Originally Posted by
alland2012
Ebbie I have just spent the last 6 months jumping through the hoops in order to validate my FAA PPL to fly in the UK.
1. I had to take the UK Air law exam - a week of study saw me through that one.
2. Next up was the Human Performance exam - again with a little study time it really wasn't an issue,
Both exams are choosing from multi choice questions, and frankly if you can't get enough correct to score a pass, then you shouldn't be flying !!
So you'll have nothing to worry about there. For tuition I used ppltutor.com
Next up was submit form SRG2140 plus copies of my log book and FAA licence and my FAA class 3 medical cert (all copies certified by a CAA DPE) to the CAA.
I submitted everything at the beginning of October 2018, I received an email at the beginning of December asking me to submit the most recent page of my log book again,( it appears they could not find the original copy I sent in) anyway I sent off another certified copy and followed that up with a phone call to ask how long it would now take to process my validation. The reply I got was they are working approx 4 weeks behind from date of recieving applications, when I said I sent my paperwork in at the beginning of October which was almost 8 weeks back, they said due to me having to submit more info (lost log book page) it re-sets the clock so it would take approx another 4 weeks to process.
Early January I finally recieved an email from the CAA confiming my FAA cert is validated and I am now free to fly in the UK (G-Reg VFR daytime only, N-Reg no restrictions as long as I'm current in type)
The only downside now is the declaration is only valid unit 8th April 2019 or the implementation of the BASA agreement, whichever comes first.
So what happens after the 8th April is unknown at this point in time, maybe there will be an extension maybe not ?
Also to add to my frustrations my Flight Review is now due, which I'm now busy organising a suitable mutual schedule with a UK based FAA CFI to get that knocked out.
In retrospect for me as I'm now going to be based in the UK more than in the US I should have just worked on converting to a EASA cert. Maybe come the summer thats the route I'll go.
I will say, I'm not knocking the CAA in any way, whoever I've spoken with there have always tried to help me and been polite and understanding to my needs. I believe they are under staffed and under much pressure with the uncertainty over Brexit. I'm sure they have much more pressing things to sort out than a few of us foreign certificate PPL drivers who want to invade their airspace.
Just a quick update on the above situation regarding FAA/CAA Validation.
With the 8th April looming I contacted the CAA and asked them will my current FAA validation simply get re-newed or will I need to begin the whole process again from scratch...?
At the time of my call no one seemed to be able to give me a definitive answer, however a week later I received email comfirmation stating that no it won't just be re-newed and I had to submit all the documentation and fee again.!
So that's where I'm at right now, all the paper work has gone in again and I've just received an email today informing me that they are now waiting for a reply from the FAA to confirm my current FAA licence status.
At least things seem to be moving along faster than my first application which took 6 months to process.