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Flying in Italy and in the EU with a FAA PPL in 2022

Hello!

I am (hopefully!) about to complete my FAA PPL in the US. Soon after, I will be in Italy for extended periods of time, and I would like to work on my hours and do much of my flying there. My residency situation is complicated, but in practice I have the option of moving residency from the US to Italy sooner or later.

I’m having a very hard time figuring out my options for flying in Italy with my new FAA PPL. Much of the information I found looks outdated, and revolves around Part-FCL and derogations. The forms I found on the Italian AA website mention a 100hr PIC TT requirement for both conversion and validation, which I am very far from. I’ve read that piloting N-reg planes in the EU with just an FAA license is being increasingly frowned upon, but I don’t have clear the status in 2021 and how easily I could access one in Italy. A recent thread on this forum mentions a new US-EU agreement, of which I think I found the text, and that I think doesn’t have the 100hr requirement, but it’s so new I am not sure if any AA implemented it yet.

The final goal is to be able to pilot EU-reg planes anywhere in the EU on an ongoing basis. (I am looking to fly between LILH, LIRU, LDLO, and anywhere worth exploring.) I would be happy with something that gives me a temporary way to work my way to the 100 hours in 2022 so I can convert via the Italian AA. I am not too worried about theory exams, and I’m fine with going to another EU country to do the conversion if it speeds it up, but I’d rather not do a lot of dual hours if I don’t need to. As a last resort, I would consider buying/renting/leasing an N-reg plane for a while, but I was hoping to delegate most of the maintenance worries until I have more hours.

Any pointers, clarifications, or recommendations?

Thank you! Very glad I found this forum and looking forward to sharing my trips for years to come!

Italy

Welcome to EuroGA, Filippo

If this thread was updated, your answer would be in there.

Has Italy derogated from the EASA FCL anti-N-reg dual-papers measures?

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Hi Filippo,

generally speaking:

a) EASA regs say that you must hold an EASA license to fly in EASA-land, no matter what reg the aircraft is

b) given that decent conversion routes were not available in the past, a lot of derogations to the rule in a) have been made

c) since this year (at least according to the burocrats), these decent conversion routes are now available (TIP-L)

d) hence, whereever these derogations are still in effect right now (this includes Italy, see here), they will very likely ultimately lapse in the middle of 2022

In short, it seems that you were ill-advised about doing an FAA PPL.

EDIT: Anyway, if it’s just a PPL (no IR), then it isn’t all that bad. You essentially have to get an EASA medical, ICAO language proficiency and take the EASA skill test. The big unknown variable is: how many hours of training here in Europe will you need before you can take the test. That will depend on the individual. However, you could view this additional training as a positive, i.e. as an additional learning opportunity. But it will still cost some money.

Last Edited by boscomantico at 03 Nov 12:56
Mainz (EDFZ) & Egelsbach (EDFE), Germany

TIP-L is here

Mainz (EDFZ) & Egelsbach (EDFE), Germany

Thank you for the quick replies!

Doing 100 hours of PIC in the US quickly is not really an option for me, but if I am reading TIP-L right, anyone with a recent FAA PPL would be eligible for conversion (after getting an EASA medical, knowledge test, and checkride). Is TIP-L “real” in the sense that AAs implement it? If so, isn’t that the easiest path?

I also notice that TIP-L has no residency requirements, so it’s possible that I don’t need to get the conversion from Italy specifically, right? (There are other EU countries with more… uh, functional bureaucracies :))

If I’m looking at the documents right, Italy currently does have a derogation for N-reg flying until June 2022, and I understand it’s somewhat likely to lapse at that point. Does that mean that an alternative option to do hours would be to rent a N-reg for six months, until the derogation lapses?

Italy

boscomantico wrote:

EDIT: Anyway, if it’s just a PPL (no IR), then it isn’t all that bad. You essentially have to get an EASA medical, ICAO language proficiency and take the EASA skill test. The big unknown variable is: how many hours of training here in Europe will you need before you can take the test. That will depend on the individual. However, you could view this additional training as a positive, i.e. as an additional learning opportunity. But it will still cost some money.

Ah! Ok, that makes sense with what I was reading in the TIP-L document. Yeah, I don’t mind getting some more dual if it’s not starting from scratch. I planned on getting some training to get used to the differences anyway.

The main question then I guess is: should I expect AAs to have implemented TIP-L already?

Italy

My advise would be to keep your residency in USA. Then you can fly with FAA papers all over Europe (with an N registered plane). If you want to fly EASA registered planes, that’s another story. See above posts

Can‘t speak about Italy, but in Germany and Austria BASA/TIP-L is definitely „live“. You do not need residency in one of these countries if you want to apply for an EASA-license there.

Friedrichshafen EDNY

lowandslow wrote:

My advise would be to keep your residency in USA. Then you can fly with FAA papers all over Europe (with an N registered plane).

That’s not really an option for me long term. Also, it sounds like that derogation might be going away?

tschnell wrote:

Can‘t speak about Italy, but in Germany and Austria BASA/TIP-L is definitely „live“. You do not need residency in one of these countries if you want to apply for an EASA-license there.

Excellent, so in the worst case I can apply for an EASA license there! Would you mind pointing me to any relevant instructions? I tried searching but I guess the language barrier is what’s stopping me. I can also try emailing the AA if there’s nothing readily available.

Italy

Which CAA to choose for your EASA license isn’t a trivial decision and might require more digging.

As you said, first of all, they would have to be ready to apply the TIP-L rules. Plus they have to accept you even if you don’t have a residence in that country.

But there are more aspects. Germany works, but Germany has the ZÜP, which means that your license will always hang by a thread. Many Germans move away from the LBA because of that. Austrocontrol is generally regarded as excellent, with no ZÜP. Slightly more expensive, but for a PPL holder, not so much.

The willingness of CAAs to speak English (and provide forms in English, etc.) is usually inversely related to the size of the country. YMMV.

Mainz (EDFZ) & Egelsbach (EDFE), Germany
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