Courchevel

[vanHorck]

http://www.adgs.com/C/GB/ecole-generalites.htm

Does anyone have experiences with either the mountain rating or just the Courchevel strip rating?

Could you share with us your experiences? the course itself, atmosphere, where you stayed, time of the year etc?

Thx

Bert

[richatom]

Depends on your experience level. Mountain-rating takes around 35-50 hours, so unless you live in France or Switzerland it is not very practical for you. If you just want a specific Courcheval clearance you can do that in, say, 2-3 hours if you have a good level of precision and are accustomed to flying in windy and turbulent conditions.

[Adrian N]

There's no need to be "accustomed to flying in windy and turbulent conditions".

I started training in the spring of 2001, qualified for the "wheels" mountain rating in summer '02 and the "skis" rating in the winter of '03. It took about 40 hours training to get both, and 2 attempts at the flight test for the "wheels" rating. You need to learn to fly very precisely - particularly speed control on approach - and if you don't already have a reasonable amount of experience flying in the mountains it is best to spread your training over a longish period so that you encounter different weather conditions. Contrary to what some people believe, there is nothing particularly difficult about it; any competent PPL who has the right attitude to flying can be taught to fly safely in the mountains.

I only had about 200 hours total time when I started training. I know many more experienced pilots who got their ratings far more quickly, but my times are fairly typical for inexperienced pilots. I trained at Megève, which is by far the most active mountain flying club. I'm lucky enough to live within driving distance, so accommodation wasn't an issue.

The mountain rating is valid for life, although currency is critical. If I haven't flown for a month, I restrict my mountain landings to easy places like Megève and Courchevel, and have a refresher flight with an instructor. It may sound overly cautious, but the margins for error at the smaller strips are very small and it is remarkable how a few weeks lack of currency impacts accuracy.

You can get site authorisations for the altiports (Megève, Courchevel, Méribel, Alpe d'Huez, La Motte Chalancon, Corlier and Peyresourde in the Pyrenees) which need to be renewed by an instructor if you haven't flown to the altiport as P1 in the previous 6 months. If you haven't flown in the mountains before, you should assume about 5 hours training for the first, followed by 2 each for subsequent sign offs.

Sadly the chief instructor at Courchevel died in an accident last year, and the school has been much less active. I haven't been there this winter, so don't know if things have changed recently. The main schools are Méribel, Megève and Grenoble (Aéroclub du Dauphiné), but there are others - see this link. (http://www.afpm.org/pratiquer/aeroclubs.htm)

The Alps are the most fabulous place to fly, and I urge anyone to do some mountain training - even if you have no intention of getting the rating.

[stickandrudderman]

I posted my recent experience on here a few weeks ago.

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=315871

Let me know if you want contact details.

Stick.:ok:

[vanHorck]

Thank you all and especially stickandrudderman for a wonderful story.



I guess first thing is to get my taildraggers license!