Flying in Europe

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Fabio

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Fabio
hello
I have a private pilot certificate here in the USA.
To fly a single engine plane in Europe particularly in Italy, what would I need in order to be able to do it?
Thanks for the help.
 
Watch out for the mafia :)
 
Hi Fabio,

I don't have Italy specific knowledge, but in the UK you can fly a UK registered aircraft using an FAA PPL. You would just need a rental checkout, and probably some training on the differences in airspace, procedures, radio terminology etc.

For a detailed answer, put your question on the EuroGA forum at https://www.euroga.org/forums
 
Katamarino said:
Hi Fabio,

I don't have Italy specific knowledge, but in the UK you can fly a UK registered aircraft using an FAA PPL. You would just need a rental checkout, and probably some training on the differences in airspace, procedures, radio terminology etc.

For a detailed answer, put your question on the EuroGA forum at https://www.euroga.org/forums
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how do the ownership costs compare over there, say for your usual piston single? Is insurance, storage or direct operating expenses inordinately higher, or is it usage fees that make European ownership different than the US? I recognize licensing is more expensive, based on the amount of European folks who come to this side of the Atlantic for their training.
 
Everything is more expensive. Hangar costs, maintenance, paperwork load, fuel costs, landing fees, handling fees, the list goes on...

I'd say the UK is about double the cost of the USA, and the Netherlands about triple.
 
Katamarino said:
Everything is more expensive. Hangar costs, maintenance, paperwork load, fuel costs, landing fees, handling fees, the list goes on...

I'd say the UK is about double the cost of the USA, and the Netherlands about triple.
Click to expand...

Interesting. Since you seem informed about Euro costs, what EU member Country would you say has the closest parity to cost as the US?
 
Katamarino said:
Hi Fabio,

I don't have Italy specific knowledge, but in the UK you can fly a UK registered aircraft using an FAA PPL. You would just need a rental checkout, and probably some training on the differences in airspace, procedures, radio terminology etc.

For a detailed answer, put your question on the EuroGA forum at https://www.euroga.org/forums
Click to expand...


Don’t the Brits have something resembling a driver’s license medical? Can you fly over there with US Basic Med?
 
hindsight2020 said:
Interesting. Since you seem informed about Euro costs, what EU member Country would you say has the closest parity to cost as the US?
Click to expand...

France, maybe? Some of the eastern states are a bit lower cost too, I believe Croatia is pretty nice.
 
@peter-h - he's administrator of the EuroGA forum (I think), and has a number of very informative posts about flying his N-registered Turbo Trinidad all over Europe. An excellent resource!
 
A euro registered plane, you can fly with an instructor but not alone. A N-registered plane you can solo if you can find someone to rent it from. A conversion is relatively difficult, involving taking a portion of the written test again and some mandatory hours with a local instructor and several months (typically) waiting for a temporary JAR-FCL license to arrive in the mail. The UK is the only exception where it is not quite as painful..


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I have flown with an instructor in Italy and enjoyed it greatly. The majority of light Italian GA is done in microlights, for which pilot licensing is done by the Italian Aero Club and isn’t generally useable in other countries. Your FAA certificate is not applicable for those planes. There are lots of grass ultralight airfields (Campi di Volo), and also grass airports (Aviosuperficie) which are useable by both certified aircraft and ultralights. These are pretty user friendly. The third and final category is Aeroporti, more regulated larger airports which can’t be used by basic ultralights or their pilots. You can find charts and some info at:

https://www.avioportolano.it/en/?locale=en_us

Certified aviation is in Europe is extremely complex and ridiculously over regulated in a maze of public and private procedures/costs that conspire to drive pilots crazy. This is particularly true for flights between countries - which means most cross country flights. The airspace was seemingly designed by fools, and a lot of it is effectively inaccessible to VFR. Airports generally have Byzantine procedures, opening hours, written permissions required, fee schedules that they make up on the fly... The airspace is hard to negotiate to the extent that many pilots are nervous if they aren’t in continual contact with the ground and preferably on an IFR flight plan regardless of weather. That’s why the ultralight scene has become preeminent in many countries - you give up a lot of utility with altitude limits, limitations on using ATC or international flights etc, but get less hassles in return. In Italy as you might imagine a lot of ultralights ignore those limitations and nobody pays much attention unless somebody important decides to go after an individual.

I have found the people in Italian aviation to be a little guarded at first, not surprising once you’ve seen what they have to deal with, but extremely friendly once they figure out you’re just a pilot who loves aviation.
 
Last edited:
Fabio said:
hello
I have a private pilot certificate here in the USA.
To fly a single engine plane in Europe particularly in Italy, what would I need in order to be able to do it?
Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...
I was in Denmark this summer and went flying there. I went up with a flight instructor. He told me, that per the EU rules, I was making the flight as a 'perspective student'. It basically counted as a discovery flight. He did not ask to see my US certificate, and I did not have to show any ID. The flight was arranged through a flying club in Denmark. I did all of the flying and the instructor did all of the radio work, which was in English.

Based on my experience, I'd recommend finding a flying club, or some place you can rent an airplane and go up with an instructor.
 
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