FAA PPL buying and flying a D registered aircraft in Germany

[Kenmack363]

Can anybody help...?! I have a current FAA PPL and have the oppertunity to buy and fly a D-registered aircraft in Germany. Is this allowed or do I need to pass German air law? (I already have a UK Air law endorsement)

[IO540]

You can buy a US-made combine harvester, and ship it to Europe, if you want to :) The real question is whether an FAA PPL will give you any privileges in a D-reg plane. It would be OK for a G-reg, worldwide, but most EU states are not as generous as the CAA.

[mroczny]

With FAA PPL you are allowed to fly only N-registered planes. For a D-registered planes you will have to make a convertion to JAA PPL, there are some schools doing this, but is whether easy nore cheap :-(

[IO540]

On an FAA PPL, you can fly an N-reg worldwide, and you can fly a G-reg worldwide.

I have no idea about a D-reg and so far nobody has answered this. One would need to look in the German legislation for foreign license privileges in a D-reg.

The French (F-reg) have some concessions for non-EU residents (I have a reference somewhere) but this appears to be rare in Europe.

Converting an FAA PPL into a JAA PPL is a lot of work - you have to sit all the written exams (7) and do another skills test. If you really want to fly Euro-reg planes, and have no ambition to do an IR, then get a JAA PPL instead.

[172driver]

Converting an FAA PPL into a JAA PPL is a lot of work - you have to sit all the written exams (7) and do another skills test. If you really want to fly Euro-reg planes, and have no ambition to do an IR, then get a JAA PPL instead.


Well, not necessarily. In the UK you can do the conversion with a lot less hassle, IF you have the requisite hours (if memory serves, 100 PIC and a certain amount X-country; check the LASORs). Not sure if this would work in Germany, though.

Kenmack, suggest you check with your local authority (AFAIK in Germany this is a matter for the 'Länder'), if they are willing to issue a 'Certificate of Recognition' for your FAA license.

[IO540]

In general, for a EU citizen to fly non-G EU-reg planes, you need a JAA PPL.

I don't think there is any way to convert an FAA PPL into a JAA PPL without sitting all the written exams. And this is what will take the time. It's a lot of revision. A lot of it is general knowledge which any good pilot will have but a lot of it is total cr*p which just plays with words. You also have to learn the stupid circular slide rule which any "modern" pilot will have given up on years ago.

I agree there may well be concessions around the place.

There may well also be ways into the JAA system via some of the new JAA member states.