter train. That’s pretty much the only period of the day when I can contribute to EuroGA
- a bit of shyness: we have very high-end characters here with financial means obviously way out of my league and pilot experience that I, humble VFR club pilot, will probably never reach in an entire lifetime. What interesting information can I give to you? Except maybe a few hints on the local restaurants or airfields, which I try to share as much as I can.
- to be fully honest, a bit of laziness too: it’s just so easy to have a quick look at EuroGA between two doors and gulp all the information I can!
Cheers
Flyer59 wrote:
Many times I have the feeling that native English speakers don’t realize that this is a real handicap for us
Sure, us native English should remember this fact.
Other European posters are brilliant – difficult to say English isn’t their first language.
I’d like to bet not many of us Brits could reciprocate – certainly not me.
Euroga is a great forum, and I’ve found reading it highly addictive especially when it’s bad weather and I can’t fly!
I have posted a few times and always received the answer / advice / Insight I was looking for.
I generally hold back from the discussions due to a lack of technicial knowledge. Perhaps a New Years reaolution should be to post more!
