Karl

The St Auban video was me! Glad you enjoyed it.

You don't say which area of Europe you are planning to visit and I can only
talk about the Alps which I am getting to know after a few years of going
when I can.

As has already been said there are numerous places to fly from and the
scenery and conditions are great in the whole area. For me St Auban wins
for a number of reasons. Firstly in terms of aircraft it must have the best
fleet in the world and all well maintained. In double seaters it has the
Arcus, ASH25, Nimbus 4, DG1000, and around 5 Duos as well as Janus, Grob
and even a K13. The single seater fleet is equally impressive with ASG 29,
ASW27, several Ventus', Discus 2C's and more.

What makes it really special though is the personnel. This is not a club
but a professional mountain flying school with around 8-10 full time
instructors at least 4 of whom are former world champions. There is
reasonable accomodation on site and a basic canteen. Course members come
from all round the world.

Launching is mainly by aerotow althought they do have 2 winches which are
used in the right conditions.

Feel free to contact me off line if you want further details or contact the
office on info @cnvv.net.

Mike