Did my JAA/CAA PPL in Florida, now flying in NL.
Here are a few differences that I noted.
- We NEVER did flight plans in the US. We were encouraged to ask for "Flight Following" instead, where available. This can be more or less compared to somewhere between a Radar Information Service and a Radar Advisory Service in the UK.
- If you do flight plans, the FAA has a different format. And VFR flight plans are not closed automatically - you NEED to call a number (which is given to you when you submit the plan) to close it!
- 1-800-WX-BRIEF is the number you need to remember. Connects you to a place which can work magic for you: Help you out with flight plans and everything, give you the weather, including forecasts, notams, you name it. It does help if you read up a little on it, since it works best if you use correct and efficient phraseology. "Hello, I'm a student pilot requesting an outlook briefing for a VFR flight tomorrow. Callsign is N250FT, departure KISM at 10.30 local, to KMBL, KOBE and back. Flight duration 2 hours. Altitude 3500 feet." And then get pen&paper ready because the operator will give you everything you need, on a level that is applicable to you (student pilot in my case).
- The same kind of operators also do "Flight Watch". This is a standard frequency (I'm not sure, but I think it's 122.0) that works nationwide, and they also have several local frequencies (including a few where you transmit on a normal COM frequency, but receive over a VOR frequency - very strange) how you can reach them. They can give you the same service as WX-BRIEF. They're not a FIS, since they do not monitor you en-route, but they can give you all the info you might need.
- Different airspace structure. Outside CAS it's E and G as usual, but each airport is surrounded by an inverted wedding cake of D, C or B airspace extending from the surface to 10.000 feet AGL (at most). Above this it's all class E, until you get to 19.000 feet, where class A starts. Plus, most airports have a 30 NM Transponder Mandatory Zone around them.
- Military danger areas have names instead of numbers.
- Transition altitude is 19.000 feet. Only IFR flights do Flight Levels.
- Slightly different phraseology in R/T. Most striking example is "position and hold" vs. "line up and wait". And obviously "position and hold" is something completely different than "hold position".
- Conditional landing clearances: "Number three behind the Cessna on final and the Warrior on base. Cleared to land 06." "Cleared to land 06 number three, both traffic in sight". That might just be the last thing you hear from the tower until nr. 1 and 2 have landed, you have landed and vacated the runway. Situational awareness is therefore even more important than in Europe.
- No landing fees. Even if you want to do touch&gos at major international airports it's free. You do need a clearance (since they're class B) and this will only be given if it's quiet and if you only do one or two t&gs, but otherwise it's no problem.
- Get the little green book published by the FAA at the same time you get the charts. I think it's called the AFM. It covers most (if not all) of the public airports in the region just like a flight guide like Bottlang does. But this one is published every six months and virtually for free (seven dollars I believe).
- I'm not sure, but I believe the airports themselves are owned by the FAA and there are several commercial outfits on the field (called Fixed Base Operators or FBOs) that can help you with fuel etc. In contrast with a lot of field in Europe that are privately owned and you need to obtain those services from the field operator itself. In the US this leads to a bit of competition (so you can shop around for fuel prices) and specialization (one FBO for the bizjets, the other for GA). Generally very friendly and if all you need is to park your aircraft for an hour or so to have an off-airport lunch, they will generally help you (and let you out the gate) for free.
- Uncontrolled fields do not have an AFIS or A/G service. You either talk to the tower on a controlled field, or you do blind circuit calls to "(A/F) traffic" to let everybody know your intentions. And in case of a conflict, you just talk to the other A/C yourself, directly.
- Most bigger, uncontrolled fields also have a Unicom frequency. This is used to talk directly to the FBO to organize taxis, fuel and such.
- Instead of ATIS (with an ident letter), a lot of (controlled and uncontrolled) fields have an AWOS (Automated Weather Observation Station). This device continually monitors the weather and transmits it on the frequency. If the weather changes every minute, so will the AWOS. They are generally very accurate when it comes to wind, visibility, altimeter setting and temperature, but not very accurate when it comes to clouds. They don't report the runway in use, nor do they have an ident letter. Instead of "Information Romeo received" you just say "we have the weather" or something similar.
- Some AWOS are not on a separate frequency 24/24, but transmit on the CTAF frequency, after you click your mike three times or so. Neat.
- A lot of uncontrolled airfields have pilot controlled lighting. Click three, five or seven times (depending on the light intensity you want) and the lights will come on automatically. They'll stay on for 15 minutes. It's a good habit to repeat this clicking on final, so the lights don't die on you while flaring or something...
- Instead of QNE and QFE, they use "altimeter". It's the same as QNH in the sense that it's compensated to sea level, but it's in inches. 2992 inches is equal to 1013.2 hPa.