In another life I do remember someone I know very well meeting three pilots from: (edited to read: somewhere up northwest in Africa, near that bulgy bit) pilots at the CAA at Waterfall. They'd just been issued with full South African ATPLs on the basis of their bulgy bit licences and they were hot footing it to Gatwick to get British validations or licences, whatever they could squeeze out of it, based on the full SAA ATPLs with which they'd been issued. I presume they'd have had the odd law exam to write but it was one heck of a short cut. They guys were very proud of the fact that they'd been able to engineer this and became extremely twitchy when the person I know very well flashed his UK ATPL (the one he slaved for ) and got their names from the entry register.
As for the examines in general? They're forgotten as soon as you've walked out the door, passed the subjects or thrown your notes away. What you need to have in your log book is a minimum number of hours flown solo, on complex aircraft, in winter and/or in what might be called challenging meteorological terrain with no auto pilot and no nanny control state. Let's say 1,000 hours of that and you will be a better and safer pilot if only because you have survived. South African flying is a doddle and I have thousands of hours of it to prove that point. I also have thousands of hours of the other sort to prove that point too.
Toodle pip.
Last edited by cavortingcheetah; 2nd Mar 2019 at 18:38.