I had my first flight in 1944.. The problem with General Aviation and private ownership in the U.K. & Europe (where it is much worse than the U.K.) is the cost and very high fuel taxation coupled with rigid and restricting Government Controls and other requirements & impositions. Which is why young Europeans flock to places like Florida, to learn to fly. Luckily years ago I moved to other parts of the World where vast distances & primitive road and rail systems made private aircraft ownership essential and therefore less subject to Government restrictions. Today in the U.S.A. they are busy catching up with restrictive European extra oversights and regulations. It is a political and social thing that is beginning to increasingly reflect in the increasing cost of private flying in the U.S.A. The lawyers started the downfall of Light Aircraft production by excessive 'Class Action Suits' against the Manufacturers and Operators beginning about 35 years ago. I have owned my own aircraft since 1959 but each year it gets costlier and less justifiable. Law suits and taxation, and excessive fee's are the most efficient way to kill General Aviation - of course this is with the approval of our now Politically Correct and Envious Social Government and Systems

GA has been going the way of the dodo even here in Australia. The slow strangulation began in the 80's when the regulator began it's make work programs and a culture of "we know best" translated into bullying tactics with criminal sanctions enacted into law even for the most minor transgressions.

Look out for your freedom, I cringe when I hear someone say " there should be a law against that".

It is really sad, indeed. I grew up in Spain and my dream to become a pilot did not happen until I moved to the USA 20+ years ago. GA was weak back then but it is almost non-existing now. During a visit in 2005 I rented a c-172. All passengers had to be screened thru a metal detector and escorted by armed guards from the terminal to the airplane. There was only a few a hours a day that the airport could be used since the runway was shared with the military. This year I tried again and there are no longer planes available for rental. The local club simply dissappered! A whole town of over 170k inhabitants has no access to GA!

Could the infrequency of flights be related to the insane fees and governmental control that pilots must be subjected to over there...?

Government really will take away our freedoms, not only to fly but in other areas if we let them.

Wake up before the next election...

I agree, it's a great shame. I feel this needs to be viewed as a warning to all pilots in the US and my home country, Canada. It's a stark demonstration for all of us who love GA, of what happens when you let people slowly erode your freedoms and the things you love.
Everyone seems to have a good story about why we need a new rule or a safe guard. All at a price in dollars or freedoms. Always someone looking to put on another charge. I see it happening here in Canada, a few bucks here, an aviation fuel tariff increase there, a couple of cents on a gallon of gas or a charge for a pilot license booklet you didn’t have or need a few years back ( it's coming); these things all creep up.
I learned to fly in the UK, about 18 years ago before moving to Canada. The cost of flying and the complexity of the airspace there in Europe has reached a level where, today, I would probably just never have been able to get involved if I had to do it all over again.

We need to look after what we have and fight for it. Or we will have empty GA skies too !
( I guess thats where AOPA and COPA come in eh ! )

I agree, skies in Portugal are empty and GA Clubs have serious financial difficulties. Here if you have a PPL and a medium salary (1200€/month) it's not easy to spend 100€ per week for an hour flight. But if you want to enjoy a flight over the Leiria coast (most beautiful Portuguese sea side) pay us a visit www.acleiria.org.

Hello,

As promised, here is the blog I wrote about our trip to Switzerland and Northern Italy and what we learned about GA flying and airports there: http://blog.aopa.org/vfr/?p...

Here is also a link to a database of Spanish airports so you may contact them prior to a future trip and schedule some flying: http://www.aopa-spain.org/a...

Regards,

Yasmina

Hello

most of the reasons behind the downfall of GA in Spain have been pointed out but in my opinion the biggest burden GA has to fight here is something very big and powerful called AENA (the national air navigation services provider). AENA has been kicking off GA from its airports for years so at present GA is almost non existing at AENA's airports. The worst of it is that the authorities accept this situation and do nothing to change it. AENA has become a monster.

The same is true in Italy and Greece, and elsewhere we traveled on a recent 6-month round-the-world vacation. Except in New Zealand, sightings of GA aircraft were rare and consisted mostly of commercial sightseeing operations. We're very fortunate in the US.

Peter,

Being from near the city of Viseu, Portugal I contacted the Aero Clube de Viseu prior to arriving on vacation a few years ago. I was able to fulfill a dream of flying over my village in the mountains in CS-DAS one of the nicest 152's I have ever seen. It was a great day.

http://acv.trignosfera.pt/acv/

GA flying in the USA is easier and cheaper than any other country I have encountered. However, I've never had any difficulty flying on holiday while in Spain and Portugal by contacting the flying school at an airport before travelling. It has been interesting to fly some unusual aircraft as well as the more normal types. For example there are more Casa (Bucker) models there which are wonderful aircraft. The costs roughly match those in Britain, which can be about 1-5 to 2x the cost for the same aircraft in the USA. In contrast to the British weather, the climate on the Iberian peninsular is so wonderful, it would be a great place to do airtours. I'm not trying to minimise the difficulties that local pilots endure, but as visitors the flying schools insulate us from the bureaucracy.

I would agree.

Hello,
Sorry to hear you had such a dissapointing experience... but I'm not all that surprised. In the following link, I wrote about a more positive experience we had in Spain in June: http://blog.aopa.org/vfr/?p.... I will be writing about our recent GA experiences in Switzerland and Italy in that same blog platform later this week.
Regards,
Yasmina

As you say It is so complicated flying in Spain that many (most) private pilots gave up. Anyway there is, still, an important activity regarding skydiving in Epuriabrava. Most of my friends are tired of paying such landing and handling fees that no longer fly, not to talk about maintenance. Having a CPL/IR updated, my case, Is so expensive that I am often thinking about giving up. On the other hand many of us have moved to what they call ultralights (Tecnam, Zenair, etc.) and, as you know, they should be LSA but it does not even exist in Spain. There Is a good activity in this field as we do not pay landing fees, do not have to file flight plans, run on autogas, cheaper maintenance inspections, and much more.
But the worst of it is authorities are not prone to do anything to solve the problem, just the oposite.

You should have come down to Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands, Amy. Do it next time. We have a flying club with a lot of activity.