@tune
An FAA cpl is a course which is basically advanced aircraft handling. They do this by doing certain exercises I believe they do not do in EASA land like lazy eights, chandelles, eights on pylons, steep turns at over 50 degrees, spiral descent and engine out landings on the marker.
You can do the training in roughly 4 whole days of flying and a chrckride on day 5.
The written is one exam. Study for this should be very quick, epecially if you have already done your FAA IR. 2 days groundschool and a few days of test exams should nail it. There are very good ipad apps and for books I recommend the ASA testprepbook.
Back to your question. It depends on where and when you want to do this. You could probably do the whole process in a week or two. However as this will be your first full faa license, you would need to do tsa fingerprinting and a special visa (the latter if you do it in the US).
Untill you have done the new 61.75 or the faa cpl, you are not a licensed FAA pilot anymore. So if you want to fly a n-reg other than in the country where your easa license was issued you have to do one or the other.
Normally, you are allowed to fly an n-reg in the uk solely on your UK license. For the UK caa would qualify you as licensed and the FAA ditto. Only if you go international you require a FAA license.
Last edited by Ellemeet; 17th April 2013 at 05:01.