The 26 aircraft flying to Georgia are not a homogeneous fleet — and that is deliberately part of the character of this expedition.
On the certified side we have Cirrus SR22s, a Diamond DA62, Piper PA-28s, Cessna 182s, a Rockwell Commander and a handful of others. On the ULM side, modern Blackwings, Bristells, a Shark, a Risen, WT9s, Tecnam P92s. Cruise speeds range from roughly 90 knots at the bottom to nearly 180 at the top. That spread matters — it shapes everything from departure sequencing to hotel arrival windows.
The Blackwing story
I will be flying the expedition in my own Blackwing, a modern two-seater ULM running on unleaded MOGAS. At cruise it flies at close to 300 km/h — Ferrari speeds in the air — while burning roughly what a Ford Fiesta uses over the same distance on the road. It is a useful reminder of how far European light aviation has come: serious performance, meaningful range, and an efficiency that would have felt implausible a generation ago. Two Blackwings will be present at the launch ceremony at Luxembourg-Findel on 29 August.
The ULMs on this expedition are not the elemental machines of twenty years ago. Cockpit avionics are digital, autopilots are standard, most carry BRS ballistic recovery parachutes, and quite a few have retractable gear or variable-pitch propellers. Their performance now rivals many of the certified touring aircraft in the group.
Where the crews come from
Pilots from Luxembourg, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy, Sweden, Czech Republic and Türkiye. Six Türkiye-based crews will join at their home base and continue into Georgia with the group. The Turkish crews participate under a different fee tier and follow a different fuel + permit workflow adapted to their departure, coordinated through AOPA Türkiye.
What all 26 crews share is that each aircraft is flown by its own owner, at their own responsibility, at their own pace. No commercial captain. No lead pilot dictating the route. Just a group agreement on the daily plan, a shared briefing before every leg, and the mutual understanding that flying safely comes before flying together.
Meet the crews
The full participating-crews page is public: expedition.privatepilot.lu/our-crew. One card per aircraft, with the PIC’s name, the type, and where possible a photo of the specific airframe. Around half of the aircraft photos come from Planespotters.net (with credit shown), the rest were uploaded by the crews themselves.
It is a snapshot of what serious private aviation looks like in Europe in 2026 — and, in its own quiet way, an argument for why we should be doing more of it, not less.
Follow the expedition
Day-by-day updates from the road and the sky:
📸 Instagram — @expeditionprivatepilot
📘 Facebook — Expedition Private Pilot
Peter Sodermans
Expedition Coordinator, Luxembourg to Georgia Expedition 2026
