DA42 rental

[Doug]

Happy New Year to all of you!

I don't wanna 'capture' this thread, however, since I am transitioning from my XLS to our DA42-vi in May this year I am actually doing my JAR-FCL MEP-Rating here in Germany. But beause my IR is FAA-based (SEP) and the EASA has not yet any clear ideas how the FAA and EASA-licenses / ratings can be aligned I am thinking of coming over to the US for 10 days doing my MEP(IR).

What are your recommendations and ideas for an appropriate flight school for the MEP(IR) offering DA42s + proactive CFIs + solid weather situation + a not too complex airspace situation + good relationship to the FAA examiners?

Of course I would prefer some flight school on the East Coast, simply due to the travelling efforts, but this is flexible at the end.

Ingo

I have a DA42 based at London, ON (CYXU) with Diamond Flight Center (London) that is used for training. They also have a SIM (level 7?) to back it up. This flight school has a great culture and several ex Diamond employee's for the Tribal knowledge. The Diamond factory is on the same field and its a good location for training.
If you are interested give Bill a call at 519.932.0235

[Tim H]

Ingo-

You may check out Midwest Corporate Air:

http://www.midwestcorporateair.com/Acce ... ining.html

I don't have any personal experience one way or another about their training, but they seem to fit many of your criteria. I know there is a direct flight from Paris to Cincinnati. Bellefontaine is probably 1.5 hrs (by car) north of Cincinnati. Midwest airspace is not busy as compared to the east coast.

[Tommy]

Happy New Year to all of you!

I don't wanna 'capture' this thread, however, since I am transitioning from my XLS to our DA42-vi in May this year I am actually doing my JAR-FCL MEP-Rating here in Germany. But beause my IR is FAA-based (SEP) and the EASA has not yet any clear ideas how the FAA and EASA-licenses / ratings can be aligned I am thinking of coming over to the US for 10 days doing my MEP(IR).

What are your recommendations and ideas for an appropriate flight school for the MEP(IR) offering DA42s + proactive CFIs + solid weather situation + a not too complex airspace situation + good relationship to the FAA examiners?

Of course I would prefer some flight school on the East Coast, simply due to the travelling efforts, but this is flexible at the end.

Ingo

I have a DA42 based at London, ON (CYXU) with Diamond Flight Center (London) that is used for training. They also have a SIM (level 7?) to back it up. This flight school has a great culture and several ex Diamond employee's for the Tribal knowledge. The Diamond factory is on the same field and its a good location for training.
If you are interested give Bill a call at 519.932.0235

I would definitely ditto that. I totally forgot about it. It has an excellent flight school with top shelf state of the art simulators. I can't imagine getting anything else than five star training there. They will easily set you up with a nice place to stay with transportation (shuttle) to and from the airport. The air space is also pretty benign.
The people are excellent too. Yes. That would be my first choice if I was in your shoes Ingo.

[wolfipilot]

Thanks folks! One question (maybe stupid, anyway): this is Canada, so the FAA is not the relevant authority, isn't it? Does it work nonetheless with my FAA-SEP(IR) for the upgrade to the MEP(IR)? Will the
rating finally be added to my US license?

And yes, London, Ontario would be a good place to fly into, with Toronto and Detroit having direct Connections to Germany.

[Tommy]

I would contact London direct and let them know your situation and intentions.
Once they know, I'm sure they will answer all your questions. They are really good people.
At least that has been my experience.

[Henrik]

When being from abroad the problem is mostly to find out if the flight school is primarly interested in squeezing out the last buck of a student or providing realistic courses. This is my biggest concern when having a limited timeframe and the return-ticket already booked.

Ingo, I know what you're saying, but you needn't worry - most US based DA42 flight schools are serious outfits & not "ratings mills".

If you're willing to head for the West Coast, there's several excellent options:

Ahart Aviation in Livermore (http://www.ahart.com)
West Valley Flying Club in Palo Alto (http://www.wvfc.org)
Angel City Flyers, Long Beach (http://angelcityflyers.com)

Incidentally, are you looking to get a ME-IR (FAA) or MEP-IR (JAR/Europe) rating?

If the former, any DA42 school will fit the bill. If the latter, you're restriced to a couple of schools in Florida.

[wolfipilot]

@all - thanks for your great feedback! I contacted the people from London last night by email already and descibed my backgorund in details. Let's wait and see.

@Henrik: well, actually I of course clearly prefer having a JAR/Europe based MEP(IFR) since this would take away the burden of all the still unknown acceptance process of FAA ratings which is still 'under construction' here in Europe. I did not know that any U.S. based flight school do offer the JAR-related trainings at all. I will do some research on this solution as well.

[Henrik]

Note, I believe the US based JAR schools use UK CAA examiners. Hence, you can't use them to add ratings to a non-UK JAR license.

[NickBudd]

There is a flight school in Cannes (LFMD), called Glasscockpit Aviation, that uses a N-reg DA42 and has FAA CFII instructors on staff (I know one of them, Olivier Demarcon, and he is excellent). They can arrange a checkride locally by a designated examiner who lives in England and who is the only designated examiner authorised to give checkrides in Europe. There is also a DA42 sim at Cannes but it is owned by another flight school, Cannes Aviation. LFMD is a nice, relatively quiet airport (during off-season) and the surroundings are very pleasant. You should be able to find a furnished apartment nearby for rent on a weekly basis.

If you are flexible on the type of plane and willing to come to the States, I recommend Shebles in Kingman, AZ, and one instructor in particular, Eddie Lane. Shebles is inexpensive, will quote you a fixed price, seems to specialize in foreign students so there is no wasted time, and you will be in and out quickly. Kingman is a small town in cowboy country (on Route 66, proud home of Andy Devine) and you will love the atmosphere. The planes are rickty old Beech Duchesses, but they are well maintained and the ME rating is the same regardless of the type of plane you use. And obviously weather and traffic are not issues in rural Arizona.

Good luck.

[wolfipilot]

@Nick: thanks for this! Yes, I have heard from this UK-based FAA examiner, this guy has reached a certain famousness due to his pricing model which makes most interested European pilots to prefer travelling to the U.S. rather than having him paid all the charges. LFMD, however, is a nice place, I agree with you. I will do some reasearch on this Arizona flight school, too, even though I will never fly any AVGAS burner anymore when having my -vi. But fixe-Price sounds not too bad, too.