Flying FAA Class1 in Europe

[fireblade900]

Hello,

I attended a flight school in the US in 2003, for FAA PPL and JAA, and I failed the Ishiara colour test. But I attended a Farnsworth lantern test, and passed, giving me a Full Class 1, FAA. But when I sat the JAA (also in Florida) the doc explained at the time I needed to perform the same lantern test ni Gatwick. anyay to cut the story short. Im from ireland, and never got the time to fly back to Gatwick just for the eye test, which at the time I was quoted 600 Sterling for a Class1 medical! and I did not need it anyway as still building hours up for the CPL exams.

Meanwhile after reading forums from users failing the Gatwick test, Im now worried that if I fail this I will get marked as unfit and not fly Class1.

I know its possible just to continue my FAA studies and obtain full FAA CPL/IR/Multi.

But now the main reason for my query, If I complete an FAA CPL/ATPL, where could I get employment in Europe ?

Does anyone know if there are pilots flying airlines with FAA medical only in Europe ? I assume of course N registered aircraft, as some flights are mainly based in ARAB / Indian countries where FAA is recognized fully, and the operators aircraft are N registered.

This scenario would work perfectly of course if the Pilot would also reside in those FAA countries. Now I have a small family (3 kids, wife, cat, and goldfish :-) I need to stay close to Ireland/UK.


One last scenario, is to purchase an N-registered aircraft and work myself as commercial with FAA in Ireland/UK, but that is expensive.

[2close]

Sorry to pour fire on your water, Fireblade, but you cannot work in the UK on a FAA CPL, as the Air Navigation Order requires you to hold a JAA CPL and as far as I am aware this applies right across JAA land.

Furthermore, you cannot use a N Registered aircraft for commercial purposes in the UK without specific authority from the Department of Transport and, in a nutshell, you are not going to get it. Those couple of flying schools doing so have had these agreements in place for years but no newcomers are going to get one.

The N Reg Corporate aircraft operating in the UK do so privately, i.e. they are operated as privately owned aircraft. Their pilots require CPL's (JAA) as they are UK tax payers and are flying commercially for a living.

Also, I understand that current FAA regulations will not permit you to fly commercially outside the US in anything except N Registered aircraft but I wait to be corrected on that one. Saying that, there are many countries outside JAA land where they welcome FAA licence holders.

Also, if you are going for an Irish JAA Licence then you need an Irish medical not one issued by Gatwick, which would only apply if you were going for a UK JAA licence. Current UK Cl.1 medical = £ 337.

Rather than traumatise yourself wondering whether or not you are going to pass the Holmes Wright / Beynes Lantern Tests book yourself in at Gatwick (if you are going for UK Class 1) pay the £ 337 and ask to do the eyesight exam first. If you pass, woo hoo, all well and done but if you fail stop the medical there and you will be reimbursed £ 279 (ish). Or follow a similar path in Ireland. You can also hold a Cl.1 with deviation which restricts you to certain types of aerial work in daylight only.

Drop me a PM if you want any more info and I'll pass you my e-mail / telephone number.

All the best,

2close

[Martin1234]

The N Reg Corporate aircraft operating in the UK do so privately, i.e. they are operated as privately owned aircraft. Their pilots require CPL's (JAA) as they are UK tax payers and are flying commercially for a living.

N-reg corporate flying normally requires FAA commercial certificate no matter where in the world the aircraft is operated. The tax legislation is completely seperated from the regulation regarding airman certificates.

[fireblade900]

Thanks for the update "2close", and also to "Martin1234" for your clarification.
I have just attended a renewal JAA and was told by the doc that my Lantern test certificate from the US, with the Farnsworth, may be enough to pass the JAA in Ireland. He has forwarded my details to the chief medical examiner in the IAA, and I'm currently awaiting feedback, I will get an update on Monday, Tuesday next week.
Crossing fingers ..:confused:

May-be in the UK this is different, but in Ireland it is possible to fly commercial with Class1 FAA, as long as the aircraft is N-registered.
The point I was hoping to acheive was to apply to an operator which accepts FAA ATPL/CPL, to work in Europe. I supppose these trips would normally include flights between the African continent, and Saudi, or is this another dream.. I will have to just wait and see :ok:

[IRISHPILOT]

Wow, saw a Continental parked in LHR earlier today. Surely, their pilots are JAR licenced?
No, seriously, 2close: Air NZ crews London based are NZ licenced, Quantas australian, US carrier crews FAA.
And some of the pilots of my company are Icelandic and some German licenced (both didn't bother to swap it to JAR yet) and they still go to the UK.
F900: Even more so with a family, it has always been more difficult to get a job on an FAA licence, as many more hours are required.
May I suggest to try to get a JAA initial in one of the other states? If you don't pass, many CAAs wouldn't bother to pass the information on. Will take 4 or 5 hours without appointment. And the initial can be had for well under 100 GBP.
Curious to know how the IAA decided...

[2close]

Fireblade,

I would be extremely interested to learn whether the IAA accept the Farnsworth as evidence of being colour safe as I am in exactly the same position as yourself.

I passed the Farnsworth but failed the H-W and Beynes at Gatwick last year.

Please keep me posted.

Cheers.

2close

[fireblade900]

:( nope! I will have to sit a seperate JAA lantern test.

Well I plan to fly at least a whole year PPL VFR anyway, need to build up some hours towards the CPL. Meanwhile I will have to choose carefully where to attend a JAA lantern test, I dont want to mess this one up, as from reading this forum, it seems to be easy to fail test in Gatwick, even for the non-colourblind people. so it's Sweden , Germany or Poland.
I assume that I can take the lantern test in any JAA approve country,
YES ???

later,
over and out.

[2close]

Irishpilot,

Just re-read my orginal post and.....oops. It does read as if I'm implying N reg aircraft and non-JAA licence holders can't fly commercially in the UK, period!! My apologies.

What I actually meant was that N reg aircraft permanently based in the UK cannot be operated commercially (except for those few operators having dispensation from the DfT).

I would really love to be corrected on this by someone who has specific examples.

I am also aware that the DfT, last year, was making noises about preventing ANY foreign based aircraft being permanently based in the UK and that, imported aircraft would need to be transferred to the UK register. Understandably, there was opposition to this from many quarters but what the current status quo is I do not know.

If anyone has any info on this, I'd be grateful for the heads up.

Cheers,

2close