Postcards

Flying in the Old Country on your U.S. ticket

Flying over the verdant rolling hills of the Italian countryside, circling the ancient hilltop village of Urbino (birthplace of the painter Raphael), I looked at my wife, Corinna, and remembered just what it was that made me want to get that pilot certificate in the first place.

While thousands of certificated American pilots vacation abroad every year, few consider exploring the European skies. But in much of Europe, U.S. pilots can easily rent an airplane and make daytime VFR flights as pilot in command.

The linguistically challenged will be able to communicate: air traffic control, aircraft rental companies, instructors, and even the automatic terminal information service (ATIS) and automated weather observation system (AWOS) all communicate in English.

A wallet full of greenbacks doesn’t hurt. Anyone who’s ever filled up in a European gas station knows that fuel prices over here are out of the futuristic film Mad Max: Avgas runs about $5.25 per gallon (you read that right; more than five bucks a gallon). Hourly prices for airplane rental can be almost double what they are in the United States.

But what’s the price tag on an aerial trip up the Rhine, over Stonehenge, or around a castle? It’s the trip of a lifetime.

Getting the Basics

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Chicago Convention says licensees from contracting states (including all European nations and the United States) are permitted to fly in other contracting states. The issue of national sovereignty is touchy in Europe, but if you have a valid FAA private pilot certificate and current medical certificate, you’re generally permitted to make daytime VFR flights.

In the United Kingdom and Holland, you can walk into any flight school or aero club (as they’re called here) and, after a checkout, rent an airplane and zoom off into the sunset (though one zooms slightly differently over here. See "Some Tips," p. 76).

More rigidly legislated countries (such as Germany, France, and Spain) have red tape worthy of a Maastricht Treaty, but some advance work on your part can clear the way, with a minimum of fuss and expense, to recognition of your American pilot certificate.

And good news: A certificate of recognition from any European Union member state is honored in all others. So if you’re visiting, say, Germany, Spain, and Italy, a certificate from one will be honored in any other. Best of all, the rental company—usually a flight school or aero club that has dealt with this situation before—will often assist with the paperwork as part of the rental fee. It will guide you through the process of getting a locally recognized "holiday license."

You’ll usually need to send notarized copies of your pilot certificate, medical, recent pages from your logbook, and your passport (see "More Information," p. 76). Some countries, such as Spain, also require a passport photo, so check whether you’ll need to send that, too.

Bring all of those items with you on your trip, as well. And while we’re on the subject of what to bring, remember to bring headsets.

If you’re headed to the U.K., Holland, or Germany, you can start checking into rentals and making reservations as little as a week before you arrive, but if you’re off to other countries, start making travel plans about six weeks in advance.

Rentals

Renting an airplane here is almost as easy as it is in the United States, but there are differences. Your best bet is to research using the search engines at aviation-related Web sites or by picking up aviation magazines from the U.K., such as Flyer ( www.flyer.co.uk) or Pilot ( www.hiway.co.uk). The back pages of these publications are packed with ads for flying schools that rent airplanes.

Shop around! On a recent check of airports throughout Europe, I found major differences in rental prices—even in the same country. For example, I called Wycombe Air Centre (1-011-44-149-444-3737), about 20 miles outside of London, and was quoted a price of 126 pounds ($196) an hour for a Cessna 152 with an instructor. The price was 97 pounds ($155) an hour for just the airplane—wet, timing from brakes off to brakes on, including VAT (the notorious value added tax). It was about $10 more for a 172 with or without an instructor.

But a call to Andrewsfield Aviation Ltd. (1-011-44-137-185-6744), about 10 miles from London’s Stansted Airport, brought me quotes of 89.50 pounds ($143) an hour with an instructor, and 75 pounds ($120) an hour without, for a 152; and I got quotes of 102 pounds ($163) with an instructor and 93 pounds ($149) without for a 172.

The Pesaro Aero Club in Fano, Italy (1-011-3907-2180-3941), demanded the most that I’ve ever laid out: $210 for an hour and 40 minutes of flying, including 40 minutes with the instructor for the checkout, in a 152.

The Aérodrome Chateauroux Villers, in Saint Maur, France (telephone and fax 1-011-33-2-5436-6813), wanted 900 francs ($145) an hour for a 172 with a (French-speaking) instructor, and 744 francs ($112) an hour for the same airplane without an instructor.

But renting can be less expensive (just a bit more than in the United States): Munich Flyers at Augsburg Airport, 45 minutes outside Munich (1-011-49-89-6427-0761), gets DM 240 ($126) an hour for a Cessna 172 with an instructor, and DM 177 ($95) without an instructor, including fuel, from wheels up to wheels down.

The Checkout

On that trip I took to Italy, I literally followed the low-flying airplanes that I saw from the coastal road to the Pesaro Aero Club, on a grass strip just south of the city of Rimini. After I showed my U.S. pilot and medical certificates at the flight school office, an instructor and I set off on a 40-minute checkout (really more of a brushup on soft-field landings and a lengthy description of the local airspace). Then I was off on my own for a one-hour tour of the area.

A German instructor told me that he checks out all pilots in the same way, whether they’ve been flying for years or are newly licensed.

"We do two traffic patterns," he said, "to check their radio skills and landings, and then head for our practice area, where we do power-off and power-on stalls and steep turns. If they handle all that right, they’re on their own—and if not, they do an hour or two of brush-up lessons."

I enjoy the rental checkride as much for the local air tour as for learning the different ways that people teach flying in different countries. For example, in Germany, the instructor wanted to see just the barest hint of an impending power-on stall, while my Italian instructor demanded—and demonstrated—something right out of Snoopy and the Red Baron.

The rental checkride is important here because local regulations are dictated by many more idiosyncrasies and customs than in the United States. In the U.K., for example, noise abatement regulations are so strict that procedures such as, "On takeoff, make a right turn at 300 feet and head for the treeline before ascending" and "On downwind, approach from south of the village, and then scoot ’round the village to the right and turn left again when you see the pub" are more common than not.

And in Germany, where takeoffs and landings require clearance (even on privately owned farms), strictly—even Germanly—regimented exits and entrances to the airport vicinity are required, using map points with names such as Whiskey One and Echo One, as well as local conventions that aren’t even marked on the charts.

The rental checkride is good for learning all of these, but even better is a visit to the tower. If you plan ahead, you can make the visit when you arrive—get off the commercial flight and head upstairs for a half-hour chat with the controllers. They’ll fill you in on restrictions, give you local flying tips, telephone numbers for weather forecasts, and useful Web addresses, and tell you where you can buy charts of the area locally.

Landing Fees

Most Americans are horrified to learn that practically every airfield in Europe charges some sort of landing fee. In most airports, the fee is waived if you’re taking a local flight, but if you take a day trip out of the area, be prepared to fork over anywhere from $10 to $25 in landing fees at the destination airport.

Some Tips

"The airspace is fairly restricted here compared to the U.S.A.," said Carol Cooper, chief flying instructor at Andrewsfield Aviation.

"For your own sake, study the map and the airspace where you can and can’t go—which is much different around here.

"Experience obviously matters and radio navaids can help, but England’s a small place, and you’ve got to watch your proximity to Stansted, Heathrow, and Gatwick," she continued, referring to the fact that all those airports’ airspace is completely off-limits to VFR pilots in single-engine airplanes without a hard-to-obtain VFR clearance—which you almost certainly won’t get.

Noise abatement rules dictate that you avoid town centers and other populated areas. Radio communication is also different, and Europeans seem to think that the American practice of repeating the last three registration numbers as acknowledgment of an ATC directive just a bit too…well…American. You’re expected to repeat all of the instructions given to you by ATC—each and every time.

And finally, if you’ll be traveling outside larger cities, brush up on your soft-field landings and takeoffs: Many airports have grass runways.

Whiskey what?

European flying and ATC procedures can still shock even a seasoned pilot, even when armed with a chart. Studying the air charts certainly helps, but European ATC has its own way of doing things, and Americans saying it’s not efficient is unlikely to result in any changes.

But that doesn’t mean you have to feel stupid if you’re unfamiliar with one of the dozens of local conventions. When ATC asks you to do something such as head for a point that doesn’t exist on your map, throw it right back at them politely: "Am unfamiliar with Whiskey Two and don’t see it on my map. Please give me more precise directions!"

Links to additional information about flying in Europe may be found on AOPA Online ( www.aopa.org/pilot/links/links0002.shtml). Munich-based travel and technology writer Nick Selby currently writes about flying in Europe.

More Information

Note that anywhere in Europe your American certificate gives you the same rights as you have at home— if you are flying in an N-numbered (U.S.-owned and registered) aircraft. Regardless of registration, you need no holiday license or any additional paperwork other than your valid private pilot certificate, current medical, and pilot’s logbook to fly in the United Kingdom or the Netherlands (Holland)—even if you land in another country.

For other countries, you will often need a holiday license, which recognizes your American certificate. The most straightforward agency to deal with in Europe is Germany’s Regierung Oberbayern Luftamt Suedbayern, Maximillianstrasse 39, 80538 Munich (011-4989-2176-2523). Send the agency a letter, specifying the dates of your travel in Europe, requesting a holiday license—and include copies of your pilot’s certificate, medical certificate, and the most recent page of your logbook, along with a copy of the data pages of your passport. The agency will send you a holiday license (Bescheinigung ueber die Allgemeine Anerkennung eines auslaenden Lueftfahrerscheins) good for six months at a cost of about $30. Allow four weeks for processing; it is valid everywhere in Western Europe, allowing you to rent nationally registered planes.

In France, contact Direction Générale de l’Aviation Civile (011-331-5809-4321; fax 011-331-5809-3636), License Office, 50 rue Henri Farman, 75015 Paris. Other contact information includes: Andrewsfield Aviation Ltd. (011-44-137-185-6744), Saling Airfield, Stebbing, Dunmow, Essex CM6 3TH England; Munich Flyers Flugschule, GmbH (011-49-89-6427-0761), Hochederstrasse 2, 81545 Muenchen, Germany; Pesaro Aero Club (011-3907-2180-3941), Via Dela Colonna 130, Fano, Italy 61032; Aérodrome Chateauroux Villers (telephone and fax 011-33-2-5436-6813), 36250 Saint Maur, France. — NS