Friday, June 01, 2007

First flight in Ukraine....HOPEFULLY

This week brought it some excitement. I have finally been able to find out what the hell I need to do in order to get my PPL licence validated to fly in the Ukraine. Seems like the usual paper chase required with all Aviation Authorities, and a test to top it off (don't know if it's a flight test or written exam though). So with the help of the guys here, they'll help draft a letter in Russian so I can send it and copies of my logbook and licence to the Ukrainian authorities and allow me to fly here solo. Fingers crossed.
On top of that, we got to talking about airfields I could use etc when the paperwork comes through, and through sheer coincidence we came across an outfit in Ukraine on an airfield near one of my friends that sells completed Jabiru's!! They have a four seater Jabiru J400 for sale for €45k brand new, compared to $180k for a new four-seater C172.


So Oleg (my colleague) and I are thinking of taking a trip down there on Sunday to check out the company and the aircraft and maybe try to get a test flight in it before I decide if this is the right plane for me.


By looking at the pictures on their website, it looks like the avionics are quite Spartan, so I would need to talk to them about having a transponder and GNS430 installed for sure. We'll see what the weekend brings.

I'm hoping though that maybe by the end of the summer I might have actually completed the mammoth paper chase that I'm half expecting and will be able to go solo in a Yak and do some aerobatics at the weekend whenever the rigour of life in Cisco starts to take its toll