Originally Posted by
futurepilot22
rudestuff
Ah cool, thanks for the detailed reply. That sounds promising. So what if I trained solely for an EASA license but then converted to a CAA license down the line, would my EASA one would remain for life? Like can I hold both simultaneously even with a conversion do you know?
The best time to train is probably when people are saying things like "this is absolutely the worst time to train"
It's not an instant thing, it might take 12-24 months to get licensed so timing is basically luck anyway. The best option is obviously to get your licence at the start of a hiring boom, and believe it or not you can plan that. Quite simply, you get your PPL, ATPL exams, SEIR and SE CPL, then stop. Sit on your hands and wait, maybe get an FI to stay current - but you don't need to keep anything current of you don't want to. Then when the job market is right, you go back to school and get your MEP, MEIR and MCC (which should take 6 weeks). Now you can apply for jobs with a brand new MEIR/MCC (the only things that actually matter) - "fresh" out of training.
To convert between EASA and CAA is a bit fluid at the moment. No doubt there will be an agreement reached at some point, but for now my advice (if you are starting now and want to be sure if getting both licences) would be to take both sets of exams at the same time.
Licences are valid for life, and you can hold as many as you like, but only one EASA at a time. (Since the CAA is now out of EASA, you can hold CAA and EASA at the same time). It's the ratings on those licences that have to be kept valid (if you want to fly). For example, right now I'm allowed to fly a 757 but not a Cessna 152, because my SEP has expired. If I decide i want to fly one, I would have to do renewal training to get the rating back.
Right now, the choice between CAA and EASA is very very simple: get the appropriate licence for where you are allowed to live and work.
If you think you'll need the both licences at some point in the future, study once and take both sets of exams whilst they are still virtually identical. Trust me, you'll forget 80% of it anyway, any the last thing you want to do is study twice.