Hello,
I am sure this question has been answered before. However, I am new to this place, so maybe you can forgive me.
I have recently developed a strong interest in flying GA in real life. Up until now I have been flying in simulators only. This helped me to get somewhat familiar with flying, so I am not a total newbie. Recently, I did an intro flight here in the US and, obviously, now I am hooked. Since I will be moving to Europe within the next 3 months, I decided it would be better to just do my license there.
However, reading many articles about GA flying in Europe makes me rather sad, disappointed, and confused.
It appears that if one wants to fly GA, he or she should do so in the USA period. This is an observation only and not my opinion, as I haven’t flown on my own in either continent. So I am asking you, is my dream of flying GA about to be over with me moving to Europe? Looking at this forum the answer seems to be “no,” but looking at certain blog posts the answer would be “probably.”
Somehow, I am glad I found this forum though, since it shows that there are enough people actually flying GA in Europe! All the other results I had found were usually blog posts about that this and that is bad in Europe compared to the USA.
Thanks!
Welcome to EuroGA, cucumber 
GA is easier in the USA and the scene out there is a lot bigger than taking Europe as a whole. Europe is not a single uniform area but a number of distinct countries. People who have flown in the USA and in Europe will tend to comment accordingly. But there is no problem flying around Europe if you get yourself organised and just get on with it. There is a great deal of wonderful flying to be done in Europe – see e.g. some trip writeups that I did.
If you are moving 3 months from now then perhaps there isn’t quite enough time to do the FAA PPL there. You could do it but there is also the exam revision. And if you were doing that it would make more sense to do it at one of the half a dozen or so schools which can do both FAA and EASA PPLs in one go. I think this is one such school and there are more in Florida.
Europe has a huge amount to offer.
Which bit of Europe do you think you will be moving to?
Thanks for the very quick reply. That is reassuring. Considering I will be relocating for good, it would not make much sense to get an FAA PPL.
Peter wrote:
Which bit of Europe do you think you will be moving to?
For now it will be Southern Germany, but the goal is Switzerland (Zurich).
In a sense, I think flying in Europe is more attractive than in the USA. In the USA one has to fly quite a large distance to get to somewhere different. However, the distance for that in Europe is much smaller.
Germany and Switzerland have a very active GA scene, and easy access to some of the most scenic areas of Europe – the Alps, the Adriatic (Croatia and the islands) etc.
You will have lots of fun
Learning to fly in Germany is usually done at a flying club which is certified as a flight training organisation (FTO) or at a commerical flight school. Being based in Northern Germany I cannot comment on Southern Germany specifically, but as a rule of thumb you’ll find an airfield at least every 20 km and many of them will have some kind of FTO. You can either start with a LAPL (light aircraft pilot license) or PPL (private pilot license). The former is slightly easier to obtain (only 30 hours of flight training) but for any serious flying around Europe the PPL (45 hours minimum) is the best way to take.
Note that most if not all flight training in Germany for non-commercial pilots is done in German. But you’ll need to learn German anyhow if you want to live here or in (German-speaking) Switzerland
MedEwok wrote:
You can either start with a LAPL
You should probably get a PPL straight away since the LAPL is not recognised in the US. A PPL is and you can fly with it there when ever you decide to move back.
I strongly advise you to start flying, it is awesome.
With an FAA Private Certificate and 100 hrs flying time, I’m led to believe getting an EASA license is much simpler – although language fluency may still be an issue outside of UK. Having both qualifications has substantial advantages, for example for future aircraft ownership and maintenance.
Thanks for all the great responses so far.
Looks like I need to add a bit more context.
I am leaving the US because of visa reasons. I am about to graduate at the university and I do not want to bother with H1B. Besides I like Europe more. Either way, I am not a US Citizen. I am holding a German passport and, therefore , speak fluent German and English. (Though some people think that Swiss German is not German 
)
Now I am wondering if there is any difference between Swiss PPL and German PPL? Would I be able to fly around all of Europe with either one?
cucumber wrote:
Would I be able to fly around all of Europe with either one?
Yes, and you can change “Europe” to “the World”.
Thanks. That sounds indeed interesting and exciting!
