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Old 1st September 2008 | 21:50
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speedrestriction
I REALLY SHOULDN'T BE HERE
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Joined: Dec 2005
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From: TOD
Hi,

Did something similar two years ago. Had two months to build 100hrs do the night rating and do a JAR ME CPL. I found there wasn't a whole lot of time to spare at the end. If you find a school where you can buy the block of time you need and be guaranteed sole use(or joint use with no more than two others) of the aircraft it'll make your life a lot easier. The biggest hassle is getting the visa (type M visa?). You'll need paperwork from the place where you are going to train in order to get the visa. Then there is more paperwork for the TSA. Finally there's the paperwork you send to the FAA to get your licence validated. In fairness the people at the FSDO were brilliant. Quick validation (they had the paperwork ready to go from the prior application), friendly, funny and had lots of good advice. Once you've got all the paperwork sorted you're ready to go.

If you can get your hands on a handheld GPS it will take some of the pressure off while you get to know the area you'll be operating in, however keep your eyes PEELED for other traffic. There is a lot more high speed open FIR traffic whizzing around over there than there is here.

Get your hands on a copy of the skills test form and draw up a plan of your hour building to get as much practice of these assesed manoeuvers/skills as is possible. If you find yourself getting a little bit bored don't resort to doing anything stupid in the aircraft. No really, don't. At some airports you can spend fifteen or twenty minutes holding short whilst they get the IFR departures away. It can get hot very quickly, bring a bottle of water and, depending on the a/c type, a baseball cap. A simple A4 kneeboard is really handy with some blank plogs (strap on kneeboards become a nuisance rather quickly). The best of luck with it all.

sr
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