American flying in the EU

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Seth.A

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Seth.A
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.
 
There are some clubs in Germany that have aircraft with N tail numbers. That’s your first challenge. Then of course you will have to become familiar with the different air spaces in the European system. They are fundamentally different than the US.

Not going to lie. It will be a big challenge. But your pilot certificate is ICAO so it will be valid.


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It's expensive. Gliders are much more popular in Europe. And you usually have to belong to a club to fly. I spent 3 years in Germany. Flew once.
 
I had the chance to fly with a guy who owned a plane in Italy about 10 years ago. It was the equivalent of US $200 before we even left the ground. We flew to Switzerland for fuel because the price of fuel (due to the taxes) was about $1.50 a gallon cheaper. At 50 gallons it added up fast.
 
Where in Hungary? There is quite a bit of GA in Hungary.
It will probably work best via a club as the whole club setup ist usually a bit different in Europe too and much less rentals available.
 
ttexrbomb said:
Then of course you will have to become familiar with the different air spaces in the European system
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yea, I look at the charts for Europe and I have no idea whats going on there. I'll need some time with a cfi for sure.

Spinka said:
Where in Hungary?
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I'll be in Budapest. Good to know there's a strong GA scene in HU. Hopefully being in a big metro area will make it easier to find opportunities.

Katamarino said:
The best place to ask is the EuroGA
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That is a fantastic tip. thanks!
 
NealRomeoGolf said:
It's expensive. Gliders are much more popular in Europe. And you usually have to belong to a club to fly. I spent 3 years in Germany. Flew once.
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It is very expensive, but I found the clubs to be quite welcoming. I flew with one of them a couple of times just by emailing them and asking to go.

I also found the local flight school, whos bread and butter was scenic flights very accommodating. Paid for a scenic flight (as that was my main goal) and then the CFI let me fly from startup to touchdown. YMMV, but call around and explain what you want to do. Great way to practice the language as well.
 
Seth.A said:
I'll be in Budapest. Good to know there's a strong GA scene in HU. Hopefully being in a big metro area will make it easier to find opportunities.
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In that case you might want to have a look at Tököl http://www.lhtl.hu/index_eng.php
located just south of Budapest.
I can also ask a few hungarians if they have better ideas.
 
How expensive would it be to fly over to Europe, fly around and back. I figured the avgas is about 2X the price here, but what about landing fees, atc fees, etc?
 
Seth.A said:
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.
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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.
 
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MooneyDriver78 said:
How expensive would it be to fly over to Europe, fly around and back. I figured the avgas is about 2X the price here, but what about landing fees, atc fees, etc?
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Not as bad as one might think. It was certainly cheaper than I thought, when I did it.
 
Despite what others may say, I'm a firm believer in "seize the moment". You may or may not get the chance to fly there again, so if you get (or can make) the chance, take advantage of it. I've taken advantage of a lot of opportunities and think back on them fondly. Some (like being on the roof of the WTC) can never happen again.
 
See if you can fly with their equivalent of a CFI for a few hours to see how it works, and see if you want to fly in that environment.
 
You'll find a lot of sail planes and gliders... time to get a new rating.
 
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It isn't all doom and gloom. There are N registered planes in places beyond the UK and Germany. Niko's Wings did a video about an N reg Cirrus he rented in Greece and flew to Corfu. I get the impression that IFR flying is much more like the US than VFR flying.
 
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