Very sad they had to stop flying… hope there will be an alternative for them? Don’t they have a LAPL or higher, so they can change to certified aircraft or easily obtain a UL license in another country, which might be closer compared to France?
On the other side: Either you have rules and enforce them, or just cancel rules. For me, this is just a logical and more or less fair step from FOCA. Especially if they just send warning letters and do not directly send (heavy) fines. In the end, we’re talking about Switzerland here, where rules in general are consequently enforced.
Amazing, and bad news.
For decades there has been practically zero enforcement in this area.
As a feedback to my post a while ago… I now know of 2 pilot friends that received warning letters from our FOCA, and had to stop flying their F-reg UL around here.
They could of course trailer, or base their mighty craft, to France, but having to drive 2+ hours one way to do so is a hassle none of them considers.
And sadly enough, they had to stop flying…
boscomantico wrote:
The question will be: how easily (and at which cost) will the Danish CAA issue temporary permits to these.
Turns out this was rather a storm in a teapot. Danish CAA is currently releasing permits to German reg. 600kg-ULs without any major hassles. So far, at not cost.
Hi @aart there are around 500 CAP airfields in France you can land your Bristell B23 at any one of these most without PPR and a very few do have special requirements eg Courcheval, La Mole, Cannes.
Many of the CAP airfields a ULM might need PPR, it will be in the VAC. Entering CAS is the same for a ULM as for your Bristell ie “clearance” needed plus radio and plus transponder. As 3 axis ULMs are a relatively new phenomena most are equipped mode S.
We then have a number of “private type” airfields which also require, normally a permission (sometimes one off for life) from the airfield or the prefecture or CCI etc. They do not have LFxx prefixes. In our area there is eg. La Tranche sur Mer and Luçon Chanais.
In the mountain areas there are many such fields if you go on You Tube and search for SpeedJoJo you will see some of these fields. All of these are open to your Bristell. It is for you to decide whether you want to put your brand new Bristell on such surfaces.
Most UL fields as found on BASULM are private fields (often a patch mown, and flattened by the farmer who owns it) There are about 1000 of these throughout France and growing. The farmer will normally have an agreement with the local prefecture to operate as an airfield )I will call it unlicensed for want of a better word, and you will need to get permission to land from the owner. Usually I just SMS when I want to arrive, with what aircraft and is that ok. I usually receive the ok pretty quickly. The farmer’s agreement with the prefecture could rely on things like not causing a noise nuisance or not flying over a house or village. From the farmers point of view there might be a weight limit due to the ground conditions.And from the pilots perspective there is the length and width of the airfield. Remember that many of these fields are only 200m long with obstacles on the approach.
However, who is to know that your Bristell is not a ULM and provided it is not going to tear up his field by heavy breaking, take the tops off trees in the neighbouring field or cause a noise nuisance, it should not be a problem.
In a ULM one off landings can be done anywhere with the owners permission. Eg if you have a friend with a suitable back garden and he invites you to lunch, there is no reason not to go by ULM. There are 6 classes of ULM in France ranging from paramotor to helicopter.
If the land you want to put your ULM down onto is public land you would need permission from the prefect.
Outside of emergencies these one off landings would probably not be allowed in your Bristell not due to ULM regs which are all based on pilot/owner responsibility, but because of EASA/DGAC regulations about what constitutes a ULM in France and where an LSA can land.
Remember also although advisable to have some sort of training it is not mandatory to land a ULM on an Altiport. If you were to do the same with your Bristell without a mountain rating, then you would be committing an infringement of EASA regs.
In Spain IIUC one needs a class 2 medical to fly a ULM. Maybe @aart could list the regs there.
Affirm on the class 2 medical. As to other important regulations:
For both of you, why don’t you simply fly your 600kg ULMs as if they were LSA’s and then you would have no problem hopping around France and landing at our airfields?
I do! And this was an important reason for me to buy the Bristell B23, actually a CS/VLA, MTOM 750 kg. Btw, it’s not clear to me whether I can legally land at UL-fields in France or even at a piece of land with owner permission. Is that the case @gallois ?
French ULM associations guard their freedom from regulation preciously.
In all areas we wanted to keep self declaration and the ability to land anywhere with tje owners permission.
We saw the rise to 600kg as being a rise into the regulatory regime of the LSA which starts at 600kg and EASA. In the case of EASA there are certain things we would have liked but it meant losing the self declaration.
Germany I believe has very different and stricter set of licencing rules than we do here. In Germany I believe one must land at an airfield. I would love to see the full set of ULM regs in Germany, perhaps @Bosmantico you could list them and I will list the French ones so that we can compare.
In Spain IIUC one needs a class 2 medical to fly a ULM. Maybe @aart could list the regs there.
For both of you, why don’t you simply fly your 600kg ULMs as if they were LSA’s and then you would have no problem hopping around France and landing at our airfields?
It goes on…
https://www.fliegermagazin.de/news/600-kilo-uls-duerfen-nicht-mehr-nach-daenemark/
Note: it does make some sense that if Danish ULs are not allowed to weigh more than 475kg, the Danish association is not allowed to issue permits to such foreign aircraft either. The question will be: how easily (and at which cost) will the Danish CAA issue temporary permits to these.
That’s what 600 kg MTOW does.
https://www.fliegermagazin.de/news/news-fuer-piloen-2022-war-ein-rekordjahr-fuer-ul-zulassungen/
In Germany 222 Microlights (3-axis) were newly registered – 22 more than the previous year. Two high speed cruise models leading the ranking – Aerospool Dynamic WT9 and JMB VL3.
