With single and multiple engine land and IFR ratings, I consider myself a lucky pilot. There are however much more that I could do and would like to achieve in the coming decades…

Tail wheel, particularly in a SuperCub
Some pilots say that real aircraft are tail wheel. I flew a couple of times in a Piper SuperCub, but only as passenger. What a thrill! Take-off distance, rate of climb, visibility… really an extraordinary aircraft to flying. The challenge of tail wheel take-off and landing would be a new experience, just as taxiing a tail wheel aircraft is.

Mountain rating
This is a Swiss national rating, making possible to land aircraft with skis on glaciers. This is not an easy rating to get, as it requires 250 mountain landings with an instructor, half of them during winter time. The new skills required are advanced understanding of mountain winds, the ability to recognize the quality of snow, and naturally to land on places with lot of slope.

Floats
On the other side of the temperature scale for water, having a sea rating would be a blast. This is almost non-existent in Europe, so this would be the occasion to go to Canada again. Learning to land on lakes there. Then, why not going to Australia and land near the Great Barrier Reef, but this time as pilot, and not as passenger like during our honeymoon.

Aerobatics
I’m not a fan of extreme attitudes. Practicing stalls and steep turns puts me under stress. But I know that the best way to overcome this stress is to go, at least once, flying aerobatics. Getting the rating would be one more step, which could definitely make me feel better under higher than normal G-loads.

Turbine
Piston engines are great, turbo compressed ones are better, and turbine engines comes on top! Jet engines will probably remain out of my financial reach forever, but I’d like to get a turbine rating once. TMB, Pilatus, or Cessna Caravan would be great… and flying a King Air is a dream, which is probably not totally impossible. At least a couple of times, even if I don’t use this rating after getting it. Turbine means higher altitude, more power, pressurization, and serious weather IFR…

Formation flying
This is not formally a rating, but it’s something I’d like to practice, but not without proper training. Flying meters away from a couple of other aircraft, learning to fly with the required accuracy, and making aviation a team sport.

These are nice projects, and I hope to make some come true… What about your flying projects?