Originally Posted by
rudestuff
I'm from the UK, still an EASA member so I use their interpretation of things. Other EASA members are available. As VFR Seek and Destroy posted - the CAA website has most of the info. Cap804 whilst a reference only document, is still the go-to document for the CAA for want of anything better.
I certainly didn't say you could get a CPL with *JUST* a checkride. The fact that you need to pass all required exams should really be a given - I thought everyone knew that!
The thread (your thread) is about converting between FAA and EASA, so don't get confused between the requirements for initial issue and conversion, they are different.
To convert you must already have a CPL - so the requirement for theoretical training now rests with the head of training. There is no requirement to complete a full course of theoretical training as long as the equivalent ICAO licence is held. So in your original case an FAA CPL holder could do theoretical training as required for a CPL but would have to do a full course for ATPL - which is the only logical choice of you want to fly multi crew aircraft. So in most cases there is no way to avoid the cost of an ATPL course, but you can avoid actually doing the course by going distance learning because you essentially self certify that you have studied the prerequisite number of hours!
Having passed the required exams, an FAA CPL holder would need to do flight training as required by the head of training at an ATO. The CAA publish guidelines on this which can be reduced further on application. Don't get confused by FCL.315 and appendix 3 which refer to initial training courses, not conversions, which means there is no requirement for a Night Rating (An FAA CPL holder already has more than 5 night hours)
I don't think that I described the ONLY way to do it. The described route is proven to work by myself, it is based on part FCL requirements, it leads to unrestricted standalone EASA CPL with SEP/MEP/IR/PBN, and looking at the UK CAA conversion requirements for low-timers I suppose that that way can be even less expensive than a conversion with UK CAA. But that's questionable, of course.
FCL clearly states the conditions for issuing an EASA license, not its initial issue. There is no such thing as a conversion in the document. Probably UK has a different point of view (it seems they certainly do), but even in the document that you posted before (
https://www.caa.co.uk/Commercial-ind...into-Part-FCL/) the minimums for conversion training are pretty close to those mentioned in the part FCL. At least for pilots with less than 1000h under their belt. So my post is probably not so relevant for UK but for most of other states it is - the authorities use primarily part FCL as a reference.
Originally Posted by
rudestuff
I certainly didn't say you could get a CPL with *JUST* a checkride. The fact that you need to pass all required exams should really be a given - I thought everyone knew that!
The thread (your thread) is about converting between FAA and EASA, so don't get confused between the requirements for initial issue and conversion, they are different.
Thank you for posting the requirements for the UK, probably they will help someone. I did not find them for other EASA members though, and they use part FCL for that purpose.
Could you please also clarify about "all required exams" - what are you talking about, and what everyone knows about it? I did not know, even after some research. According to part FCL it's all clear, but for the conversion process it is not. I suppose you're an experienced pilot or instructor, and YOU know the requirements. An average wannabe does not and has to make some research.
It seems that it makes sense to undergo a conversion process in UK than in austrocontrol or similar for FAA CPL holders with AMEL and IR. But I suppose that in that case all cpl training hours should be in the ME airplane. But it can be wrong, I simply don't know the details.
Anyway, I suppose the community will appreciate detailed feedback from someone who recently completed conversion FAA CPL/ASEL/AMEL/IR -> EASA CPL/SEP/MEP/IR/PBN with UK CAA, especially if it's a well trodden path which I struggled to find any info about in the web. I did it with Czech CAA for a reasonable amount of time and money taking into account flight hour price in the US and in Europe, and shared the detailed howto. Probably someone can find it useful. And probably thank to that post someone will share the detailed 'true' conversion experience - I will not be unhappy if there's an easier way, I've already done it somehow
