jmuelmen wrote:
If you do want to go with a German license (which I am not by any means advocating, since my personal opinion is that Germany is the wrong choice for basically any bureaucratic transaction)
You’re making it sound far more difficult than it is. German bureaucracy is no longer the labyrinthine prussian process it once was.
Getting cleared for PPL training was pretty straight forward, the background check can be requested from any town hall (might have been easier for me since I lived in Germany all my life) and arrives within days. Other forms that are required, such as a document from the federal motor Agency (Kraftfahrtbundesamt) that shows that you aren’t a reckless driver can be obtained online, filled in and sent back rather easily. All in all the bureaucratic part of obtaining s license took less time than a single flying lesson so far, and nearly all of it is done beforehand.
MedEwok wrote:
All in all the bureaucratic part of obtaining s license took less time than a single flying lesson so far, and nearly all of it is done beforehand.
It still seems excessive to me… In Hungary all I needed was to give the school a copy of my ID card, medical and highest degree to start training. To get the license, a simple form with a few straightforward attachments is enough. Everything can be sent electronically.
Actually, the FCL department of the Hungarian CAA is very efficient and they are extremely helpful. They even admit and correct their mistakes promptly and do everything much faster than they’d be required by the law.
@medewok, in my experience, the bureaucracy is OK as long as everything fits a standard mold. Any special circumstances, and you’re in for a bumpy ride. (I’ll admit that my only point of comparison is the US.) But apologies for going off-topic. The only point I was trying to make before I started editorializing is that if you get stuck with a Luftamt that wants an FBI background check, you’re better off getting it while you’re in the US.
@cucumber, getting your training in one EASA country and your certificates from a different EASA country’s aviation authority should not be a problem. Just make sure everything, including the medical, gets sent to the same authority. The medical exam can in principle be done in yet another country.
cucumber wrote:
I am guessing that getting training done in one country and then applying for a PPL in a different one would not work?
I’ve spread my training essentially across three countries (US, UK and Germany, where the skill test took place) and applied for (and was awarded 
) a UK license. None of this is a problem, although the paperwork tends to me a bit more than if you stick to one country (e.g. the FTO sending in the application has to provide a certified copy of their registration with the local CAA and stuff like that).
I like my UK license because I’m also not a huge fan of German bureaucracy (although I do live and fly here) but I don’t think it’s all that bad and it certainly shouldn’t be a show-stopper.
Just to demystify things a bit, what you need is a combination of:
I walked into that combination more or less by chance about ten years ago when I thought it would be fun to get a PPL, and it was pretty painless.
At the time, I did it with a UK Training Facility owned by a German architect and operating in Southern Spain. I arrived there at some point around this time of the year and walked out less than three weeks latter with 45 hours, all seven or whatever they were exams under my belt, and just had to wait two or three weeks for my licence to arrive on the post from the UK.
None of that registering as a student pilot, showing proof of your highest qualifications, criminal records, etc., etc. That’s complete nonsense. All I needed was an ID of some sort for the examiner to certify a copy of before sending to the CAA, and a credit card to pay for it all.
Of course, my experience was over ten years ago so I am not going to recommend my particular school, provided it still exists, but looking for the above recipe one should be able to find a place where one can successfully do an “express PPL”.
When time permits, I am considering getting an FI rating myself so I can offer the “zero to hero in three weeks” experience to (suitably motivated and capable—usually this means Russians) aspiring PPLs, just for kicks.
Yo wrote:
Of course, my experience was over ten years ago so I am not going to recommend my particular school, provided it still exists,
AFAIK they are still there (Jerez), although I heard that there was an ownership change, which may or my not be correct. Other than that I agree with you, southern Spain is probably a good place to learn.
Thanks. I might just request the FBI thing while I am here and let them mail it to Germany. Better have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
Also, I looked at this Swiss website and it said it takes 1 to 1.5 years to get a PPL. Not sure why it takes so long in this case if in the US, and it seems in other places, too, it can take a few months instead.
It takes a year in the UK too, and probably in most places.
This is because nearly everybody does it at some school near their home, so they fit the lessons into their daily life. For example most people fly only at weekends, which exposes them to a lot more weather risk (cancelled lessons). When I was doing mine, late 2000 / early 2001, I booked a lesson every day (i.e. 7 a week) in Oct Nov Dec and due to wx got just 3 lessons in! That was admittedly exceptionally bad but this is why people take a year and spend way over the school’s price list by taking some 60hrs instead of 45.
If you dedicate yourself to it, fly every day, preferably 2 lessons a day (OK if you are young, although I did the FAA IR that way in Arizona at age 49!) and don’t do it in the UK in the autumn/winter, you can probably do it in 6-8 weeks anywhere. There is a report here from France of a school in SW France banning more than one flight per day but I have not seen that elsewhere else.
If you just want a fast PPL then go to Arizona (CAVOK ~362 days a year), preferably in the winter, but there are no EASA approved schools there. Then you will get people telling you that you come out not knowing how to fly in European wx and that you aren’t a real pilot Actually the training is going to be very rigorous.
Took me a year, parallel to job, flexible in timing with many lessons through the week.
Two thirds with one/week, later two/week, BUT a three (!) monthe period from Nov thru Jan when I had 13 cancelled lessons plus 30+/- not even planned, though desired.
So the two main drivers for me: job (flexibility for lessons) and weather.
The former you may be able to control, the second you push statistically by choice of base, huge differences in foggy mornings/evenings in spring/fall at field in southern Germany – even at almost neighbouring fields…
(my school was great, location not so much)
