In the ideal world, I would live next to an airport, have my own de-iced ME aircraft, have a maintenance company that works on it for free, and not get charged hangarage, insurance, or landing fees......but:
I have a 45-60 minute drive to my nearest airport. I live on the South Coast of the Uk and love flying to the Channel Islands, France and down to the SW, Scilly Isles etc. [ok, not flown there yet, but plan to]. I have a JAA PPL IMC and FAA ME IR. I have given up on the idea of flying ME aircraft in IFR in the UK as:
a) they cost too much over here [to rent or buy]
b) I do 3-4 trips to the US every year and get my 100hr fix of ME / IR time
c) by the time I get to the airport I might as well have driven in the first place.
So my solution seems to be to find a landing spot close to home, and have my own reasonably cheap 'fun' SE aircraft which I can doss around the UK, Channel Islands and France.
So how do I go about finding a field to land in? There are bags of them around my house, do I just pop into the local farm and have a word with the farmer or what?...I have no idea of what to expect or what to request come to that. Apart from the 500' / 1500' rule, are there any other considerations to take into account when looking for a landing spot [apart from being flat
]? What about costs? How much could you expect to pay a farmer for the privilege?
Secondly what sort of A/C would suit my purposes? Something reasonably strong [I have this paranoia about the wings falling off
], capable of fairly good distances, perferably 4 seats, or at least enough to carry me and Mrs Englishal plus our [her] bags to the Scillys, Channel Islands or France for a week......oh yea, and not hideously expensive to insure / maintain....
Any advice greatly appreciated. I fear otherwise that my UK flying will stop all together. Over the past few years it has got less and less, while my US flying has increased. I enjoy flying around the UK, and I particularly enjoy using an aircraft as a form of transport, especially on a clear summers day. Beats sitting in a traffic jam, thats for sure.
Cheers
EA