is this a first?

[hughesyd]

After months of trying to get a response from the Spanish DGAC, i finally did it!. i have succesfully managed to have my ATPLs that i did in Madrid (in english, oxford sylabus) with a Spanish FTO, recognised by the UK CAA so i can sit my CPL in the UK. Main problem was getting a response from DGAC. To be fair to them , i had my request translated into Spanish and they finally sent me written permission in english for the licence to be issued by the UK CAA.

Has anyone else ever managed to get their exams recognised by another state?.

[LH2]

Has anyone else ever managed to get their exams recognised by another state?

The Finns recognise UK ATPL exams, as do the Greeks, I believe.

However, you are the first person I know of who has got his foreign exams recognised in the UK, so congratulations on that point :ok:

btw, the language of your communications with the DGAC might well have been the only thing holding it back. Not so much because of their inability to speak English as for legal reasons, Spain having the concept of official languages. Just guessing though.

Having said that, it would be great if the Spaniards decided to start reciprocating by accepting British ATPLs.

[hughesyd]

You could be right. i was living in Madrid when i took my ATPL exams and of course, you got more of a response if you tried to communicate in Spanish even if it was poor, than just speaking English and expecting a response.

Of course the international language of aviation is english, but if you are dealing with a particular state, its always polite to at least commuicate in the native language of that state.

[hughesyd]

Heres the irony!!!

i cant get in any UK fto for months to take my CPL!!!. I live in Manchester and Multiflight told me april 2009!!!

I booked a spanish fto months ago as i didnt expect to get authorised in the UK. im booked in in three weeks in spain and cant get in anywhere in the UK as quick.

Should i wait and do the CPL in the UK or just get it done in Spain. I know some have a problem with spain for cpl/ ir ect. personally i find the standard of training very good .

[LH2]

Should i wait and do the CPL in the UK or just get it done in Spain.

That is, of course, your decision to make.

FWIW, having trained in France, Spain, and the UK, I have found the French to be the best by far, but that's not what you are asking about so I will not go into any more detail on that.

Training in Spain is generally of good quality, subject to the usual variation between schools (and there are some really crappy ones out there, especially, I am told and I have seen, in LECU). I like their practical approach (they know most pilots are not going to be burning holes in the sky on a C172 for their entire careers), and the fact that you train in a "real" environment, i.e., you fly from proper commercial airports in controlled airspace (again, LECU excepted) with plenty of traffic, and use ATC heavily. And how many UK-trained CPLs do you know that can fill out a flight plan properly without assistance? Also in some places, local conditions such as terrain and weather are to be reckoned with.

OTOH, if you have trained in the UK (I take it you did your PPL there), you know what it's like: the CPL is nothing more than an expensive PPL. You will learn nothing from it. Ok, you will use QNH instead of QFE... guess what? Nobody uses QFE in Spain. "Expeditious" joins? Do you think Spaniards piss about trying to do overheads at Seville or Bilbao? I came out of my CPL a worse pilot than I was to start with (and that's a lot to say :E) and that wasn't the schools fault (or mine, hopefully), that was a result of the training philosophy in the UK. It must have all been very quaint and nice in WWII times, but things have changed a bit since.

You will of course also be familiar with the many cups of tea and endless briefings on things you should know inside out in the first place, all while you could be out flying instead. Not to mention FTOs run like they're the local council and working 9 to 5, five days a week (no wonder they have a backlog and no wonder they don't make a penny, if their aircraft never fly). Finally, another thing that really puts me off is being nannied around rather than being treated like an adult and being told up front when my flying is rubbish. With some of the "it was Ok" flights I did in the UK, I would have been kicked straight out of my aeroclub in France (and there we only fly for fun!)

I know some have a problem with spain for cpl/ ir ect. personally i find the standard of training very good

And what do you care what other people say? If you mean the airlines... I don't think I would want to be working for an employer who looks at the colour of my licence rather than at the person and pilot in front of him. Having said that, I still have to see any evidence that such discrimination exists. Unconfirmed rumours on Pprune and assurances from your friendly :rolleyes: training provider in the UK don't count.

To summarise, there might be good schools in the UK, but the very foundations of their approach to training are outdated and not really relevant to modern commercial flying. On the other hand, in Spain you've got some notoriously bad schools, but at least the training environment is more conducive to a smooth transition into commercial flying.

I for one, if I were to do it all over again I would steer well clear of the UK, except perhaps for the theory part which was good.

As I said, FWIW. Good luck with your training.

[hughesyd]

LH2,

A very indepth and balanced view. Thanks for your opinion and advise. Its refreshing to get someones opinion who isnt biased. What you say makes a whole lot of sense.

[BigGrecian]

Unconfirmed rumours on Pprune and assurances from your friendly training provider in the UK don't count.

CTC won't accept a Spanish CPL or IR - they make you convert.

Also two other major airlines will take you to interview then make you convert.

Also, unfortunately, I used to regularly train people who also had the same kind of thing going on hughsyd.