Im thinking about doing my faa ir. can you please tell me if im wrong?
Not wrong
I do the 1 only paper exam (on a computer) over here at flight safety in farnborough before i go,
Fine, and get the FAA Class 2/3 medical too.
I go to the likes of florida and i have to get a full FAA PPL then i move onto my FAA IR.
Fine.
once i have the licence and i fly back to england to convert and be able to fly g-reg aircraft under IFR its only 15 hours conversion with no skills test at the end?
No, it's much more complicated than that.
If you want to fly a G-reg plane on an FAA PPL/IR you can do so but while VFR you can fly worldwide (ref: ANO Art 26) your IFR privileges will be limited to Class F/G airspace which is practically useless.
To convert an ICAO (e.g. FAA) IR to a JAA IR you will need to
- get a JAA PPL (there is a conversion route from an FAA PPL to a JAA PPL, with a concession if you have 100hrs TT (ref: LASORS) )
- CAA Class 2 medical with the Class 1 audiogram
- do a min 15hrs flying training and pass the CAA IR checkride
- sit all the JAA PPL/IR exams, 7 of them, at CAA Gatwick
This has been done to death here recently, a week or two ago, but basically if you only ever want to fly G-reg the FAA IR does not make sense unless you want to follow a route which is actually quite common among experienced UK pilots but probably not common for someone new to flying (which is what you sound like):
- do the UK PPL
- do the UK PPL night qualification, including the extra requirements of the FAA PPL night flying
- do the UK IMC Rating
- do the FAA PPL, using the UK PPL training as a credit (takes just a few hours' flying, normally, plus FAA medical plus 1 exam)
- do the FAA IR, using the UK IMCR training as a credit (takes maybe 20-30hrs' flying, plus one exam)
- do the JAA IR, using the ICAO IR as a credit (reduces the min training hrs from 50 to 15) which is 7 exams and a checkride
As I say, a lot depends on where you are starting. I have sent you a PM or email.