I hired a PA28 in Toronto last year when I was on holiday over there using my UK PPL.
The paperwork process is quite simple, but has to be done before you leave the UK:
- you'll need to apply to Transport Canada for a Foreign Licence Validatation Certificate (FLVC) - search on the Transport Canada Website for the form.
- I found the quickest way was to email the completed form back to them along with copies of your licence and medical (and also the $45 fee paid by credit card)
- I got the FLVC back by email within 48 hours, the original took a few weeks to then arrive by post.
The certificate is then valid for a year and lets you exercise your normal PPL licence privileges (not IMC) on a Canadian registered aircraft.
The more tricky bit was choosing the flying school, the one I chose was confused about the validity of the FLVC at first (they'd never seen one before) until their CFO researched the rules and all was ok.
You`ll have to get a check flight of course, which I guess isnt a problem, but I was also asked to complete a written exam on the PA28 which was more tricky than any PPL exam I'd ever done (and not really relevant). The exam I gather was just specific to the hiring requirements of the place I hired from.
Consequentially, that whole process meant that it took a week before I finally got to solo hire the PA28, despite being very current on type. So I'd just check with the school that there are no onerous exams or other similar hoops to jump through.
The Canadian Airspace was fine, RT is a little different but easy to get used to.
Derek
Last edited by derekl29; 10th July 2013 at 12:49.