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And while ICAO licenses are generally cross-recognized
by the member states....Singapore (a horrid country) DOES NOT recognize the FAA licenses issued by the USA.
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Actually that's not quite true. What most countries will do is "validate" your license. That means it's relatively easy to get a PPL issued by country "Y", based on a PPL issued by country "X", as long as "X" is an ICAO member state. But your "Y" PPL will have restrictions on it. For starters, it will be restricted to any privileges under "X", and will also be based on "X". If "X" becomes invalid for some reason, "Y" also becomes invalid.
The cross-recognition (without any further paperwork or restrictions) is only valid within the JAA member states - and once we get EASA licenses it will be moot anyway (within the EASA member states).
Furthermore, as an example, the UK does an *implicit* validation of ICAO PPLs for flight on G-reg aircraft. Nice of them, as it requires no paperwork and the validation is valid worldwide. But that's really an exception and I have no idea whether this will continue under EASA.
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Now...the thing is, i would also want to have a stand-alone FAA PPL to function as a just-in-case kinda thing..
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Excellent idea. I wish I had done so when I did my JAA PPL in the US.
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1) FlyEft.com listed a few books that PPL students should purchase and read up before arriving. They also listed equipment such as fuel strainers, flight computer etc. However, is there ONE single PPL student kit I can purchase that has all this inside already?
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There are various student kits that include everything you need. AFEonline has a few of them. However, they also contain a lot of crap you don't need. Like markers to be used on laminated charts. But in the US the FAA sectionals by default are not laminated so you need a lead pencil to write on them.
Best is to buy as you go along. For your self-study at home, what you need is the full PPL book set (either the AFE/Jeremy Pratt series or the Trevor Thom series), a CAA map of the UK (as your exercises will be based on this), a flight computer (circular sliderule), a ruler in nm and a protractor. The rest you can buy while you're at EFT.
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2) Does anyone know whether Fly EFT can also assist to do a standalone FAA PPL? If not, what is recommended?
3) From what I understand, the flight hours and instructional hours required for the JAA licence is the same as the FAA license. All I need to do, is to pay for and sit for the FAA theory exams and checkride. Is this correct?
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I would certainly imagine that EFT can help you with the FAA PPL as well. Most of the training overlaps, although the FAA syllabus includes a few things that are normally not included in the JAA syllabus. (Turns around a point, and the night qualification.) If you make sure EFT knows that you intend to get both licenses, it should not be a problem to integrate the requirements for both into the 45 hours. Furthermore, like you said, it's one extra written exam. Obviously for the JAA and FAA exams stuff like aerodynamics is the same, but for instance air law is different, so you need to study an FAA air law book or text too.
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4) Do I need BOTH a JAA Class 2 medical and a FAA Class 3 medical or will one suffice to begin training?
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You need an FAA Class 3 medical (doubling as your student pilot license) in any case to fly solo in FAA airspace. The JAA class 2 medical is only needed to exercise the privileges of your JAA PPL. I have no idea how Singapore handles/recognizes the JAA PPL in their airspace, but it might be that they give you a Singapore PPL based on your JAA PPL, in which case you might need a Singapore class 2 medical instead of a JAA class 2 medical.
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5) I understand that TSA needs to give me clearance to begin training. But the US Embassy here in Singapore can only go as far as issuing M1 visas. Does this mean that upon arrival at the States, I need to factor in a couple of days to get TSA Clearance and do fingerprinting etc? Does MCO, Orlando have fingerprinting facilities for the TSA?
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The US embassy has nothing to do with the TSA. The TSA application (and payment) is done almost completely on-line via their website. The major issue is fingerprinting, and I would expect EFT to know where you can get your fingerprints taken quickly and conveniently (and preferably electronically, to speed things along) in the vicinity of EFT.
There are also a few international locations where you can get your fingerprints taken ahead of time. But to get there, and to get them taken there, is typically very costly, while doing it in the US immediately upon arrival is convenient and relatively cheap.
But in any case, you cannot begin training until the TSA has acknowledged receipt of your fingerprints, so it really is the first thing you should get done upon arrival.
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6) I've also heard of folks doing the FAA IR after their JAA PPL. Is the FAA IR and the JAA IR inter-convertable? Does this mean that after they have gotten their FAA IR rating, they can convert it to JAA IR and add it to their existing JAA PPL?
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At the moment an FAA IR doesn't do anything to obtain a JAA IR, except if you've got a large number of experience hours. And even then it only slightly reduces the training hours. However, there are negotiations underway between EASA and FAA that should ultimately lead to easier interoperability. A lot of this is political. As you are still at least a year away from holding an IR of any sort, I would suggest you just sit tight and see what the future brings.
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7) Currency wise, does this mean I need to plan an annual trip to the USA to get checked out by a FI or CFI to keep my license(s) current?
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Both FAA and JAA are on a two-year cycle wrt. currency for Single Engine Piston flying. So worst case scenario is that you need to go somewhere every two years, not every year.
If you can find an FAA instructor in/near Singapore, he/she can give you a BFR. One hour groundschool, one hour in the air at minimum. That's all there is to keep an FAA PPL/SEP valid. (Other than paperwork issues like letting the FAA know when you change your address and such.)
For JAA it's slightly more complex. To revalidate by experience you need 12 hours in the last 12 months, of which at least one hour training flight. After this, a JAA examiner can revalidate your SEP. I'm not sure whether the one-hour training flight needs to be done with a JAA FI - I think it can be any ICAO instructor. And the JAA examiner paperwork might possibly be done by simply mailing your license, logbook and forms to an examiner who then signs where required and returns the lot to you by mail. But you would have to find a friendly examiner willing to do so. It's more common to look such a person up in person.
To revalidate by flight test (in case you don't meet the experience requirements), you obviously need to have a JAA examiner on board.
So in both cases it's a matter of finding a person with the right qualifications in Singapore or elsewhere. If you find such a person, fine. You can then do everything in Singapore. I don't know of any specific rule that requires you to do the BFR in FAA airspace, or the JAA/EASA training flight or revalidation test in JAA/EASA airspace.
Hope this helps.
