international pilots entering the US are more willing to learn/speak US local language
It’s because English is the international language of aviation. That’s why EuroGA is in English
Malibuflyer wrote:
It’s actually the very same restriction in the US
It’s different, you are mixing “language used”: to understand what others talk about and “language qualification”: to be add to your license, most US airfields don’t require any form of radio/language qualification (FAA does not even require FCC papers or ELP inside US), are you saying no need for BZF qualification if you can speak or understand German on the radio?
I have visited few airfields in Spain where we had a tough time understanding what the locals were talking about: they were speaking Catalan while Mrs was talking mostly Castilian, we just muddled through and it was fine but we did not have to carry any “qualification papers”, wife does not even have PPL, just UK FRTOL and some gliding papers, she speaks Spanish though !!
The problem with “local qualification on papers” is that no one knows how you should get one…how this BZF is managed by the majority of German pilots who operate on N-reg on FAA certificate in these airfields? do they ask FAA to add BZF?
Ibra wrote:
do they ask FAA to add BZF?
They don’t need to, the BZF is a completely independent certificate (like the medical for example) it’s not on your licence. It just certifies that you are allowed to operate a radio in German in Germany.
So German pilot flying N-reg to these airfields needs FAA PPL and separate BZF2 from the telecom agency?
Ibra wrote:
So German pilot flying N-reg to these airfields needs FAA PPL and separate BZF2 from the telecom agency?
Yes. Even German pilots with German licence have to do it, it’s part of the standard PPL training in Germany.
What a mess at least you can do the exam
To keep you motivated: France has “French IFR6” endorsement, so far no one has a clue where you can take that test? the lady in charge told me she has no idea herself and she doubt a UKCAA PPL needs one? but she can organize “English IFR6” and that would be accepted having said that you don’t need “French IFR6” to talk French on radio when departing or landing in “FR only” airfields under IFR !
However, you have to be careful if you ever get ramp checked en-route at 150kts in clouds while speaking French in N-reg or G-reg
How many such fields are there in Germany, and is this listed in the AIP?
dutch_flyer wrote:
How many such fields are there in Germany, and is this listed in the AIP?
No idea but there is quite a few in my area (southwest and Rhine valley). Usually, it’s the really small ones with grass runway and a big glider community. I might be wrong but I believe the language is only listed on the VAC which is not part of the free AIP (needs to be purchased from DFS).
The reason why I want to fly to these remote places is that they seem to be the ones with the best restaurants :D
Germany has about 550 aerodromes.
I would hazard a wild guess that about half of them are German-only. But then, as said, most of these are grass fields out in the boons, with mostly only summer weekend activity and thus not all too attractive for visitors from abroad. But some of them ARE attractive. Like Wyk, Nördlingen and Traben-Trabach.
Airborne_Again wrote:
It also happens that Sweden doesn’t have any “Swedish only” airfields.Indeed. Are there any other countries besides France, Austria and Germany, where only local language is allowed? I don’t know any other examples, except for maybe (parts of) Russia or so. In Spain, Italy, Scandinavian or Slavic countries, English is always allowed. Sure, in a country like Italy, it might be quite helpful to understand Italian, but English is legally possible at all times. And at least for France, no French radiotelephony certificate is needed for foreign pilots. It’s just Germany (and maybe Austria?) that requires a radiotelephony certificate in local language for all pilots (foreign pilots included).
I might be wrong but I believe the language is only listed on the VAC which is not part of the free AIP (needs to be purchased from DFS).Correct.
But then, as said, most of these are grass fields out in the boons, with mostly only summer weekend activity and thus not all too attractive for visitors from abroad.Even some more “serious” GA-airfields in Germany are German-only. Some examples are Arnsberg-Menden (EDLA), Chemnitz (EDCJ, close to Czech border), Dahlheimer Binz (EDKV, close to Belgium border), Mendig (EDRE), Neuhausen ob Eck (EDSN, close to Switzerland), Osnabrück-Atterheide (EDWO, close to Dutch border), Porta Westfalica (EDVY), Schwenningen (EDTS), Sonnen (EDPS, close to Czech and Austrian border), Stadtlohn (EDLS, English PPR-only, directly next to Dutch border) etc. etc.