Seeking Advice - Moved to Spain from USA

Rus wrote:

First step I am taking is I found an outfit that will help me with FAA to EASA conversion after tests and everything said and done looks to cost about 1500 euros.

First of all, kudos for willign to continue to fly. Good idea to get an EASA license and your only chance of getting in the air and being 100% on the safe side. 1500€ sounds low though. If you haven’t flown in Europe before, you will likely need MANY hours before you are familiar with the differences. Plus a lot of ground school / tuition.

Rus wrote:

I am also considering of maybe purchasing an N reg aircraft here in EU but this seems to be problematic since you might not be able to use your FAA cert based on the EASA rules on residency.

But you just said you are willing to pursue an EASA license…?
Whether your aircraft will be N-reg or EASA reg does not matter. To be on the safe side, you need an EASA license.

There are a couple of people here that did what you are about to do, so I would consult with them for their experiences. OTOH, dozens of other US pilots have posted here previously with a similar idea as yours, and they have never returned, so likely abandoned their ideas.

Rus wrote:

First step I am taking is I found an outfit that will help me with FAA to EASA conversion after tests and everything said and done looks to cost about 1500 euros.

If you self-study, then should OK – the conversion was 2 x theory exams + skills test, so 1500 for a few hours sound realistic, if you are current.
You could also convert your IR to EASA IR with reading a book (400-500 pages) and then doing a skills test, during which the examiner will ask you a few theory questions and then conduct a practical test.F or this one you’ll need to have IR lessons as well, but again, doable.
And if you want to be a PIC, then as a resident you have to have an EASA license anyway, even if you fly N-reg.

Owning/buy/renting – @Antonio and @aart are local, they might be able help with info on this.

I suggest you PM Carlos Jimenez (@CarlosJ on the forum). He’s very knowledgeable about all things GA in Spain, and member of the board of various interest groups.

Edit: and he’s in Madrid..

Rus wrote:

@arj1 and then doing a skills test, during which the examiner will ask you a few theory questions and then conduct a practical test

Is there no theory test, i.e. written needed just a practical?

@Rus, for PPL you do need theory (2 or 3? I thiought it was just HPL + Air Law…), but for IR it is not – just find an ATO and do an ICAO IR to EASA IR reaction.
You have to have at least 50hrs IFR PIC cross-country experience (please note IFR, not IMC – all you need is 50hr flying under Instrument Flight Rules as PIC, could have been under VMC or IMC – both are good).

Hey Rus, welcome to Europe. Great to have you with us.

You will hopefully love flying here. Dont let the apparent bureacracy get in your way. Dream of your soon to be flights to the Swiss Alps, Venice’s grass airstrip, Croatia’s island airports and Granada.

My best advice is to find an instructor and aircraft to rent and just start taking some trips to get used the European system(s). DON’T get bogged down in the books and tests etc, it will just depress you. Just go flying and then worry about the tests and paperwork you will have to deal with. Regarding the EASA IR there may be a shortcut if you have enough hours of actual instrument time (I think it is 100?). I used it to convert my FAA IR to a full EASA IR, in my case did it at Aeropoznan in Poland.

As you will soon learn there are two parallel worlds in Spain between the big state operated (expensive) airports, and the small private airstrips. You definitely need to learn about the latter. A local instructor can certainly help with this.

I dont know about Spain other than IR flying to large airports to and from the UK. But there is supposed to be a good flight school in Jerez.

Have fun!

Hey Rus, welcome to Spain! First of all – don’t let naysayers turn you off. Flying in Spain is actually great and pretty easy – been there, lived there and done that.

That said, within Spain you may well be better off flying an UL as there are many, many more places to go to than with a certified plane. Things might have changed since I lived there (+/- 10 years ago), but at the time the transition was in full swing and from what I hear has accelerated since. At least consider looking into that scene. The conversion FAA > EASA isn’t very hard and EUR 1500 should easily do the job. You might (might!) also be able to get your FAA ticket validated, but I think that’s only valid for a year. There used to be a fight school at Quarto Vientos (LECU) outside Madrid who should be able to help. Failing that there’s a big ATO in Malaga / LEAX (Aerodynamics) and the one in Jerez (Fly-in-Spain), the latter specializing in non-Spanish pilots and conversions.

One last thing – if you don’t already speak Spanish, go and learn it. On an everyday level it’s not a very difficult language to learn and it makes your life in general one hell of a lot more enjoyable.

Enjoy, mucha suerte y disfruta España!

I wrote up my experience converting PPL+IR here if you’re interested. I also included my observations about differences that I had to learn outside the conversion itself.

Surprised nobody has mentioned BASA. In theory at least (and I hope in practice too) it lets you get an EASA PPL on the basis of an ICAO xPL with only a checkride (and a piece of paper from the FAA), i.e. no theory at all other than an oral validation by the examiner. Same applies, separately, to the IR.

Of course you de need to know the theory, so you will have to proficient in the various European differences.

This has to be adopted individually by each country, and I have no idea what Spain has done about it. France has adopted it and has set out the whole procedure.