We also have a separate radiotelephony exam and license. Basically a money-making scheme, I don’t think it is possible to fail the exam unless one really wants to. Administered by the *Communications people, as in Germany. Good thing is the license is for life, no need to do a bi-annual revalidation transmission with a radio instructor ;)
@WhiskeyPapa
Thanks for your thoughts! My family will soon include 2 kids and 2 adults as well (we’re expecting our second child in may), although we have yet to “optimize” what we carry with us on trips. We just came back from two weeks on Gran Canaria were we had nearly 60 kg as luggage plus a baby buggy. That, together with the fact that my wife and I aren’t the lightest of persons (around 180 kg together), means we’ll need quite some carrying capacity if we buy our own aircraft one day 
@others (regarding the R/T / BZF)
What makes EuroGA so interesting for me is that I would never have thought that this isn’t standard elsewere too, taking the R/T test seperately. Good to know that it is just a German peculiarity. And yes, I’m fairly certain if you have an EASA license and move to Germany, it doesn’t matter. I guess the Language Proficiency (L/P) degrades at the same rate everywhere? E.g. 4 years on ICAO Level 4, 6 years on Level 5 and never on Level 6?
I will try to get Level 5 next time, this time I took the test at the Bundesnetzagentur (see what_nexts post) where only Level 4 is available.
Welcome @MedEwok.
I look forward to reading how you get on; I wish my German was as good as your English!
Welcome @MedEwok !
My good friend Stan is an anesthesiologist in San Diego. He owns his own turbine twin, so it seem like your profession has the potential to be able to provide good wages (but maybe it’s different in Europe)! Probably a lot better than an aviation career anyhow, so we look forward to you taking your PPL and then swiftly moving on to buying an airplane!
Thanks @AdamFrisch and @Stickandrudderman , I’m already feeling very welcome here. I’ll keep you guys posted on my progress, my next lesson is on wednesday, weather permitting (we’ve had something like this for days now, which shouldn’t be much of a problem if it stays this way: METAR ETNT 102120Z 09011KT 7000 BKN035 M01/M05 Q1025).
Depending on conditions, my FI might sent me out on my first solo cross-country then. Should be interesting!
Hi MedEwok,
welcome here. I often do a fuelstop at EDWF. One of the friendliest airport in germany with cheap fuel. I’m sure we’ll meet one day in the office of Kopi or maybe at the Sunset Fly-In this year.
It will be a pleasure to meet you. Being very new to the scene, I initially thought that the relaxed attitude and friendliness prevalent at EDWF was just the way it was everyhwere in aviation. Only after reading the PIREPS at eddh.de did I realize how lucky I was to learn flying at one of Germany’s most-liked GA airfields 
Kopi especially is a really good guy, he already “saved my ass” during my first solo, when I came in a little too fast and didn’t hold the stick still enough, so I bumped up and down the runway and would surely have crashed after the third “bump” if he hadn’t calmly but convincingly told me over the radio to fully open the throttle and perform a go-around.
Welcome MedEwok. Leer is a fequent fuel stop for me too. Usually in PH-BEC. Say hello if you see us.
Moin Leonard!
Welcome, and good luck with your PPL. Always nice to hear about people being so enthusiastic about their PPL training!
Re flying internationally: What many PPL students don’t realise when they start training is that they during their training, they will not really be thoroughly prepared to fly across Europe. What a German PPL student learns is how to fly in Germany. A British student learns how to fly in the UK. Etc. That is because the theory is heavily influenced (obviously) by the country’s own CAA and the practice usually takes place only within that country. Also, many PPL instructors haven’t been abroad much by small GA at all.
Of course, this does not mean that one can’t fly through Europe straight after getting one’s PPL. Many have done it. And whilst Peter would say they have only been lucky (and I would agree to some extent), the very basics are of course the same (ICAO, SERA, etc.). But there are tons of details where the old national airlaws and regulations are still very predominant.
So, as always, the truth is always somewhere in the middle. On the one hand, don’t go flying abroad assuming that everything will be “as you have learned it” during your PPL training. It won’t be. On the other hand, never let people scare you away from doing interesting flights. It’s not too difficult.
But you have to do a little extra studying before flying to, say, France, or the UK after your PPL. For example, you should learn how to skim read national AIPs (this is not taught during the PPL course). If you drop me your email address, I send you some worthwhile reading.
Reading EuroGA topics made me realize that many pilots drop out after holding a PPL again, especially if they have nothing to aim for. I never thought much about this before signing up
This is very typical. Again, people never ask themselves when they get their PPL how they will keep interested. They think it’s going to be sufficiently fascinating forever, just bimbling around a bit. And while some people in fact keep flying heavily like that for years and never complain, many do indeed drop out because there is no more help from others (often not even in an aeroclub) in progressing and keeping things stimulating and “worth the money”. Going international is one way of doing that. By doing so, one really never stops learning, thus things remain interesting.
But for now, enjoy your learning experience and soak up as much as you can.
I would never say they were lucky. I would just say that extra preparation is required, which is why I wrote up my trips in detail.
Flying abroad brings massively more value to ga.
