Good morning fellow pilots.
I am a US citizen, FAA certificated pilot (commercial, instrument rated, and certificated flight instructor), that has the opportunity to move to Germany with the US government for at least 3 years. I would be living and working in Wiesbaden. I also own a 1978 Piper Turbo Arrow III that I would like to take with me while I am there if possible. I have been searching airports nearby and I have reached out to them to see how much it would cost to base the plane there. No responses have been received so I’m reaching out to those of you that are in Germany for help. What are typical prices for basing a single-engine aircraft (outside tie down versus a hangar)? What are the typical costs for flying in Germany? I know there are fees associated with obtaining a weather briefing, using ATC services, filing flight plans, but is there a website that I can go to get a sense of what it will cost me to keep my plane there?
Thanks.
Ramón E. Ortiz
N121WS
I know there are fees associated with obtaining a weather briefing, using ATC services, filing flight plans
Those are free. There are various wx websites (e.g. windy.com for a general briefing, and various sources of tafs and metars including the US ADDS one, and the EuroGA airport database and the euroga-airports telegram bot), ATC is free unless you are IFR and over 1999kg, and flight plan filing is also free (e.g. autorouter.aero for IFR and autorouting, eurofpl.eu for VFR and IFR).
I will leave it to others to make airport suggestions.
A warm welcome to the forum and hello, sounds like a challenging time to come for you!
I live close by, in fact lived quite some time in Wiesbaden. Usable airfields are not close-by due to the Wiesbaden Army Airfield ETOU that has a control zone. You could go to for example EDFZ, EDFE, EDFC. Neither one has instrument procedures. EDFZ could be nearest, it’s nice and there are some pilots here in the forum from that field. There’s also an airfield to the north, EDFY.
Regarding costs, fuel is devastatingly expensive compared to the United States. Currently prices came down a bit, but we’re still at around 2.70 Euro per liter, that’s 11.50 Dollar per Gallon. I assume you know that.
Other than that landing fees can be quite high, but that’s all not particularly special for this region, it’s rather Europe-specific. Hangarage can be around 3.500 Euro per year, give or take, but last time I asked around is some years ago. I don’t have prices for outside parking.
If you have any question you can also contact me via Private Messages.
Peter wrote:
ATC is free unless you are IFR and over 1999kg
Enroute ATC is free, but approach/tower ATC frequently is not. (In Germany.)
Yes, for sure, if you want to get into details, some German airports also charge for departures. But these are not big – no more than a taxi to the nearest burger joint.
In Europe, fuel is by far the dominant part of flying your own plane. Hangarage and insurance are next, but insurance is expensive in the US too. Hangarage tracks land values.
Then there is general hassle like airports not open H24, etc, etc. Start here 
Airborne_Again wrote:
Enroute ATC is free, but approach/tower ATC frequently is not. (In Germany.)
Correct, there are ATC terminal fees. My understanding is that you pay these for a fixed amount on a yearly basis if you make use of controlled airspace. Not sure where this should be published, so if someone knows please share.
It is interesting to consider whether being a US Government employee working a stint in Germany means one is ‘established’ in the country or not, and thereby whether one needs to get and maintain EASA pilot licenses and ratings to fly an N-registered aircraft in Germany. For the OP to understand, this does now apply to Germans flying N-registered aircraft in Germany, and to others ‘established’ there, with that definition being somewhat ambiguous.
I would personally do nothing in this regard except to be aware of the issue and be willing to react if necessary, but it might be worth looking into, carefully. For US military personnel (specifically) in Germany a lot of similar issues have been resolved via treaty, for e.g. driver and car licensing, and the requirements are made clear to the serviceman but I’d imagine this one has not been resolved.
Typical hangar prices are around 150-250 / month and double that for highly sought after areas.
You could try ETOU, perhaps the army has a flying club to take you in?
There is also EDFZ https://www.aeroreal.de/hangarstellplaetze/
EDGP (grass)
EDES
EDFB
EDFE
What are the typical costs for flying in Germany?
>landing fees 10-100€ depending on airport
>avgas 2-3€ / Liter
>N-reg AP/IA isn’t too crazy difficult or expensive
I know there are fees associated with obtaining a weather briefing, using ATC services, filing flight plans,
> Autorouter.eu free
> Foreflight (paid like in US)
>Austrocontrol weather is free
but is there a website that I can go to get a sense of what it will cost me to keep my plane there?
> You found it 👍
Happy to chat and answer any questions, feel free to PM me.
Welcome fellow P28S owner! Also looking forward to hearing how you will get the aircraft over to Europe. Would you fly it yourself?
Hello everyone. Thank you so much for your input. I will keep everyone posted on my research on this topic.
Eyes open. No fear. Be safe everyone.
