Flying Holidays.

[sennadog]

One of the great attractions for me with flying is going to be combining a holiday with some decent flying in other countries.

I have mentally planned visits to the following countires:

US - probably California, Nevada and the rest of the west coast.

SA - Cape Town area and on up to Kruger Park.

Australia - probably WA and maybe Vic.

Canada - I haven't a clue where but it seems to be overlooked as a flying destination.

Now that's the easy part but needless to say I have a few questions that need some answers.

1) There must be some places that are possible and relatively cheap to fly in without overly restrictive licensing requirements. Possibly Kenya, Morrocco etc. Does anyone have some places that are worth adding to this list.

2) Ideally, we will set off early and get a few hours in before landing at an out of the way destination so that Mrs.Sennadog can have some fun or top up her tan. Any suggestions for any of the above countries?

3) Having established that Mrs.Sennadog enjoys it I want to experience some flying that is slightly challenging but well within the capabilities of a PPL who in all likelihood is only going to get around 20 - 30 hours in per annum outside of the flying holiday. Any particular routes/airfields that meet that requirement for the above destinations?

4) Any knowledge of local goodies particular to flying would be appreciated. I'm thinking along the lines of having some lessons in a float plane in Canada or visiting the Grand Canyons with a flight instructor etc.

Bear in mind that Mrs.Sennadog isn't going to be doing any of the flying so she needs to be entertained as well. Also, I'm not interested in seeing anything vaguely cultural like old buildings and stuff but I love seeing nature at it's best and especially the more inaccessible areas that I hope flying can take us to.

Over to you.

[essouira]

Re holidaying the states
1) Arizona and nevada are brillliant (and great for non-flying partners) - the aircraft graveyard in tuscon, ok corral in tombstone, monument valley and rainbow valley are best seen from the air, you can spend a few days on a ranch, fly down to nogales and walk acroos the border into mexico etc
2) The keys make a good holiday (marathon, key west etc and very popular with tan-topper-uppers)
3) In california there are also some really good holiday trips -
catalina island is a good trip though maybe best done as a checkflight with an instructor
petaluma is good for the wine country and northern state

[SuperGuppy]

I read in Pilot magazine a couple of years ago about some guy who did a PPL in Hawaii.... Apparently the weather is nice all year round(ish). Scenery is spectacular and the flying can be challenging due to winds/cliffs etc. Lots of non-flying things to see especially if you're into volcanoes (not literally I hope :eek: )

I visited New Zealand a while ago and although I didn't do any flying while there it is another big scenery type of place. It has a bit of everything and it is realtively cheap. Not sure what the rules are re getting a reciprocal license on the basis of your JAA PPL tho'

SuperG

[Grim Reaper 14]

I still have this ambition to hire out of Long Beach or similar, and fly up to Oakland to catch my Raiders, preferably kicking the @rse out of the Broncos. Overnight stop, then fly back down, completely avoiding 14 hours on I-5. Heaven! :D

[Southern Cross]

Try New Zealand. Fantastic terrain and your pounds sterling will go ever such a long way. Enjoy.

[tacpot]

I've flown in Canada and had an interesting one hour flight (with an Instructor). Didn't like to approach into Edmonton City airport though, couldn't seen the airfield for skyscrapers! :eek: In reality, the nearest skyscraper must be at least six or seven blocks away. :eek:

I flew in winter and to be honest the ground was pretty uninteresting - all flat and white. But I suspect there are part of Canada to rival even New Zealnd for beauty.

[Julian]

Yep, West Coast US is very cheap and great flying.

I found a flight school is Maui though and aircraft hire prices are on a par with the UK. Probably as they were the only place to hire from on the island they could charge a premium.

[AerBabe]

Canada is the place I'd like to fly most. Eastern Alberta is plains country (no pun intended, especially not when Stik's reading :eek: ), but West of Edmonton things start to get prettier again.

There was an article in last November's Pilot magazine about a company doing floatplanes and mountain flying in BC. I'd love to go there... when I have a) a job, and b) some money. Oh, and c) the time :D Nelson Mountain Air (http://nmtair.com)

I've still got the article if anyone's interested enough to want more details, but I think most of it's on the website. :)

[eveepee]

On holiday in April this year I was lucky enough to have some flying instruction in Santa Fe (NM). The scenery was fantastic, my instructor very laid back and it was so much cheaper than here. I can't wait to go back for some more ! I have details of the school should you need it Sennadog. Santa Fe itself is very interesting and Mrs Sennadog will like the shopping ! - Not that far from Grand Canyon either.

[sennadog]

Thanks for all of your answers so far. What I'm after is a bit more specific such as:

I don't know if either of these two are possible but....

Is it possible to fly into Yosemite or some out of the way place in the US that is visited less frequently.

The same goes for SA. It would be fantastic to fly into the Kruger National Park, get a lift to the nearest game lodge and enjoy the sites.

These nuggets of information are what I'm after for all countries. New Zealand sounds like a great idea but my impression is that a lot of the country would be unsuitable for a relatively inexperienced PPL. Any comments?

[Keef]

You can't fly INTO Yosemite, but there is an airfield nearby. You'd need to hire a car from there.

I've done several touring trips in the USA and had a whale of a time. Very often, it was the unplanned bit that was best.

Mrs Keef (aka Margaret, or Gretel) was struck dumb (a rare event indeed) when we flew from LA to Big Bear to Grand Canyon. She's not keen on flying with Keef, but that was very much the exception.

Did it again last year, courtesy of a certain BouncyLandings...

Fabulous!

[essouira]

hi again - Re USA - all the places I mentioned iin south west USA are suitable for a ppl. Nogales (land and walk across into mexico), grand canyon (suggest landing and then walking down into the canyon (two days), catalina island (recommend dual first time), tombstone (middle of nowhere but you can see the ok corral) , petaluma (for the wine country), big bear (recommend dual due altitude), cal black, tuscon, palm springs, santa fe. then marathon and key west in southern florida. I've planned all my trips using a regular sectional and chatting to the guys at the place where i hired. Sorry I've never been into yosemite by air though.

[flyboy6876]

Sennadog

Re: RSA, I do know that there is an airfield at Skukuza, which is one of the main camps in the south of the Kruger. I'm not sure if you can fly into it on a PPL though. However, my suggestion would be to fly to Phalaborwa, which is in the north, bordering on the Kruger. From there you could hire a car (GBP goes a looooooong way in RSA) and do your touring from there. This allows you to go either north or south in the park and see some very spectacular country and animals. I spent many years working around this part of the world and can highly recommend it. For info on licence in RSA there is a thread in African Aviation called "Visiting RSA" which may give you some info.

The flight to Phalaborwa is great. My bud and I used to fly there regularly to consult at the mine and we flew mostly from Wonderboom airport just north of Pretoria, or from Rand Airport in Johannesburg.

Good luck and enjoy
'Boy

[Doudou]

Confirmation, California-Nevada are great and not that difficult to fly, and very diversified; and the florida keys arfe really wonderfull seen from up there. I'm planning to make few flight to the bahamas, will see.

[sennadog]

Some great tips here. Keep them coming.

:)

[stiknruda]

I have flown into several private strips in the Kruger, most of the private lodges have decent dirt strips. Suggest a google search for private game lodges on google or similar.

Skakuza was closed by the CAA for commercial flights last Jan but I am sure that it will have re-opened.

You may have problems renting an aircraft that you will be allowed to take into dirt strips.

Converting a UK PPL to an RSA licence (they didn't do validations some years ago when I was combine harvesting there). used to be a pain but I understand that things are now easier.


Also had some great hols flying in Texas, Arizona Calif and Florida. Took Mrs Stik to the Bahamas for a week.

Took my godfather on an aerial safari from Mozambique to Namibia and back via CPT and Lesotho. Eight countries, 28 days 32 hrs, great fishing, game-hunting and white water rafting on the Zambezi. A C182 with 2 on board and enough space for a few slabs of beer, rifles, rods and I very nearly took my Ridgeback but though that some of the posher hotels/lodges might object!

Hoping to go off to NZ for a few weeks in Dec/Jan if the corn prices don't tumble! Have an intro to one of the principals at Waneka:D and know some of the Pitts guys out there.

Quite fancy returning to Brazil (where I grew up - well got older!) and flying there, too.



Have fun and use your licence!

Stik