Retired TWA captain Barry Schiff has been flying for more than 49 years.
As horrific as the events of September 11 were, there was, for me, a positive flip side. The immediate imposition of flight restrictions and the ultimate relief from those constraints made me appreciate how precious our freedoms of flight are and how quickly they can be taken away. These events made me realize that the fanciful flights I aspire to take and of which my dreams are made should be planned and executed before either future restrictions render them impossible or I am no longer able to outfly the setting sun.
For many pilots, the ultimate flight is one that touches down in every state (48 or 50) or one that visits every state capital. Last December, for example, one intrepid pilot, Jerry Wright, began an 18-month effort to land at every hard-surfaced public airport in the United States. (There presumably are 3,805 such airports.) For others the dream might be to follow the perimeter of the 48 states like a cartographer's pen or to fly to the extremes of the Western Hemisphere, either to the Arctic Ocean in the north or Tierra del Fuego at the tip of South America. Others with even more panache might aspire to cross every meridian and time zone during a flight that girdles the globe.
One of my dreams has been to circle the Earth in a twin-engine amphibian and touch down wherever in the world my heart and soul care to wander, preferring those exotic destinations toward which I am lured by wind and weather.
More within my grasp, however, is a flying tour of Europe, a continent that affords a pilot the opportunity to soar across the pages of history and above an exciting fairyland of castles, cultures, and contrasts.
My plan for the summer of 2003, therefore, is to rent an airplane in Europe and use it to tour as much of the continent as possible without shortchanging myself on the ground. Obtaining the airplane, however, might be easier said than done and depends to some extent on the minimum number of flight hours for which I will have to pay for each day I have possession of the aircraft. I also need a relatively efficient machine. At $5 per gallon or more for avgas in some places, I can hardly afford a gas guzzler. Ideally, it will be a four-place European-made aircraft (in keeping with the ambiance of the adventure), have good fuel economy, carry two passengers plus baggage, and have respectable performance (a minimum of 130 knots). I am open to suggestions from any of Pilot's European readers.
Planning such a flight is more challenging than I had originally imagined. It is as far from the west coast of Ireland to Moscow as it is across the United States. Lapland in northern Finland and the Rock of Gibraltar in southern Spain are similarly separated. Although I would like to land in every European country — there are 44 — I doubt if this is even possible. Are there airports in Andorra, Monaco, and San Marino? Are Americans allowed to land in Albania (and do I really want to go there)? Planning this adventure will be as educational as it will be difficult.
My plan is to ride in the cabin of a great silver whale to the Continent (probably in June 2003), pick up my magic carpet, and head in whichever direction seems appealing at the time. The idea is to be footloose and fancy-free, unencumbered by an itinerary or a list of hotel reservations. I plan to arrange for accommodations while on the wing.
One convenience will be the recently introduced euro, which means that currency exchange will not be required every time a border is crossed, a frequent occasion when flying in Europe. It is strange, however, to imagine France without francs, Germany without deutsche marks, and Italy without lire.
Nor will I land at major air carrier airports such as London's Heathrow or Rome's Leonardo da Vinci. Instead, I plan to roll my wheels only onto general aviation runways where aero clubs, friendly pilots, warm hospitality, and needed refreshments always seem to await visiting aviators.
This adventure will no doubt also give me added appreciation for the incredible freedom that U.S. pilots enjoy. Our European counterparts have much less and pay substantially more for it. I also will experience firsthand the pain of having to shell out shillings for weather briefings, flight plans, using ;round-based navigational aids, communications, and alight-ing on someone else's sod. Flying in Europe is expensive.
The good news is that I will be able to write about these experiences on my laptop computer for this monthly column while relaxing in a Mediterranean villa or a Swiss chalet. It might be tough duty, but someone has to do it.
My intra-European flights of fancy include swooping over Loch Ness in search of a monster, buzzing Bavaria, practicing pylons around the pyramid-shaped Matterhorn, threading through the magnificently carved fiords of western Norway, paying homage during a low-altitude flight over the beaches of Normandy, sailing over alluring Venice, darting along the Danube, and visiting the birthplaces of my grandparents in Eastern Europe. The list of what I want to see and do is endless, limited only by time, mood, and money.
This promises to be the flight of a lifetime (especially with the right companion) but almost as much fun will be sharing it with you on these pages as the adventure unfolds.
Visit the author's Web site ( www.barryschiff.com).
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