The logbook
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2026-05-12
First post — why this logbook exists
A short note about what I'll be writing here: the lessons, the weather, the airports, and the small moments that make you remember why you started flying in the first place.
A bit about me
My name's Franz Theisen, and I teach people how to fly. I'm an EASA Flight Instructor — FI(A) — currently teaching LAPL(A) students at the MFU Pilotenclub, my home base at LOAV (Bad Vöslau), out of Austria's lovely patchwork of grass strips and friendly towers.
I started my own journey in 2019, soloed in January 2020, and then watched the world close down two months later. I finished the PPL anyway in August 2020, picked up the instrument rating in 2023, and stepped onto the right seat as a CRI later that same year. The FI(A) followed in May 2025, and shortly after I added a Single Engine Turboprop rating and started flying jump loads on the side. I'm currently working through the ATPL theory exams — the long road to the left seat is paved with question banks.
My teaching style is calm and conversational. We brief properly, we fly the plan, we debrief honestly. No yelling, no ego, no mystery. If you want to learn — or if you just want to share a scenic VFR hop over the Alps — say hello.
The paperwork (briefly)
By the numbers
What I fly
How I got here
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SET rating & jump pilot — Flyingbones, EDMT Tannheim (DE)
July 2025Added the Single Engine Turboprop rating and started flying parachute drops with Flyingbones out of EDMT Tannheim in Germany, on the PC-6 and C206 turbine. Climb fast, drop the crew, glide back down — repeat. Surprisingly addictive.
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FI(A) — MFU Pilotenclub (AT.ATO.107)
May 2025 · examiner: Peter OltFull Flight Instructor rating, LAPL(A) instruction privileges. Long days of teaching-back, principles of instruction, and learning that "uh, just feel it" is not, in fact, a teaching method. ATPL theory currently in progress in parallel.
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Class Rating Instructor (CRI) — first instructor role
November 2023Started teaching SEP differences and class-rating training. First time on the right seat with a logbook to sign — and the first time I really understood how much I still had to learn.
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Instrument Rating — IR(A) SE
February 2023The cloud licence. Months of approach plates, holding patterns, and learning to trust the instruments when the windows go grey.
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PPL(A) skill test — Flugschule Watschinger
August 2020 · pandemic editionSkill test in August, after months of stop-start training through the first Covid wave. Walked back to the clubhouse grinning like an idiot. Still do, sometimes.
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First solo — Flugschule Watschinger
January 2020Three circuits, alone in the cockpit, the whole world a bit quieter than usual. The kind of twenty minutes you don't forget.
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First lesson — Flugschule Watschinger
2019The day this whole thing started. The wind was light, the instructor was patient, and twenty minutes in I knew I wasn't going to stop.
Lessons I offer
Say hi
Want a lesson, a checkout, a scenic flight, or just a chat about flying in Austria? Drop me a line — I'm friendly, I promise.
- franz_theisen@hotmail.com
- @flying.franz0r on Instagram
- Franz Theisen on LinkedIn
- MFU Pilotenclub · LOAV Flugplatz Bad Vöslau, Austria
- Flyingbones · EDMT Tannheim jump operations (Germany)