Hi Jo-ey,
I have not used NAC yet, but I will be travelling to NAC on the 3rd of July for a couple of FAA courses (CPL / IR). However I have hired aircraft on three seperate occasions to build hours both in Florida and more recently California.
To answer your questions:
- You will need to convert your JAA Licence to an FAA Certificate. This process used to be a quick but it now takes a little longer. As I expect the UK CAA issued your JAA PPL you will need to fill in two forms (one for the FAA and one for the CAA who incidentially require a £15 processing fee).
Once the FAA have received your form (fax it to them will be quicker than mail), they (FAA) will contact the UK CAA to verify your details, ie to ensure you do indeed have a licence.
Then it is a quick visit to the FSDO (Flight Standards District Office) with the letter of authenticity that the FAA will send you. The FSDO will have a copy of the letter. They will then issue you with a "Temporary Airman's Certificate" that is issued under FAA Part 61.75. Your new certificate details will be sent to the FAA headquarters in Oklahoma who will send a permenant FAA Licence to your home address within a couple of months of the visit to the FSDO.
The good thing about it is that the temporary airman's certificate is a valid licence for 90 days (enough time for you to receive your permenant certificate) so you can rent and fly N Registered aeroplanes as soon as you have the temporary airman's certificate (oh and have a valid BFR completed with a CFI).
See
http://www.faa.gov/ for more information and the required forms.
- You do plan your own route.
- No Age Requirements with the exception of being at least 17 to hold a PPL.
- Hour Requirements for NAC are available
here.
- Airspace Restrictions? Well I'd like to stay clear of the MOA's (Military Operation Area's) and such like if they are active, but other than that you are allowed to go anywhere you'd like (there are certain restrictions to Stident Pilots - ie pre ppl at certain Class B airports - ie the big ones like Miami Intl or Las Vegas Intl).
The US uses Class G (Uncontrolled), Class E (Controlled, normally associated with Victor Airways and / or airport transition areas with an associated instrument approach procedure that would otherwise be in Class G airspace), Class C which is associated with airports equivalent to our Birmingham etc. The only other one you'll need to worry about (except MOA's) is Class B but as long as you get a VFR clearance to enter the Class B airspace then you'll be allowed in. Class B is associated with fields such as Los Angeles Intl, New York JFK, Orlando Intl - you get the picture!
Talking about airspace restrictions in the United States. You are NOT allowed in Class A airspace UNLESS you have an Instrument Rating. But as all Class A airspace starts at 18,000' it shouldn't be a problem for us g.a. pilots!
The American's like to use the Semi Circular rule whereby if you are flying easterly you'd fly odd altitudes (IFR) Plus 500 feet (VFR), Westerly would be evens plus 500' (VFR).
You can fly on Victor Airways (Class E) without a clearance as long as you are VFR only. IFR traffic will require an ATC clearance. Saying that I always use Flight Following so ATC know about me at all times.
The only other restriction is that to fly within a radius of 30nm of a large Class B airport you will need a transponder with Mode C capability but most aircraft I have flown in the States have had this so shouldn't be a problem.
- I believe the Bahama's flights require extra flight experience but that is contained within the link I provided above.
- I'd reckon on using the same number of hours in the Piper Warrior as the C-172. In my personaly opinion I'd prefer to do the coast to coast and return in a Warrior simply because it feels a little bit more roomier. However I am biased towards low wing aircraft but that's probably for a different thread I suppose.
- All FBO's I've hired from in the USA have charged by the Hobbs time. Normally the hobbs time was derived from the engine, but some places start the hobbs when the master switch is switched on... However don't take my word on this. The hobbs time is a real kick in the teeth after being used to paying tacho time on the groups Beagle Pup that I fly here at home in the UK!!!
- On the site what is meant by "Packages to be completed within 30 days"...? - Quite self explanatory - This means the 50 hours you pre-purchase must be flown within a period of 30 days from purchase.
- NAC have a 4 hours minimum per day policy if taken away for more than 8 hours. So each day you must do 4 hours. Or you could do 8 hours every other day leaving a day off in between flying days. Or you could do 12 hours one day, two days off and then fly again... etc etc... (you'd be knackered though) so basically if you take the plane away for 10 days you'd need to fly 40 hours, doesn't matter how you work that out though.
- The prices you pay are "WET" ie with fuel. You'll obviously be buying fuel away from base so ask NAC how much credit you will get per gallon of fuel as this does vary from school to school. If they give you $2 per gallon purchased and you buy fuel for $3.80 per gallon (I'm thinking about Las Vegas here!) then you'd loose out on $1.80 per gallon. However if you'd purchased fuel for $1.90 per gallon you'd gain 10 cents per gallon. BTW smaller fields generally charge less for fuel.
- I have flown 50 hours in each two week vacation I have taken (50 hours in Florida and 100 hours in California spread across two vacations). So give it a month and you'd have your 100 hours (wx dependant).
If you do a coast to coast then please take care... thunderstorm activity / weather etc... I don't want to sound patronising but just please be careful (2000 miles is a long way with several different types of weather you may (or may not) encounter).
Another point, to do a coast to coast I'd prefer a Piper Arrow. Its expensive and you do need 100 hours total time before they'll let you loose on your own (insurance requirements) but they are faster, the gear retracts and it has a variable pitch propeller. But the most important thing with the arrow is that it has a 200 HP engine. You'll see why that is a major factor once you get to the western states. High Altitidue runways, High Temperatures = High Density Altitude = High TAS against IAS (and you fly by IAS) = Crap Performance from your average 160 HP engine in a Warrior = very long take off / landing runs runs. I would *NOT* do a coast to coast or even tour around the western states with a C152 or Tomahawk. The power simply isn't there.
Good luck and have a great time flying coast to coast and back!!! You lucky &^*^$£ !!! ;-)
When are you going to NAC? I'm off on the 3rd of July for a month. But unfortunately I'm going to be based at NAC as I'm going for commercial and instrument courses.
Useful sites:
http://www.airnav.com/ and
http://www.faa.gov/
Best wishes,
Charlie Zulu