The plane is ordered!

Somewhere mid-June, the Aquila has been ordered from the factory in Schönhagen (EDAZ, just South of Berlin)!
Link to the site of the factory
Expected delivery dat is the 22nd of October. Slightly more that the 3 months delivery time that was given before, due to closure of the factory during the summer holidays.
That's not so much of a problem for me, since I will need even more time to fill my savings reservoir to a level that will allow me to continue taking lessons on a regular basis. I expect that to take at least until fall next year, maybe even later...

F-HARN, Aquila A210 demonstrator for during the wait for the delivery

Dotting some "i"s

On Thursday, the 11th of April, KLM Aeroclub had organised the first "shareholders meeting" for the Aquila A210 share holders. Now that the minimum number of share holders is reached, it is time to set up the cooperation, and that takes some formalities. There needs to be a board, and a constitution. The corporation will order the plane, so it must be decided exactly what to order (colour, equipment, registration, etc.)

It giet ôan

"It goes on", as they say in Friesland
Yesss!

The minimum number of 40 shareholders was reached, so now the corporation can be officially founded, and the Aquila can be ordered!

This winglet is mine!

On April 1st (the end date of the initial agreement), pretty precisely 40 shares were sold. That leaves about 10 more shares to be potentially available, as the maximum is set to 50. Now, with 40 shares, there is enough money to place the order for the airplane. Until the final payment is due, there is still some time for up to 10 new shareholders to join. But even if it stays at 40 shareholders, the deal is on. More shareholders would mean a lower share price, (with a proportionally lower profit).
Founding the corporation, drawing up agreements, ordering the plane, it will all take a little time. With a delivery time of the airplane of about three months, somewhere around the end of July, beginning of August, the KLM Aeorclub fleet will grow by ine two-seater. An I will "co-own" 2 to 2.5% of that one! :)

Demo Day

Saturday the 10th of March, KLM Aeroclub held an Aquila demo day for which a couple of FIs provided their services for free. So at a couple of tenners per hour less cost, it was extra interesting to come and try out the A210, this weekend.
I went too, despite the fact that  already signed the agreement, and did the downpayment. For me, this day was more about socialising, and of course about the progress in finding the necessary participants. Also, I wanted to have some pictures of the already third demonstrator for the club. After the D-EWTF, another one has come and gone already. Now it was F-HARN's turn to complete the club's fleet.

The Aquilla also a very interesting business investment...

I am a technician, so I usually don't endeavour on the economical path. But this is an open door I would like to kick in anyway:

The shared ownership construction with the Aquila of KLM Aeroclub is also very interesting as a business investment opportunity. Even if the business does not appoint a pilot that can fly at a reduced rate. The expected ROI is 10%! 

Crunchin' numbers

I started this blog, because when I was trying to decide how and where I would goo try to get my PPL (Private Pilot's License), I could not find any information on how people decided on flight schools, shared ownership or not, flying clubs, and what not. That lack of information inspired me to write down my own considerations, to serve as a basis for others finding themselves in a similar situation. Of course, this is all specific to my situation, and every situation is different, so your choices will probably end up to be different ones, but it's the thought process that counts, along with some hard numbers.

Aquila means "Eagle"

I bet you didn't know that, did you? Neither did I, until I looked it op :) It is actually the statue on a stick that the Romans carried with them when they went to battle. At the time, it was considered a greater defeat when the legion would return without Aquila, then when only the Aquila bearer would return...
What's that all got to do with my flying adventures, you may ask yourselves. Not so much in itself, except that Aquila is the brand of the aircraft in which I had my second PPL lesson today (Wednesday, the 14th of December 2011). The A210 was recently delivered to KLM Aeroclub to train the Flight Instructors so that they can "check out" current pilots, and train new pilots (like yours truely) on the plane. And all that within the framework of the setup of a shared ownership construction within the KLM Aeroclub.

Despite the lousy weather the past week or so, and the impossible TAF of yesterday morning, this morning it started to look like at least marginal VMC. So, on our way to Lelystad!

Aquila Info evening

Last Thursday, KLM Aeroclub organised an Information evening on the Aquila A210 share construction they have in mind. I visited the evening, because, although I have not yet flown in this aircraft, it is slowly gaining my interest.

Almost Aquila

I seem to hold a patent for planning flights when there is bad weather. Today, I had planned a lesson in the KLM Aeroclub Aquila A210, but the weather would not cooperate. Fat too mch wind, some rain (not necessarily a problem), hail, and thunder (definitely a show-stopper). Plus a cloud base that would be too low from time to time...

Aquilla ferry flight

Besides flying the Diamond DA-20, I had another little adventure that Wednesday the 16th of November: I met the KLM Aeroclub Aquila A210 demonstrator! :)






The Aquila was supposed to be ferried in over the weekend before, but local weather grounded the plane. Two men (Emile and Melvin) had traveled to the south of Germany to collect the plane, and fly her back to Lelystad...

Diamonds are forever

Wedenesdday, November 16th, the day was finally there. After having had to postpone it a couple of times for various reasons, I had an appointment with Wouter Nagel to go fly a Diamond DA-20 Katana. He has a share with Katana Flyers (and it's for sdale ;) ) just like I am considering. So this would be a nice opportunity to get to know both the airplane, and the organisation.

Wouter doing the paperwork of the PH-FLK

Wouter had booked the PH-FLK for the entire day, so the idea was to do an overland to a field just accross the border in Germany or Belgium. Unfortunately, the weathergods were (again) not very favourable...