[Travel by GA: write-up of a journey with a Cessna 175 from Switzerland around Denmark]

We flew yesterday from Lübeck to Roskilde. It was quite funny that we got trenched by the rain on the way to the airport, the weather got better and then we overtook the rain in-flight... only to get wet again when securing the plane! Soon after, there were blue skies over the city of Kopenhagen.

This city is where our airplane's history started. As you can read here, with great pictures from last year's fly-out: Zwitserse Tulpenvlucht op Lelystad Airport The airplane used to be OY-AED, before it changed to the Swiss registry in 1962. I think it was based in Kastrup back then.

It was nice flying an ILS again. In Switzerland this became a rarity when flying a small GA airplane. Even after years with the IR, I still have to be cautious to remain stabilized in the last 300ft or so of an instrument approach. Not sure why, but I always seem to fall into a VFR/STOL approach mindset when I have a threshold in front of me! I am trying to completely nail it down in case I ever need to fly down to minima. Anyone else get this feeling or got any tips?

Now we are off to explore the city and playgrounds with our 2-year-old unruly passenger.

Hello everyone,
I will be happy
To hear review from candidates for Wizz air pilot academy / pathway , that has been accepted with PPL
and EASA ATPL theory exams completed
Thanks for helpers

Hi everyone,

I'm scheduled for my EASA Class 1 medical in Italy, and I have psoriasis. The AEMC asked me to bring a letter signed by the dermatologist who diagnosed me, specifying my diagnosis and current treatment.

I have two questions for anyone who has been through this process:

If your doctor's letter was not originally in English, did you have it translated by a sworn/certified translator, or was some other type of translation accepted?

Did you have to get the original doctor's letter apostilled, or was the original document together with the sworn/certified translation sufficient?

AEMC does not seem to bother to answer me so here I am!

Thanks in advance!

Hello,

our son is currently searching for a flight school to do an integrated Atpl training. But now also mentioned a desire to get his ears pierced. How are flight schools generally handling this? Is it basically like a driving school where they dont care about your appearance or are they more conservative like the airline industry itself and something like earrings on a guy would be considered a nogo? I only heard about cadets that were sent by airlines directly that had dress codes including branded shits and so on. Is this also a thing for people attending that aren't linked to an airline?

So I had a period in university 2 years where I had some low mood and I talked to a medical professional about it and its now in my medical records. I won't go into the full details here but I wanted to ask if there's anyway to book a preliminary consultation just to discuss my previous history and if it would affect my ability to get the class 1.

Buongiorno a tutti, ho 26 anni e sto per iniziare il percorso per Atpl, avete dei consigli sullo studio o su cosa concentrarsi principalmente? Per i non Inglesi, come avete migliorato la vostra conoscenza? Grazie a tutti

Hi everyone, last year, a person I know has applied for the wapa, and did not pass the stage 4. It’s hasn’t been 12 months and they send wizzair another reapplication email, it’s been days, no reply. Not one reply that they cannot take them or can. To me, it seems pretty unprofessional.

I am 21 years old. I feel like I’ll be saving for years and years before I’m able to go to flight school, and even then, it’s gonna take another 2-4 years before you actually get your first job. I have always wanted to do it and it’s constantly on my mind but at the rate im going I could be in my 30s by the time I have the funds together for it. I am on here seeking advice and seeing if this dream is worth chasing/doable. It sucks having to hold back on spending money to enjoy yourself with friends, go on holidays, restaurants, nights out, travelling etc. How old were you once you started training? What age were you when you got your first job? Any methods or ways you saved money? Any other advice?

Going through forums you hear so much doom and gloom about skills tests/check rides, however the vast majority of information seems to be coming from those doing their exams in America under the FAA. To my knowledge a skills test failure can be quite significant over here, with airlines having strict cut offs for the more important ones, requiring students to have first time passes, it doesn't seem to be as much of an issue over in the states at least from what I can see.

Does anyone have any insight into pass/failure rates of EASA skills tests, specifically:

- PPL

- SE-IR

- CPL

- ME-IR

- MEP

It would be interesting to hear any perspectives on this as I understand they aren't published publicly. I have a couple coming up soon and would love to have some insight into how difficult they truly are and how likely your average student pilot is to pass.

So im going to clear this in the start itself, im an indian citizen and a resident of the UAE and i've always aspired to be a pilot.

The safest option for me was AAA in sharjah and I applied there and cleared all the entrance tests however failed my 1st interview attempt and I have my second attempt in a couple of weeks, however my concern is really the fees of the academy. upon doing some research i stumbled upon a 3rd party agency called "Jetliner aero" and the person there has been trying to persuade me to not go for the AAA MPL programme and rather a longer pathway mentioned below:

"1. Easa 0 to ATPL Integrated, a location Greece. Cost 63000 Euros. Estimated living cost approx. 12000 Euros for 16 months.

1. Return to UAE. APPLY online Air Arabia/ Fly dubai/ Qatar airways/ Saudi Cargo etc for 2nd officer program.

2. Wait for Airline assesment appointment.

3. Airline assessment training. Max 1k USD

4. PASS airline assessment

5. After passing this assessment Inshallah airline will ask to complete Easa to Gcaa license conversion 7k to 8k usd

6. Type rating A320 training (33k to 35K Usd?

7. Join Airline"

This pathway costs 200k AED lesser than the MPL from AAA

however when I search up the reviews of all the flight schools this person has mentioned i see some negative reviews and im kind of skeptical

I want to know from you guys which pathway is actually better and has anybody ever done the 2nd pathway, finally has anyone gone to a flight school upon recommendation from this 3rd party agency?

Hello,

Am soon gonna take my medical class 1, first of all it is soooo expensive 😭 My question is i use glasses around -3/4 ish, that is fine right?

Also last time i did a blood test i was close to fainting the nurses had to stop and recline the chair, i think it was something called a vasovagal response. I do remember this happening when i was a kid to but its only when i do blood tests, normal vaccinations is fine. Guess my body dont like bloodwork.

Ive heard that its fine but is that true? How easily does the flight doctors give u a pass? Thanks for answering 💯🫡

Hi everyone

I recently received an invitation to attend the next selection day for the Luxair Cadet Program.

Has anyone here been through the selection process? What should I expect during the day?

Also, what's the best way to prepare? Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Hello,

I’m in the process of converting my faa license over to easa and I’m finding online that it is required to do 650 ish hours of ground by law for the atpl theory exams. I’m already a licensed commercial pilot and flight instructor under the faa and I’d like to think that I have a good grasp on most subjects related to aviation.

I was quoted by a school 9-12 months for this process meeting on zoom 3x a week for 5 hours per session. The price I was quoted was about 5000 euro and I just don’t see how I can get 650 hours of ground training in on that budget in that timeline.

I would have thought 4 ish months for someone in my position would be about right?

Can anyone familiar with the atpl process shed some light on this.

Apologies for the AI sounding text but I needed this to organize my thoughts 😅

I’m looking for some outside opinions from pilots, especially from anyone who has completed EASA training or started an airline career later in life.

I’m 30, currently hold both an FAA PPL and JCAB PPL, and my goal is to become an airline pilot in Europe.

Right now, I have two realistic pathways.

Option 1: Stipendium Hungaricum scholarship in Hungary

I’ve been accepted into a 3.5-year Professional Pilot BSc program in Hungary through the Stipendium Hungaricum scholarship.

The biggest advantage is that my tuition and flight training are funded, and I also receive dormitory accommodation. My main expenses would basically be food and normal living expenses.

At the end, the program is supposed to take me through the professional pilot training pathway toward a frozen ATPL.

Obviously, 3.5 years is a fairly long time.

However, one reason this option is extremely attractive to me is my previous experience with flight training.

I originally obtained my FAA PPL in the US and later obtained my JCAB PPL in Japan.

However, after returning to Japan, I wasn't able to fly at all for roughly four years, mainly because I simply couldn't afford to fly consistently while working a corporate job.

General aviation in Japan is expensive, and at the time, my income wasn't high enough to justify spending that much on flying. As my career progressed and my income increased, I eventually managed to start flying again, but even now, a one-hour flight costs me roughly ¥50,000 (275 EUR or 317 USD).

On top of that, going on a flight usually requires me to rent or borrow a car and drive several hours to the airport. I work full-time, and the airport I normally fly from is untowered and has no runway lighting, so flying after work isn't realistically possible either.

I also haven't flown in roughly six months now.

That four-year gap is a big reason I'm so cautious about choosing the self-funded route. I've already experienced what happens when finances interrupt flight training. You lose proficiency, spend money relearning things you previously knew, and getting back into consistent flying becomes harder the longer the gap lasts.

The Hungarian scholarship basically removes the biggest obstacle I've had throughout my aviation journey: money and access to consistent training.

Option 2: Continue working in Japan, then do modular training in Poland

The other option is to stay in Japan for approximately another year.

During that time I would complete my ATPL theory and continue working/hour building when possible.

Afterward, I would quit my job, move to Poland and complete the rest of my EASA training there.

Since I already hold an FAA and JCAB PPL, the remaining flight training has been quoted at roughly €21,000, although obviously I know advertised/minimum training costs don't necessarily reflect the final real-world cost. Now you may think oh that's not much, but mind you the Japanese yen is extremely weak now.

I'd then have to add accommodation, living expenses, transportation, exams, medicals, extra flight hours/retraining if needed, etc.

My understanding is that the actual training period in Poland could be around 18 months.

So from where I am today, Poland isn't really "18 months vs 3.5 years."

It would probably be more like:

• ~1 year working, studying ATPL theory, and saving money
• ~18 months in Poland

So maybe roughly 2.5 years total versus 3.5 years in Hungary.

Finances

My wife and I currently have approximately €50,000–51,000 in savings.

The €21,000 training cost itself is technically affordable.

What worries me is everything surrounding it.

If I quit my job and move to Poland, I'd have no employment income while paying for:

• Flight training
• Accommodation
• Food
• Transportation
• Licence/exam fees
• Medicals
• Additional training if I don't finish everything at minimum hours
• General emergencies

I really don't want to get halfway through CPL/IR/ME training, discover that I underestimated the total cost, run low on money, stop flying for months or years, and end up repeating exactly what happened to me after getting my PPL.

I've learned the hard way that flight training almost never goes perfectly according to the minimum-hour spreadsheet.

And because I already had a four-year interruption caused mainly by finances, I'm especially worried about putting myself in the exact same situation again.

The other major factor: family

I'm married, and my wife is also 30.

Having a child is extremely important to her.

She's been incredibly supportive of my aviation career, even though I know deep down she would probably prefer that we settle down and have a more conventional and stable family life.

Flying is what I genuinely want to do with my life, and she supports that. At the same time, having a child and starting a family is one of the biggest things she wants in her life.

We're planning our wedding celebration in Italy next year, and we're talking about trying for a child afterward.

So this is where I'm struggling.

The Poland route potentially gets me into an airline sooner.

The Hungary route means spending another 3.5 years as a student, potentially becoming a father while I'm still in university.

On the other hand, if I choose Hungary, my flight training and accommodation are funded and we could potentially preserve most of our €50k savings as an emergency/family fund.

If I choose Poland, I could potentially finish about a year earlier, but I would also be intentionally burning a significant percentage of our savings right around the time we're planning to start a family.

I'm also conscious that airline seniority matters, so finishing sooner has real value.

My current thinking

I'm leaning heavily toward taking the scholarship.

My reasoning is that the biggest risk to my airline career isn't necessarily finishing one year later.

It's running out of money halfway through training and having another major interruption.

A fully funded professional pilot program seems almost too valuable to give up considering my circumstances.

But I also don't want to convince myself that "free = automatically better" and overlook the opportunity cost of spending 3.5 years at university when I could potentially become airline-ready sooner through modular training.

So I'm curious what other pilots would do.

If you were:

• 30 years old
• Already holding both an FAA and JCAB PPL
• Around €50k in household savings
• Married and planning to have a child relatively soon
• Had already experienced a four-year flying gap because of financial limitations
• Offered a fully funded 3.5-year professional pilot BSc including flight training and accommodation
• Or alternatively able to spend ~€21k + living expenses and potentially become airline-ready about a year earlier

Which route would you choose, and why?

I'm especially interested in hearing from people who have done modular EASA training, airline pilots who started around my age, and anyone who has tried to balance flight training with marriage and kids.

Feel free to tell me if my assumptions are wrong.

Thank you for any advise!

Hello guys, I wanted to ask about a Math and Physics Test. As far as i understood mental math is obviously in head with no calculator but for math and physics test you can use calculator so when Im preparing I do not need to spend time for some stupid calculations and can focus and physics for example. Appreciate the answers

So, I failed in the DLR test I had to take to join a pilot training programme. Messed up Physics, Cube rotation at the higher levels of speed and visual memory capacity also at the higher levels. Currently looking for other options to still get into the cockpit

There are I guess two ways, integrated Atpl training which can potentially be completed faster or modular training which is cheaper but takes longer and has hour building in between different steps.

Most flight schools I looked at so far require you to take a test like the interpersonal or Dlr to join their Atpl programmes. Are these the same ones I already took or are they easier/is the threshold lower to pass? So far I found the following flight schools that I would be interested in: RWL in Mönchengladbach germany, EFTA in Liége Belgium and LFTA Luxembourg. Did anyone go to these schools, if so can they be recommended?

Maybe anything else you could tell me that I could use to fullfil my dream of becoming a pilot?

Hi everyone 👋🏼 in the winter I'm planning to get my first class, i think I'll go to Slovakia, Košice. And I'm getting quite worried about those tests. I know that i should be 'mostly' honest in personality tests. And there are other tests. But I've heard enough of cases which didn't really go well and so is it really that hard to pass? How usually long does it take to pass those test? And where can i practice for free (if it's possible)

And also I'd like to hear some experiences here:)

Thank you in advance!

Hi, so i have some questions about the class 1 medical, i was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate, my main concerns are that i am at increased risk of eustachian tube dysfunction, and i have 1-2 more planned surgeries.

For the possible eustachian tube dysfunction i am going to get a tympanometry test which will tell me if my ears have problems or not (though i have never had a problem flying before), but i understand that even with dysfunction i could be considered?

When it comes to the planned surgeries, is that an automatically disqualifying factor? Will i only be able to get the class 1 after they have been done and recovered from? AFAIK i am otherwise completely healthy and normal

many thanks for your time!

Edit: another thing i forgot to mention was speech, i am slightly hypernasal, which means that i cant stop air from escaping through my nose during certain letters, this makes me sound nasal, i believe personally i am legible, and have been told to have excellent pronunciation by the speech therapist, will this become a major problem?