Flying in Italy with an Australian Private Pilot License

According to Annex III of the Basic Regulations (EN1178/2011) the following is required to validate a PPL (without getting instrument privileges):

Pilot licences for non-commercial activities without an instrument rating
5. In the case of private pilot licences, or CPL and ATPL licences without an instrument rating where the pilot intends
only to exercise private pilot privileges, the holder shall comply with the following requirements:
(a) demonstrate that he/she has acquired knowledge of Air Law and Human Performance;
(b) pass the PPL skill test as set out in Part-FCL;
(c) fulfil the relevant requirements of Part-FCL for the issuance of a type or class rating as relevant to the privileges of
the licence held;
(d) hold at least a Class 2 medical certificate issued in accordance with Annex 1 to the Chicago Convention;
(e) demonstrate that he/she has acquired language proficiency in accordance with FCL.055;
(f) have a minimum experience of at least 100 hours as pilot in the relevant category of aircraft

Quite over-the-top really…but that’s the EU for you…for example, prior to EASA you could fly a G-reg day/VFR on any ICAO licence (anywhere in the world) without any formality…. Mind you, at least you don’t need a bloody ASIC!!

Looking for an N reg plane seems easier, but I don’t know where you could find one for hire. Then you don’t need to validate anything.

I am so sorry, but I am afraid this will be almost impossible.

First of all, all license validations in Europe tend to be bureaucratic nightmares. Also, in practice, you will need to speak the language of the country where you seek to to obtain a license, so if you don’t speak Italian, you will not master the bureaucratic challenges of Italy’s CAA (ENAC).

In Italy, there are no real flight schools in rental outfits where you can walk in and rent a plane. There are only a) ATPL sausage factories that are not interested in renting out their aircraft and b) aeroclubs, where, again, you would have to speak Italian in order to achieve anything. Lastly, from a practical point of view, if you don’t have any GA experience in Europe at all, it will be quite a master the quirks of flying in Europe and in Italy in particular. Also, nobody will rent out an aircraft to you if you don’t have any relevant experience.

But you could probably find an N-reg in Germany, and fly it around Italy on your FAA licence.

Hello, I hold an Australian and an American Pilot License and wish to fly within Italy. I usually stay near Ascoli Piceno (Marche) and I would like to know if anyone knows where I could go to get my license validated so that I may hire aircraft and fly in Italy.

Since you can base a plane registered in any other EU country in Italy, the plane doesn’t have to be Italian reg so you can validate your FAA papers into those of some other country.

However, that may not be practical because rental is restrictive as to what you can do with the plane, etc, for obvious reasons. It probably won’t work for you. One of the issues for example is minimum daily billing.

I would look for an N-reg and then it will “just work” – until April 2017 or maybe later.

However, the N-reg long term basing situation is not clear for Italy – see this. Maybe the Italian CAA simply didn’t bother reading the EASA regs? I am sure Italy is full of N-regs…

There are not many N-regs for rental here, partly because most are privately owned and partly because most European countries have laws (often vague and hard to find) constraining the use of N-regs in any scenario where money changes hands.

But there is a significant number of owner who fly very little and quite like to get money from somebody who wants to fly their plane.

b) aeroclubs, where, again, you would have to speak Italian in order to achieve anything

The above being written by an Italian speaker, I smile a little when I read it because whenever I wrote something like that about Italy, during the past 13 years since I started my trip writeups, I got my head chewed off But everybody knows it’s true in much of the “old” S. Europe. It is the countries who don’t expect visitors to speak their own language where English works well e.g. former Yugoslavia, Greece…

I’d suggest you go find the local aeroclub and fly with an instructor. That way you also get to know the local scene and may then have access to an airplane further down the road. By saying ‘I usually stay….’ you imply that you go to that part of Italy regularly, so getting into the local scene is probably your best bet. Knowing Italy (I lived there once) there’s always a way…

boscomantico wrote:

First of all, all license validations in Europe tend to be bureaucratic nightmares. Also, in practice, you will need to speak the language of the country where you seek to to obtain a license, so if you don’t speak Italian, you will not master the bureaucratic challenges of Italy’s CAA (ENAC).

Wouldn’t a validation be valid in all of EASA-land? In that case you could validate the license with a NAA which is less bureaucratically challenging and fly in Italy anyway.

No, AFAIK, a validation by the LBA only allows you to fly D-regs, etc.