Depends on whether you know a freelance EASA66 
There are many more freelance a&ps around.
Okay, I was asking for costs on Nreg.
I pay 360€/year total for an EASA-Reg ELA1 on self-maintenance. (Well, plus insurance and hangar, but these are the same on Nreg)
My glider costs 120€/year for the ARC/annual.
Thank you All!
What a wonderful discussion which both my husband and I have found very informative. The flying community is an outstanding example of what community is about.
Silvair, great advice and both will be maintained on N-reg.
mh, thanks for the perspective.
terbang, we’ll be in touch, thank you for the kind offer.
C21_Flyer, no wiser words ever spoken with regard to cost of flying…but then again we only live once!
bascomantico, we have both flown in Europe, but under military auspices. My European GA experience is rather dated so I will certainly take your advice and hit the books before trying to hop in and go. You also offer sage advice on keeping an open mind. I had a friend with 40,000 hours who said the most important thing to know about flying is that the day you stop learning is the day you should hang up the chocks. His and yours are words to live (and fly) by.
Peter, not sure what ELA 1 or 2 is…so thanks for the note to research.
LeSving, the Pitts is factory built and has been kept to factory standard but with as much certified “oomph” that could be added to help with the flippy things ;) I know we will pay a premium for the non-noise but I admit…I love the power!
Again, thank you all! We really appreciate the assist and the community!
Blue skies,
Jill
Jill wrote:
Peter, not sure what ELA 1 or 2 is…so thanks for the note to research.
ELA (European Light Aircraft) 1 and 2 are categories of aircraft with somewhat simplified maintenance and modification rules under the EASA regime. For airplanes, basically, if the MTOM is less than 2000 kg, it is an ELA2 and if it is less that 1200 kg, it is an ELA1.
ELA1 is EASA registered certified aircraft below 1200kg. These can be maintained by a freelance EASA66 engineer. If you are one of these, or you know one, this is therefore similar to you being an A&P, or knowing one, with an N reg. But with the latter there is no such weight limit.
The reality is usually different. Very few EASA66 people around. I believe mh is one so owning ELA1 works well for him.
I have an N reg, 1400kg, and a good friend is an A&P IA so it works well for me.
The biggest cost saving is avoiding using a company.
The best advice I heard for pilots and aircraft owner moving from the US to Europe was – always ever take two deep breaths before thinking to emotionally express your immediate reaction on oddities encountered. EASAland may feel quite complicated from time to time. @Jill: I hope you both got well paid jobs, so encounters of the third kind in form of $13 per Gallon Avgas bills won’t kill you, chances are high you get this excitement when traveling.
Jill,
a site of interest for you might be AOPA Germany: https://aopa.de/ueber-uns/for-foreign-pilots/for-foreign-pilots.html
Your profile says you’re military, so the question is how long will you be staying and where.
PN me and I’ll give you the number of a flight instructor who’ll help you getting settled, he’s an EASA & FAA CFI, CFII, IRI, MEI and take your medical (he’s a doctor). This whole FAA→EASA moving business and what license you need for what may become pretty complicated, and there’s a lot of misinformation around, so I suggest to just call someone who actually does it for a living :)
And there’s also a bit of Bonanza activity over here, i.e. there’s the European Bonanza Society, EBS, an offspring of the ABS; I can give you the good and not-so-good maintenance outfits if needed, and should you be a member of Beechtalk just send me a note there….
Airborne_Again wrote:
ELA (European Light Aircraft) 1 and 2 are categories of aircraft with somewhat simplified maintenance and modification rules under the EASA regime. For airplanes, basically, if the MTOM is less than 2000 kg, it is an ELA2 and if it is less that 1200 kg, it is an ELA1.
It looks like that according to the EASA committee agenda Part-ML might finally be coming, see http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regcomitology/index.cfm?do=Search.getPDF&ds_id=60589&version=1&AttLang=en&db_number=1&docType=AGENDA (agenda item 6), which would reduce the administrative and maintenance burden/discretion for >1,200kg aircraft significantly.
Jill
I am UK based but have done business with the Cirrus dealer near Berlin. They are based at an airfield called Schoenhagen EDAZ. IS probably 45 mins south of Berlin if my memory serves correct. I mention this as the close in airfield are fully commercial and I suspect not GA friendly. But EDAZ is great – GA friendly, avgas, and now IAPs. May be a good place to start looking for hangar space.
Dont be put off by the comments about the challenges of flying in Europe. There is truth to most of it, but it will be completely outweighed by the joy of flying over the alps one sunny day to Venice Lido airfield, a 1,000m grass strip just 10 mins water taxi from St Marks Squ, and many, many other wonderful European aviation adventures.
Paul Beckwith
boscomantico wrote:
Bascially, apart from the actual flying, you will have to start from scratch and learn everything anew.
Bosco, sorry, that’s nonsense. I got my initial PPL in the US and then jumped straight into flying in Europe. Sure, there are some differences, but for casual VFR flying, it’s not rocket science to figure them out. The only place that was / is really different is the UK.
One more thing: the radio license is not an FAA thing, but an FCC ticket. You need this to operate any N-reg outside the US. It’s a paper exercise.
