SergeD

I have just got this email passed to me. After all the troubles, this is great news.

===============

I will (finally) be coming to the UK and will be available from 16-24 February. I will be in the Denham area on the 16th, in the East Midlands area from 17-20, and in downtown London from 21-23. I will also be in Wellesbourne on the evening of the 22nd participating in the GASCo/CAA Safety Evening. If you (or any of your pilot friends) are still interested in an FAA 61.75 Certificate or still in need of a checkride, please let me know via email. I will do my best to accommodate your schedule.

It is quite certain that I will also be in Europe in June and again in the fall.

Thank you for your patience and I hope to see you soon.

Janeen Kochan, Ph.D.
Human Factors Scientist/Designated Pilot Examiner/Instructor Pilot
Aviation Research, Training, and Services, Inc.
17 Aviation Drive
Winter Haven, FL 33881
863-297-8080 (Office)
863-207-0484 (Mobile)
863-293-1718 (Fax)
[email protected]

email Janeen Kochan kochan [at] aviation-research.net

IO540

Ms Kochan was in the UK before, 1-2 years ago. Well spoken of.

Cusco

Indeed: I made the trip to Denham a coupla years ago where she dealt with me professionally and in a friendly manner.

There was a bit of a wait but not too long.

Her presence doesn't absolve you from the CAA authentication letter /nominated FSDO bit though so it's as well to get that out of the way before you see her>

Check with her by email which FSDO is required ISTR when I went it was NewYork FSDO.

I paid $220 in greenbacks for 61.75 conversion to plastic/addition of English Proficiency: much cheaper (in time as well) than a trip to USA.

Highly recommended.

Cusco

Bricknall

That is excellent news - she has a very good reputation - have had so many hassles in the past in this arena

SNS3Guppy

It's very common in the US for students to use designated examiners in or from another location. Particularly for multi-engine ratings, seaplane ratings, and ATP certificates and type ratings, students often travel to locations away from their home in order to get certification.

You're correct that in general, designated pilot examiners don't typically travel to get work, but then they don't have to. Most pilot examiners are too busy as it is.

Then again, the entire designated pilot examiner system is legalized extortion; taxes are paid to allow the FAA to operate, and individuals shouldn't have to pay designees to take a practical test. I find it a reprehensible program. When some students pay as high as six hundred dollars for a practical test, it's most certainly unethical, and borderline criminal.

If everybody who is qualified were to be given the same opportunity, that would be one thing. If the FAA regulated the DPE's and unified or standardized the fees that they charge (but shouldn't be able to charge), that would mean something.

I have no sympathy for the designated examiners, and they certainly have no place to whine if another DE steps up and flies with students.

Europeans really shouldn't have to go to the USA to get pilot certification, especially just for a piggy back certificate. For those who do make the trip, I hope it's a great experience, but there's no reason in the world that folks in the EU/UK shouldn't be able to do a checkride with a designated examiner closer to home.

SNS3Guppy

The problem is that no other federal agency issues licenses to operate, like the FAA does. When one takes a checkride from a Inspector, one doesn't pay for the checkride; it's a function of the FAA. The FAA is required to give checkrides.

The FAA attempts to expand it's base of manpower by the designated pilot examiner program, and rather than funding the DPE's, the FAA allows them to charge applicants. If the FAA standardized the fees or set limits, that would be one thing, but the FAA doesn't.

The FAA limits the number of DPE's. It's not a matter of competition. Many are qualified to be an examiner, but the FAA doesn't simply allow anyone who is qualified, to be an examiner. Very few are allowed to be examiners, and these few hold a corner on the market, and charge accordingly.

In some cases, the extreme conflict of interest of paying an examiner to give the test bears fruition; the examiner becomes known for granting certificates based on the students payment. Some DE's in the USA do this very thing, and thus run pilot certificate mills. One particular Las Vegas operator is known for the very thing

A student shouldn't have to pay to take a practical test. So long as the government requires the test and issues the certificate, the government should provide the manpower to test the applicant, and the applicant shouldn't have to pay. The applicant already pays taxes, and the FAA is a taxpayer funded agency. To require that the applicant take a practical test for a certificate, rating, or privilege, and then to authorize only a few selected individuals to administer that test, and to allow them to charge anything they like for something already paid by the applicant as a function of his or her government taxes is not only an outrage, but an ethical compromise. It defies the FAA mission: "to provide the safest, most efficient aerospace system in the world."

youngskywalker

As a European citizen and therefore not a US taxpayer I have to say I couldn't really object to the $400 or so that I paid for my various checkrides. For a US taxpayer I would agree with Guppy.

FlyingGoat

Thanks for the above. Has anyone got any workarounds to avoid paying north of £180 and a day wasted at Farnborough to take the IFP (Instrument Rating Foreign Pilot) written test?

And any bed-time reading in addition to ASA's 2011 Test Prep IR (about 15 quid at Amazon UK)?

S-Works

yes, fly to the USA and do training for a US rating in the US.......

FlyingGoat

yes, fly to the USA and do training for a US rating in the US.......

Thanks, but why? I'm not intending to fly in the US, and the only 'training' I need, as far as I understand, is to read-up the IR theory (differences?).

S-Works

Ah right, so you want a US rating, never to use it in the US and you want to find a shortcut to getting it?

Understood.

Then you are into the £180 to Flight Safety and the money to the visiting DPE's.

FlyingGoat

You've got a point, Bose-X.

Visiting an FSDO in the States, sight of licence and taking the theory, I guess would be a fraction of the cost?

IO540

The huge advantage of a visiting DPE is that you can do a checkride in your own aircraft - the one you trained in and the one you know well.

Going to the USA means cheaper flying (though nowhere near as cheaper as it would have been 10 years ago) which makes financial sense if you are going to do a lot of training, but you have to pay for hotels and the airline tickets and the whole thing makes little sense if you will then be flying a different plane.

The main safety thing in flying is currency on type and this is why so many people have paid visiting DPEs. It focuses the training and the checkride (which is also a training flight) fully on the plane you normally fly.

For a 61.75 only, it cannot make sense to go to the USA just for that, if you can get it here.

IO540

Every visiting DPE has been visiting with the full approval of the FAA - since about 2003 and probably earlier. So there is little point in debating "jurisdictions".

IO540

The reality is that there are several thousand private IR holders in Europe of whom the great majority are FAA ones.

This is a simple consequence of the European regulators' screwing of the private IR, over many years.

I think historically most of these people did it all in the USA. This has always been the smoothest and - for any significant amount of flight training e.g. the IR - the cheapest option. A few have done it all in Europe, with visiting DPEs.

Nobody is actually "working around EASA" in that sense.

moonym20

Does anyone know if she would be able to sign off an 8710-1 for the issue of a rating or privilege?

S-Works

What an interesting question. An examiner going the other way and doing it would be flayed alive.....

porridge

I am so pleased to hear this news. I have met with Janeen Kochan, some time ago, and she immediately impressed me as a no-nonsense professional.
I think this brings a breath fresh air to the very tainted atmosphere that was pervaded by another FAA DPE in UK/Europe. I certainly look forward to a positive working relationship with her. I can assure everyone that it is my opinion that she will restore the integrity on the FAA again in the UK/Europe!

S-Works

I know her. She is a thoroughly nice person and a regular at Winterhaven where I fly.

However she is a USC and as such requires a work permit to work in Europe. being a self employed FAA DPE is not grounds for such a work permit. Being a DPE doe not make her a representative of the US government anymore than being a JAA Examiner makes me a representative of the UK government.......

So unless she is being sponsored by a UK company for a work permit which is just as big a hassle as a Brit going to work in the US I am wondering how exactly she can come and take payment for work performed in the EU?

No axe to grind, just an inquisitive mind and would be interested in the answer.

SNS3Guppy

Actually, a DPE is a representative of the FAA, every bit as much as a medical examiner represents the FAA; both do, in their capacity.