I recently learned that my job is shipping me to Hungary for about six months later this year. I will (hopfully) finish my PPL before I go, but i'm not excited about getting my ticket and then not being able to fly for months on end.
I'm not sure where to even look for regs on the topic. Whats the state of GA in that part of the world? Whats the availability of rentals or even CFIs to go fly around with. What regulatory hurdles might I encounter? I figured someone here might have some advice to offer on the subject.
The state of personal flying is Europe is pretty much what you’d imagine if you understand...
Cost is double or more, given high taxes and low government support at every level of operation, plus increased overhead burden that comes with smaller scale.
Regulation and procedures are Byzantine, things that haven’t even occurred to you are regulated, like runnIng your own personal nuclear power plant
Income is low for most people, leading to a continual state of envy of those who can afford anything beyond an hour a month in a club plane
If I were you and it were only a six month period. I would spend my time doing other things that can be done better in Europe, then resume flying seriously when returning to the US. Your US pilot certificate won’t do you much good unless you can find an N-registered plane to fly, which outside of Germany or UK isn’t super likely. Also, Europe is currently still in the middle of combating CV-19 and “recreational” flying and travel in general is legally limited. It’s not going to calm down quickly, and will likely still be the case to some extent for many months.
You might seek out some unusual types, Zlin, Yaks or ultralights etc, and see if it’s possible to do some local flights with an instructor. That minimizes the brain damage and I think would be memorable.