Flying Australia
A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR EASA PRIVATE PILOTS
by Fabian Nilgen · Published June 2025
How to Legally and Confidently Exercise PIC Privileges in Australian Skies — the essential handbook for European-licensed pilots planning to fly GA in Australia.
From the cockpit of Æro Mate — to Australian skies
At Æro Mate, our mission has always been to be general aviation’s digital mate in — software that handles the admin, tracks the data, and lets you focus on the flying. But great flying begins long before you start the engine. It begins with preparation. And that’s exactly what this book is about.
Our founder Fabian Nilgen — EASA and FAA PPL holder, instrument-rated pilot and the mind behind Æro Mate — has just published Flying Australia: A Practical Guide for EASA Private Pilots. If you’re a European-licensed pilot dreaming of flying across the Red Centre, threading reef islands or cruising over the Blue Mountains, this is the guide you’ve been missing.
What’s inside the book?
Australia offers more than 2,000 maintained dirt strips and 340-plus paved aerodromes, with vast stretches of open Class G airspace below 18,000 ft. For an EASA-trained PIC, this is both exhilarating and unfamiliar territory. The book bridges exactly that gap.
Licensing & Validation
Step-by-step walkthrough for converting or validating your EASA PPL under CASA rules — without the legal fog.
Weather Playbooks
Region-by-region meteorology: tropical north, desert interior, Alpine south — each season demystified.
Ready-to-Fly Routes
Reef Run, Red-Centre Triangle, Sydney Scenic Lane and more — with kneeboard-ready checklists.
Budget & Fuel Hacks
Fuel availability, pricing realities, and smart planning for remote legs where AVGAS isn’t a given.
Copy–Tweak–Avoid Scripts
Radio call templates, decision scenarios and common gotchas that ambush Euro-trained PICs.
Survival & Outback Prep
Gear checklists and survival essentials for strips where the nearest town is two hours’ walk — in the wrong direction.
Why Fabian wrote it
As both the founder of Æro Mate and an active pilot with licences on both sides of the Atlantic, Fabian has experienced first-hand the friction of flying in an unfamiliar regulatory environment. CASA rules, ERSA formats, SARTIME requirements, HF radio etiquette for remote operations — these are the details that no YouTube video series puts together in one place for a European PPL holder.
The result is part handbook, part briefing document, part adventure companion. One itinerary can take you from a coral cay, over a kangaroo station at sunset, to a desert airstrip under a velvet sky — and this book tells you exactly how to do it legally and confidently.
The Æro Mate connection
The same philosophy that drives Æro Mate’s platform — reduce administrative friction, increase safety awareness, make flying more accessible — runs through every page of this book. Think of it as the pre-departure briefing that Æro Mate’s logbook and flight data tools complement once you’re back on the ground.
Whether you’re planning a sabbatical fly-about or just want to understand what a GA adventure Down Under actually involves, this guide gives you the full picture.
Ready to fly Australia?
Get your copy in paperback or as an E-Book — and read the first pages for free before you commit.