PPL FAA 61.75 after SOLI away from the UK CAA
I currently have a (non-UK) EASA licence following a SOLI away from the UK CAA I unfortunately needed to do in light of Brexit as I fly a lot of EASA registered aircraft outside of the UK. I dont currently hold any UK CAA licence since my flying in the UK is minimal and it is not worth the effort to keep that licence (which I could apply for) active in parallel to my EASA licence. Furthermore I used to have a valid FAA 61.75 PPL piggy back licence which has proven very helpful to rent aircraft when visiting the US. This FAA piggy back licence, however, is based on the former UK issued EASA licence which is no longer valid post SOLI (which also invalidates the FAA piggy back licence).
Initially I thought no problem, I just apply for a new FAA piggy back licence on the basis of the non-UK EASA licence and I am all good. I have not tried that yet. However, I understand that the FAA will not issue such a licence since my non-UK EASA licence clearly states that it has been issued on the basis of a UK EASA licence (as one would expect during the SOLI process) and apparently this is a big topic for the FAA since they'll refuse to issue a piggy back FAA licence post SOLI as they dont seem to understand that the new EASA licence post SOLI is a licence in its own right and reference is only made to a former licence rather than a still existing/valid licence. They seem to believe it was issued on the basis of another still existing licence and that doesnt pass their requirements.
Has anyone else had this problem and if so found a solution?
Following things come to mind, all of which create a lot of pain:
1) Apply for a UK CAA licence and keep it current to then apply for a new FAA piggy back licence on the basis of that. I guess 2 medicals (UK and EASA) and 2 seperate renewal processes needed, costly in the long run and I have no need for a UK CAA licence other than as a basis for the FAA piggy back
2) Take a flight test with an EASA examiner (if the local AA allows for that at all) and get EASA licence issued without the reference to the UK CAA (I'll probably fail that without additional training as most experienced pilots would given many examiners are special people looking out for specific things, so messy and costly)
3) Avoid the "house of cards" FAA piggy back licence all together and do a proper FAA licence (costly and complex due to visa requirements etc)
I certainly wasnt aware of this issue when doing the SOLI...
Any ideas welcome. Thanks a lot.