Pandalet
25th Jun 2007, 11:40
Just thought I'd post my experiences on here, in case anyone else is planning on a little recreational flying in South Africa. I suspect the procedures will be similar (but more involved) for commercial validations.
I hold a UK-issued JAA PPL(H). We are planning a holiday in South Africa, where I thought it might be nice to hire a helicopter and do some flying. Thus, I had planned to validate my UK license, which I had been told would require me to do an air law exam and pass a flight test. The school I had been corresponding with assured me they could do all of this at their base.
It appears that the SA CAA have just changed the rules a bit, and the procedure is now as follows:
- (at least) 90 days before you want to be validated, you need to send a copy of your license, medical, and last 4 pages of your log book to the SACAA. You can do this by Fax or email. If you're unlucky enough to be licensed by the UK CAA, you also need to fill in a SRG1160 form and give them £39.
- Provide the SACAA with originals or certified copies of your license and medical, as well as a filled-in copy of form CA61-122 (available from http://www.caa.co.za). I believe they also want a copy of your passport. This needs to be posted (they suggest registered mail or courier) to them, and can be done from the UK; the address is at the top of the form. Mark for the attention of Licensing Department. This will cost you R280, which can be paid either direct into the SACAA's SA bank account or (apparently) by credit card (provide details in the covering letter). You need to state whether you want the license validation for recreational or hour-building purposes; if you ask for recreational only, the validation is only valid for 90 days from date of issue; I'm not sure what happens if you ask for hour-building.
- The SACAA then talk to the UKCAA to confirm you are who you say you are (apparently, this can take some time). If all is well, they then issue you a SA validation, which says you need to do an air law exam and pass a flight test before it's valid. If you're lucky, all this has happened before you actually get to SA.
- Once in SA, you need to write an air law exam at an accredited centre. At the time of writing, these seem to be only available in the major cities (Johannesburg/Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban), although some schools are apparently getting accredited too. The main exam centres seem to sit the exams about once every 6 weeks. If anyone knows of a school in Cape Town who are accredited for air law exams, and can do them more-or-less on-demand, PLEASE post here or PM me!
- You also need to do a flight test, which includes nav and skills. Any grade 1 or 2 examiner should be able to do this for you, which appears to translate into pretty much any flying school.
You can contact the SACAA for more info on +27 11 545 1249. Put cover letters on EVERYTHING you send, explaining exactly what you're doing and what you want them to do, including ALL info that might be relevant.
Enjoy!
I hold a UK-issued JAA PPL(H). We are planning a holiday in South Africa, where I thought it might be nice to hire a helicopter and do some flying. Thus, I had planned to validate my UK license, which I had been told would require me to do an air law exam and pass a flight test. The school I had been corresponding with assured me they could do all of this at their base.
It appears that the SA CAA have just changed the rules a bit, and the procedure is now as follows:
- (at least) 90 days before you want to be validated, you need to send a copy of your license, medical, and last 4 pages of your log book to the SACAA. You can do this by Fax or email. If you're unlucky enough to be licensed by the UK CAA, you also need to fill in a SRG1160 form and give them £39.
- Provide the SACAA with originals or certified copies of your license and medical, as well as a filled-in copy of form CA61-122 (available from http://www.caa.co.za). I believe they also want a copy of your passport. This needs to be posted (they suggest registered mail or courier) to them, and can be done from the UK; the address is at the top of the form. Mark for the attention of Licensing Department. This will cost you R280, which can be paid either direct into the SACAA's SA bank account or (apparently) by credit card (provide details in the covering letter). You need to state whether you want the license validation for recreational or hour-building purposes; if you ask for recreational only, the validation is only valid for 90 days from date of issue; I'm not sure what happens if you ask for hour-building.
- The SACAA then talk to the UKCAA to confirm you are who you say you are (apparently, this can take some time). If all is well, they then issue you a SA validation, which says you need to do an air law exam and pass a flight test before it's valid. If you're lucky, all this has happened before you actually get to SA.
- Once in SA, you need to write an air law exam at an accredited centre. At the time of writing, these seem to be only available in the major cities (Johannesburg/Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban), although some schools are apparently getting accredited too. The main exam centres seem to sit the exams about once every 6 weeks. If anyone knows of a school in Cape Town who are accredited for air law exams, and can do them more-or-less on-demand, PLEASE post here or PM me!
- You also need to do a flight test, which includes nav and skills. Any grade 1 or 2 examiner should be able to do this for you, which appears to translate into pretty much any flying school.
You can contact the SACAA for more info on +27 11 545 1249. Put cover letters on EVERYTHING you send, explaining exactly what you're doing and what you want them to do, including ALL info that might be relevant.
Enjoy!