The cockpit in the picture below is the one of HB-HFI, an AS-202 Bravo. This type is the basic trainer in which I learned to fly. I took my introductory flight, on the 17th of August 2001 in a Bravo, flew 23 hours until my first solo hours until my first solo, on the 12th of June 2002, and passed my passed earned my private pilot license  on the 5th of November 2002. Looking at my all time statistics, the Bravo is still my secondly most flown type, after the Piper Saratoga, with a total of 82h45.

After getting my PPL, I rapidly “upgraded” to the Piper Archer family, and then other complex, high-performance single engine aircraft for to get my instrument rating, and I did not fly the Bravo that much. Then came the FADEC Challenge – one year during which I flew FADEC aircraft only – excluding the Bravo and other aircraft of my flying activities for one year.

Even after all this time, I know the Bravo’s cockpit layout by heart, and can find any knob switch or button with my eyes closed. Pilots have special relationships to each aircraft they fly, and the very first one is certainly even more special…

I have only one bad memory associated with the Bravo. One very good flight instructor got killed in an accident in a Bravo – the very one shown in the picture above – during a CPL training flight. I knew him because he used to work at the school where I trained for my instrument rating. I remember his classes and great simulator sessions. Definitely a big loss for aviation.

Now, I’m not flying Geneva anymore, and the Bravos vanished from the fleet of the Aero-Club there. The Bravo has been out of production for decades, and it’s not exactly a modern aircraft, making maintenance complex and operation expensive.

This is the first time in my pilot’s life that an aircraft type becomes unavailable, so to speak. It’s certainly still possible to find some Bravos for rent, but it will be harder and harder. Time goes by, and it’s time for me to say good by to the Bravo. I’ll never forget.