Hours are hours as they say. The thing to watch out for is that the CAA (JAA) may not recognise your US hours towards the minimum requirement for JAA licence issue. What this means is although you have, say, 30 hours under your belt, you will have to do the full 45 hours in the EU to get your licence issued! I must stress I am not 100% on this Darren, so please check with the CAA first.