Thank you all for the pointers; much appreciated.
These enquiries are not for me; they are for a few people who have asked me which way I think they should go about the whole process. And as you all know my opinions are freely given
One individual wants to do it all in the USA during a 4-week block, but also thereafter wants to fly both N-reg (in the USA) and JAA-reg (in Europe). So just an FAA PPL is not enough (would be fine for an N-reg and G-reg only, of course).
Interesting about the ICAO -> JAA concessions. I bet you the CAA is reading these forums and they are going to pull these concessions pretty soon. They have pulled the Class 1 - Class 1 medical one just weeks after it became well known, despite it being on their website for about a year (this was about an ICAO CPL/ATPL with an ICAO Class 1 medical being able to get the
initial JAA Class 1 medical on
renewal limits). Not sure what this tells us. On the one hand, the CAA validates ICAO licenses for a G-reg, on the other hand their in-house medical group seems pretty powerful and protective. Still, EASA will take over the whole lot soon.