Greetings everyone! I've been flying about 7 years, got my instrument rating right after my PPL. Currently working on my commercial rating and actually don't have a lot left to do for that. A few hours more of night work and some maneuvers. Fortunately the E6B and the written are behind me. I'm not doing it to make a living from flying, more to be a better pilot and get (hopefully) a better insurance rate.
I live and trained in Asheville KAVL which is normally a nice place to live, but under our current siege mentality, I'd rather be floating in the Bahamas. I've spent a lot of time on boats actually, including a circumnavigation on a 33' monohull in the '80's. Now I only sail on multihulls but that's another story.
I bought a Diamond DA40 after I finished the IFR stuff and flew all around the Eastern US and did a trip out to LA. The DA40 is a nice plane but not really ideal for transcontinental flights. It's a little slow, very susceptible to turbulence and doesn't have a lot of range. So it got sold and ever since I've been searching for the perfect plane which of course, doesn't exist.
But I have found something interesting that's made in Cz. It's a VL3 Evolution. https://www.vl3aircraft.com It pretty well ticks all the boxes for me. There are very few in the US. Maybe 2, although there are hundreds flying in the Eu. The story is: you go over to Cz and "help" during construction and then it is imported here in a container as a E-LSA. This solves all the problematic restrictions that the FAA puts on LSA's such as speed limits, retractable gear and variable pitch props. Not to mention being able to buy non-certified avionics at a less electrifying price and not being tied to a manufacturer for approvals.
Hence my appearance on this group. There are virtually no forums that I've found for the VL3 despite the 350 or so ones flying in Europe so I'm hoping that some of you may know something about this plane and/or perhaps we can develop some interest.
Anyway, I'm happy to be here and wish everyone a healthy, happy home life.
David