Just exactly what are the Monospar restorers looking for? I have a few pictures of the one in Denmark, taken during the restoration process before it was covered in new fabric.

While I cannot understand why anyone flying such an aircraft would not choose to wear the best possible bone dome around, I do find the use of oxygen masks with no corresponding connection mildly entertaining 😀 Or are modern headset microphones, such as those worn by helicopter pilots, not compatible with that kind of (noise) environment?

Excellent pics. Man, when was the last time that many Ju-52s flew together?

At the last Hahnweide show, 2 years ago 😉

Probably N431HM (ex HB-ISC), probably (judging from the N-number) owned by a Swiss gentleman by the name of Hugo Mathys, who at least was the last owner of it when still Swiss registered.

I gv up – thx & c u 😉

I am at loss to understand this.

No need, re-read the two first sentences in my last post.

I can read them, but only because I first learned it and then have kept in practice.

If you didn’t learn them properly (i.e. only enough to pass the tests, maybe with a bit of luck) and/or haven’t kept in practice, then the style in which they’re written is a potential source for misinterpreted weather info. And that is where I see the problems.

Moreover, the extent to which you use them (and hence to some extent the degree of direct practice you get) is also dependent on the type of flying you do. METAR/TAF’s may not be the best weather briefing you can get, if your jolly takes place far away from any airports for which these are drawn up.

I maintain that there is room for improvement in the form in which these are drawn up. The generally accepted ultra-conservative stance is the bane of aviation, particularly general aviation. Nothing will progress to the better if we simply sit down and accept what we have, instead challenging it and seeing where improvements can be made.

As regards the “paper”, the current trend is away from this and towards electronic media. For example, I met someone the other day who amongst others has the entire AIP for Germany on his Ipad, for which he also has a cockpit mount.

As regards plain language, I didn’t mean

Wind: True direction = 210 degrees, Speed: 10 knots, with Gusts of maximum speed 25 knots

but something along the lines of

Wind 210 degrees 10 knots, gusts up to 25 knots

as you for example get them on an ATIS.

As regards abbreviations in general: ATC clearances are issued orally in the form of a standard phraseology, not abbreviations. I don’t need to know what VOR and ILS are abbreviations of, I need to know what they are and what they do. All of the Q-codes are, as far as I know, not abbreviations of anything, but are designed to be easy to write in Morse. While the rest of the world has discarded Morse, it remains in aviation. So much for coming with new ideas (although in this particular case I accept them as poignant expressions which are easy to remember, and for which I don’t see a pressing need for replacement).

Finally, the METAR/TAF’s are not language independent, as the weather phenomena are abbreviations of English expression. A language in which every pilot has to prove proficiency in these days, if you want to use it on the R/T. So that point is moot.

It is pathetic – and not very conducive to safety – that TAF’s and METAR’s are still written in this incomprehensible short-hand, which has its roots in the low data bandwidth of the telegraph and telex technology in use when it originated.

I see no technical reason for not using plain, English language nowadays, and it would be much safer too.

Kenneth , are you trying to be the King of negative posting here?
Go somewhere else and start a new thread if all you want to do here is bash the CAA and EASA.

The only negative statements in my posts in this thread are in the last one and are neither directed towards the operator, nor the CAA (but EASA, and that I stand by).

The contents of the other posts display enthusiasm and try to reply other posters (re differences in types of approval) with no negative overtones whatsoever.

Please read them more carefully.