I think one of the biggest cultural differences between the UK and the rest of Europe is ATC, not Pilots, due to the way that ATC is funded and structured in the UK.
And for sure there is a HUGE difference between the two on crossing from France to the UK – It goes from de-facto “you are talking to me, so of course you are cleared” to “Remain clear of controlled Airspace” on initial contact…
Regards, SD..
Very interesting topic. I’m quite a new GA-pilot, with only 150 hours of PIC time and flew in just 10 different countries. From my perspective, international flights should be part of every PPL training. In Germany, I never dealt with different regulations, charts and habits during my training. I only learned the “German” way of doing things and never saw something different and I never had to fill any flightplan. I didn’t even had to learn what an class A or B airspace is! I just learned it by own curiosity.
After I got my licence, my very first flight went to Maastricht (EHBK) and I suddenly had to deal with different approach charts, regulations and procedures. Afterwards, it was no big deal at all, you just need to prepare and execute it. Lots of people at my homebase found my first trip careless. “How dare you to fly international at your first flight as newbie? Why don’t just fly a bit local and perhaps try to land on the next airfield?” Fortunately, my FI and the board of the club supported my actions so I had no issues at all getting an airplane to go abroad. And thanks to software like SkyDemon, planning flights abroad become almost just as easy as in your own country.
Soon I went also to Switzerland, did Alpine training and met a lot of pilots who fly abroad. I started to read bosco’s “Fliegen in” websites, EuroGA and made my first trips to France. I learned that FIS and ATC in every single country works different. Sometimes the service is very poor (Dutch Mil) and sometimes next to perfect (Bratislava). I learned that you can actually fly trough hot “restricted areas” with ATC clearance, where in Germany those are more considered as prohibited areas. I learned that “PPR” has several meanings and does not mean “closed airfield, call for a Flugleiter”, learned that FIS is for IFR too and not only a VFR frequency to chat with someone that negotiate you to “real ATC”. I can continue the list for a whole afternoon…
Flying across borders opens an entire new world. I encourage every pilot in my environment to do so. The sad truth is however that many German PPL-pilots hold only an German RT (BZF 2) and refuse to get one for English (BZF 1), so international flights become very difficult. No doubt, my PPL training was great, had a very loving/caring FI, but it failed to prepare me for adventures abroad. And this keeps IMHO people from flying to other countries and motivation to get the English RT.
Thanks for your inspiring post, Frans. I reckon that most pilots at 150 hrs have visited FAR less than 10 different countries, kudos to you!
I never made any flight farther than 50 nm since getting the license, you certainly got a better start than I did.
Luckily I did pass the BZF 1, so there’s no formal restriction for going abroad, just need time, money and most importantly a rental aircraft available for long enough. The latter seems to be the biggest limitation in experiencing foreign aviation cultures for German pilots, along with the mentioned BZF 2 issue.
The sad truth is however that many German PPL-pilots hold only an German RT (BZF 2) and refuse to get one for English (BZF 1), so international flights become very difficult.
Would you be able to put a percentage on this, Frans?
From France, we have this data point which suggests that roughly 7% of french pilots have ELP.
Well, by far the most numerous pilots visiting Norway come Germany. Last week I helped one with oil early in the morning.
“I’m quite a new GA-pilot, with only 150 hours of PIC time and flew in just 10 different countries.”
After 29 years of part owning an aircraft, and 2200+ hours solo, I’ve only flown in 4 countries. UK, Eire, and renting in Canada and USA.
Frans wrote:
I’m quite a new GA-pilot, with only 150 hours of PIC time and flew in just 10 different countries.
Well, it sounds like you’ve already done more in 150 hours than most GA pilots do in their entire life – good on ya, keep it up !
by far the most numerous pilots visiting Norway come Germany
That’s most likely, since the biggest internationally flying communities by far, in Europe, are UK and Germany. UK pilots have quite a long way to go to Norway, because most would want to avoid the direct water crossing.
International flying correlates heavily with comfort in the use of the English language, unfortunately.
I wonder if anyone has any numbers for ELP in Germany? I would bet it is fairly high.
Frans wrote:
Sometimes the service is very poor (Dutch Mil)
I’ve never considered Dutch Mil to give poor service… That award has to go to the lack of joined up, radar supported FIS in UK. Now if you were referring to the quality of radio transmissions, I’ll agree that Dutch Mil audio quality does sometimes sound more like two cans and a piece of string……
Peter wrote:
I wonder if anyone has any numbers for ELP in Germany? I would bet it is fairly high.
More interesting for me would be to determine the number of non-Germans to have a German Language Proficiency entry in their licence. I say this because I’m fluent in German, having lived in Germany for more years than in the UK but don’t have one; I gained my licence in German but don’t fulfil the requirements to gain an LP Level 6 for German (the LBA wanted me to confirm that I had gone to school for 8 of the first 14 years where German was the main language) nor are there any examiners available who could confirm that my command of the German language does meet level 6. Indeed, of 32 language examiners authorised to validate Language proficiencies, only 5 over the whole of Germany are allowed to validate German language proficiencies to level 4 or 5, none to level 6.
In the days when LPs came around, I wrote to the LBA asking whether I would be allowed to land at airfields declaring themselves to be DE / GE for radio as I don’t have a German LP, nor, in those days, did anyone have the questions which enabled an examiner to determine LP level. Being pragmatic, they advised that as I hold a BZF and have an ELP in my licence, I could land at such airfields because the requirement is to either have an LP for english or for the language of the country I am flying in. The key part of the phrase was OR. So even without a German LP, but having an ELP, I’m legal to land at German speaking airfields – at least that’s what they said. I think… 
