Hello!
New to this awesome forum.
I am planning on moving to Germany soon (winter/spring), and would like to do my PPL and night rating. The point to to work my way up to fATPL.
I wanted to do the PPL with Bartolini, but as of now, they have no available slots.
Any recommendations on schools?
I am not quite sure which region yet, possibly Baden-Württemberg. I am open to suggestions.
Bartolini air is in Poland. Quite some way from Baden-Würtemberg.
First of all, have a good time in Germany! Is the choice about Baden-Württemberg made by you or somebody else? Would you be willing to live close to your preferred school, or is it just a second thing to do while you are here?
Then some general questions: Do you speak German or only English? And where did you live in the last 10 years? Reason I am asking is two German oddities, first is about the German Radio Telephony Certificate, second is the ZÜP, a background check performed for every pilot.
Is Germany set or possible to get a PPL from a more GA friendly environment?
dejwu wrote:
Is Germany set or possible to get a PPL from a more GA friendly environment?
Germany IS a very PPL friendly environment. What are you talking about?
TobiBS wrote:
Is the choice about Baden-Württemberg made by you or somebody else?
it was made by me, but that’s not 100% yet. We are doing prep trip in November to BW, Bayern, Hessen and Nordrhein-Westfalen to have a look. Any recommendations?
I plan on completely devoting myself to the PPL in order to finish quickly, so proximity to the school isn’t a no.1 priority. I don’t plan on dragging it over a few months.
TobiBS wrote:
Do you speak German or only English?
My German in currently about 40%, I would say. My wife and I are starting a German class.
TobiBS wrote:
a background check performed for every pilot
Does a Criminal Record Check from the Israeli police do? In English and, if needed, Apostilled.
That’s the check local pilots do.
dejwu wrote:
Is Germany set or possible to get a PPL from a more GA friendly environment?
How is Germany not GA-friendly? What countries are?
Germany is pretty much set for other reasons. It represents a good balance of a culture and language we relate to, as well as reasonable cost of living.
Is there a state/region that is easier for GA?
By the way, what would be a good way to go about my hour building in Germany?
Thanks for all your help!
TobiBS wrote:
Then some general questions: Do you speak German or only English? And where did you live in the last 10 years? Reason I am asking is two German oddities, first is about the German Radio Telephony Certificate, second is the ZÜP, a background check performed for every pilot.
Strangely enough, I did my PPL ab initio in Germany, no-one ever asked me about my German in order to get the BZF 1 or 2 – in fact I know some people who’s German is atrocious yet they gained the BZF 1 which allows them to use the radio in Germany. I asked the LBA about language proficiency – they didn’t have tests available to rate people as level 4 or 5 and to gain level 6 was a self declaration – that you’d lived the first 12 years of your life in a country with German as it’s prime language or spent the first 10 years in education using only german language (or something like that). I said I can’t give a self declaration, so please advise when the tests are available to allow me to fly to DE only airfields. The answer:
‘But sir, you have a english language proficiency entry in your licence and that’s sufficient. Even when flying to DE only airfields……’
The text I was quoted goes along the lines of:
as a pilot, you require either the language proficiency of the country you are flying in OR an entry for language proficiency in english.
Since I have english Level 6, nobody has questioned whether I can actually speak german.
With regards the ZÜP, I believe the LBA has been facing legal pressure from Brussels to remove it for some time because it is not a requirement under EASA rules. But when (or if) it will ever be removed, is a question for debate…..
Thanks for all the info!
I hope my German will be good enough to communicate over the radio!
So does anybody have any recommendations fro schools? Either German or English, I guess.