Coverting a New Zealand Licesne

[stewpot007]

HI All,

That should read "Converting a New Zealand License"

I am thinking about doing this course as I am currently living and working in New Zealand, just wanted to know if i come back to the UK how easy it would be to convert to an ATPL, is it just a case of exams and a checkride?

PC 1311 – Integrated CPL/ Instrument Rating Course (Multi)
Based on 230 hours flight time and includes PPL. From start through to Commercial Pilots’ Licence, this 52 week programme is suitable for students interested in becoming airline pilots for both local and overseas airlines. Course costs include all theory, flight training, books, publications, licence fees, exam fees and airways charges.

Total Course Fees for PC 1311 $(NZ) 53,500.00

Thats 19,000GBP for the lot with current exchange rate.

Any comments welcome. http://www.flighttraining.co.nz/
Stewpot007

[his3dmw]

Ive also looked at this course and have been in contact with CFI Jay Peters,certainly looks a very good and professional course.

With regards conversion, Ive had a good look into this. not got the time to give you a massive breakdown, but if you budget for between £40-45k for total training you'd be about right.
Thats taking into account, NZ training, CPL/IR conversion, Flights, accomodation, living costs etc.

you have to do minimum 15 hrs IR conversion + flight test, whatever hours required for CPL conversion and ATPL groundschool. Talking around 15k for the conversion.

[Luke SkyToddler]

There's a lot of discussion about relative merits of NZ flying schools in the downunder GA section of this website. I'm not current enough on the NZ scene to pass comment but if you want opinions on particular schools etc then do spend some time using the search function / browsing the last few months worth of posts in forum. Better yet, come up with a shortlist of places you like, go out to NZ a couple of weeks early, rent a car (pretty cheap in NZ anyway) and take a road trip to check out these places in person. It's a LOT of money you're spending after all. The most important thing of all is to try and have a quick chat / quiet beer with one or two of the students in these schools so you don't just get the marketing guy's version of things.

Having done it myself I can only say do NOT underestimate the pain-in-the-@rse factor of the conversion once you return to the UK. Doing ALL those JAA ATPL exams just a few months after you sat the kiwi CPL/IR's is pretty bloody demoralizing and time consuming to say the least.

Things that you haven't probably even though of, like, it's going to take time : i.e. months : to do the flying part of that CPL/IR conversion, even though you might think you only need 15 hours. There is a major major crisis with the shortage of CPL and IR instructors in the UK at the moment, all the places that even take modular students have all got work coming out their ears and booked up months in advance, and there's a few stories flying around of foreign licence-conversion people getting treated like second-class citizens, they can only get one or two sim slots a week if they're lucky, because the schools are too busy with their full time IR students who represent more money for them. It's kind of like trying to get a plumber when your central heating's bust in January, you'd think they'd be glad to take your money but most of them won't even return your call.

I'd say the estimate of £10 - £15,000 for the conversion is pretty accurate but the real bastard is the fact that it's probably going to take you at least an extra 6 months ( and maybe a lot longer depending on whether you pass all the ATPLs first time ) to do the JAA conversion. Do budget for the additional cost of living / potential loss of earnings etc when you're comparing costs of training. In fact think of it in terms of, that's minimum 6 months less that I will be spending at the other end of my career as a big fat BA captain earning £100,000+ :{

Not trying to put you off but just making you aware of some of the obstacles that marketing personnel probably won't point out when you are making your decision. When you come up with a budget that includes some of those factors, and compare it to some of the other modular deals out there, it actually doesn't look so pleasant all of a sudden particularly with the time factor taken under consideration.

[captwannabe]

I heard about IAANZ at the FLYER exhibition. It seems like a very good place to train. After talking to guys at the exhibition, NZ seems like a great place, and a lot of euro students have stayed there. I'm definitely considering going there for my training, but I am a bit worried as to how hard it might be to get a job after converting, instead of after doing an integrated course. HELP NEEDED! :bored:

[GusHoneybun]

It's always a good idea to visit a school before you visit, however, this can create a real pain with visa's. IIRC, for brits, you need a visa to train for a CPL in NZ. And yup, this has to be issued in the NZ High Commision in London. The visa can only issued once you have a course confirmation whatsit from a school (like IAANZ). So if you head down under to help choose a school, you still need to head home to get the visa before you can return. Bonkers!