slim_slag,
Re. your earlier reply to british_guy case
You're right - it all up to interpretation and until there is a definitive answer it ain't worth the hassle to spend the time & money getting to the USA without being damn sure you are doing the "right thing" re. visas. See what happened to Britannia students last year (see the thread: WARNING - To anyone considering flight training in the USA).
I agree the NAC interpretation focusses on status change once there but the links to the CFRs cited therein are broken. What interpretation then? Answer - play safe 'cos now your (and others') FAA certificate can be revoked at the request of TSA WITHOUT recourse. See
www.aopa.org and links to "pilot insecurity". Agreed again that if there is no law re. visa for Part 61 training then that should be enough but the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence as an uncertain official can just cite the catch-all TSA regs and then what? If you want to do and be seen to have done the most transparent thing possible, then the current situation approximates a Catch-22 between a rock and hard place because not all training providers are geared up to issue the paperwork towards an M visa and some probably can't afford the effort to do so. I don't know the Britannia case in detail and whether they tried to get approval and were turned down or just realised it wasn't worth the candle to attempt it.
If anyone can point me to the US government written reality I might be a whole lot less paranoid! I was told by a US Embassy visa section that you can do less than 18 hours vocational study per week without the need for an M visa. However, for flight training this is self-defeating in terms of time and cost, which is why we go to the USA in the first place and no doubt the new regs restrict part-time flight training without a visa. Or do they?
I am surprised if so many schools are hurting for business given the reported surge in student pilot starts in recent months. If they really are hurting, are they also lobbying Phil Boyer of AOPA to help leverage his discussions with the TSA to get an overall resolution??? Florida is a notable example but are there other regions that gain significant flight training revenue from non-US citizen/resident alien pilots?