Flying in Germany with BZF E

This is a topic that is relevant for me at the moment. On Sunday I wanted to fly to Paderborn – Haxteberg EDLR which is listed in the AIP as German only. I have a Maltese licence with English language proficiency for life. I’ve never had a problem with speaking English on the radio here in Germany EXCEPT when contacting Haxteberg to tell them I was orbiting over Paderborn city centre, and the reply came asking me to speak German (in German). I replied in German and that was that.

Just to avoid the hassle, I’ll be flying to Paderborn EDLP instead, which I know is okay with English! I’m unsure of how to proceed next time I want/need to visit a German only airfield, and I think this thread has only served to confuse me more

ophirmm wrote:

And how and where one takes such an exam?

I assume German-speaking nations have tests for that.

I’m unsure of how to proceed next time I want/need to visit a German only airfield

Well, I asked a friend who works for one of the regional aviation authorities and he confirmed that it is basically on the airfield operator (speaking of the smaller airfields, “Sonderlandeplatz”) whether to accept English or sticking to German only.

So, the summary is: Avoid German-only airfields or call them and ask before flying there. As you see in this thread, that topic seems very controversial.

NinerEchoPapa wrote:

Just to avoid the hassle, I’ll be flying to Paderborn EDLP instead, which I know is okay with English! I’m unsure of how to proceed next time I want/need to visit a German only airfield, and I think this thread has only served to confuse me more

With a foreign license, I guess you can just continue flying to Haxterberg and other German-only airfields, as long as you’re comfortable with German radio calls. The BZF comes only into place if you want to call ATC in German as well or if you have a German license.

With a foreign license, I guess you can just continue flying to Haxterberg and other German-only airfields, as long as you’re comfortable with German radio calls. The BZF comes only into place if you want to call ATC in German as well or if you have a German license.

that is, unfortunately, not valid.

copied from #11:

Years ago I had an interesting exchange about doing German radio without the language proficiency check in German, but having the German RT. (Background on that: I had a UK issued EASA-licence at that time and the UK CAA didn’t put any non-English language proficiency on the licence.)

LBA’s bottom line was that you could do German radio calls provided you have a RT which explicitly allows for that; but having the German language proficiency check wasn’t a factor as long as an English LP was on the licence.

(…)

So it is really “just” about the RT licence allowing for German radio calls

We are turning in circles on this topic.

In that case, I will ask LBA again, to give this topic a clear and undoubtedly end. As far as I understood, German RT is only required for contact with ATC in German and not for some calls on uncontrolled aerodromes, as long as you have a foreign (or German UL) license.

Good old German saying: “Wer viel fragt, kriegt viel Antwort”. Literal translation: “He who asks lots of question will get a lot of answers”, but best translated in this context as “let sleeping dogs lie”.

If you want to read the text of the law that underpins the many, many, many, many correct answers above in this thread, read this

Article 1 states the requirement to have a radiotelephony licence to use the radio. While phrased as a list of exemptions from an universal requirement – you need it for powered traffic even for ‘uncontrolled’ airfields.
Article 2 says which licence allows you to do what in which language
Article 14 allows the recognition of equivalent radiotelephony licences issued by other states, and clause 6 of that article automatically recognises licences from other EU member states in English only. The entry of RT privileges in the FCL license is equivalent to a RT licence.

According to the letter of the law (unless there has been an official statement of universal recognition) a German language proficiency entry alone in your licence would also not be sufficient. It may well be that they have issued such a recognition, according to the letter of the law they had to do one for non-EU licences, otherwise all international commercial traffic would have to have an individual recognition for every pilot, which is not what is happening in real life.

Back in the days before EASA and JAA our PPL licences were called TTs. I still have my old one and in it is recorded the signature of the examiner to say that I had passed my PPL and it also recorded that I was apt to carry out Radio Telephony in the French language.
This was a radio telephony licence rather than a language proficiency. I don’t think that this is recorded in French EASA licences, although my licence says VFR and IFR level6 French. IFR level5 English. I must check again.
I am wondering if some NAA regulations regarding language usage have sort of got stuck in the times before JAA and EASA and no-one has got round to simplifying the written regs.