NPPL Florida Flying

[Applecore]

Going on Holiday to Florida in a few months time and would like to do some flying while I am there.

On an NPPL I assume there is no way that I can fly solo in the US.

But what is the procedure for booking a flight with a US instruictor?

[BackPacker]

Phoning them up and booking a flight...?

If your main purpose is not flying training but holiday, and if you're going to be flying much less than 18 hours a week, it's hard to see how the INS would require you to obtain an M-1 visa. Further, if you are not training to obtain a license or rating, but you're just going to have a few sightseeing flights with a commercial pilot (doesn't even have to be an instructor if you don't want those hours to count in your logbook as instruction hours) I don't think you'd need TSA clearance as well.

Having said that, I would not automatically assume that you cannot fly solo (or even with passengers) in the US on an NPPL. It is true that there are no ICAO rules for this, so it won't be an automatic and relatively painless process as with a JAR-FCL or UK PPL. But that doesn't mean that the US cannot grant you some sort of restricted PPL based on your NPPL at all.

In the Netherlands we have a "Recreational PPL", which is more or less comparable to the NPPL in the sense that it is only valid within the Netherlands and requires less experience hours than a PPL. When we go on a club trip to a foreign country, we typically ask the country where we're going to for a few waivers. One of those is for RPL holders, assuming they meet all the Dutch requirements with regards to restrictions, medical, currency etc., to fly in that foreign country. These are typically granted without too much problems. You might want to try the same thing in the US.

So I would guess that it is up to you to contact the FAA, provide evidence of your flight training and experience (since they formally have no clue whatsoever what an NPPL is) and see if they're willing to grant you something that allows you to fly solo or with passengers.

One of the things that the FAA will most definitely require (because they require it for PPLs as well) is a BFR. You don't need TSA clearance in this case either, since a BFR is recurrency training, not training for the grant of a new license.

[BackPacker]

great view of disney

When I was flying training with OFT there was a permanent TRA (or whatever it was called) above Disney, extending (I think) to the base of MCOs class B. You could only fly through it on instructions from ATC and I never got those... :{

[Applecore]

Thanks for the feedback - will be staying near clear water

[bern444]

In the Netherlands we have a "Recreational PPL", which is more or less comparable to the NPPL in the sense that it is only valid within the Netherlands and requires less experience hours than a PPL. When we go on a club trip to a foreign country, we typically ask the country where we're going to for a few waivers. One of those is for RPL holders, assuming they meet all the Dutch requirements with regards to restrictions, medical, currency etc., to fly in that foreign country. These are typically granted without too much problems. You might want to try the same thing in the US.



I've been trying to find a way of contacting the French SIA for exactly this reason. Do you have an address?

thanks

Bernie

[BackPacker]

Well, it's the first hit in google if you search on SIA aviation. There's even a button to get the site in English. Didn't you find what you were looking for there?

[bern444]

Yes, I did sort of manage that, having been using Google since it started.

But that doesn't give, as far as I can see, a clear place to to ask the question, nor any indication in the English FAQ. Bureaucracies, as I'm sure you know, are notorious for being unhelpful if you talk to the wrong person, so I thought I'd ask someone who had actually done it.

B

[BackPacker]

Not me personally, no. Somebody else always takes care of that as I have a full JAA PPL myself and thus no vested interest.

However, a little browsing around at the SIA site directed me to the DGAC site, on which I found this page:

http://www.aviation-civile.gouv.fr/html/prospace/exam/licences/licences.htm

Without any further information, that's the place where I would start making my phonecalls first. With a bit of luck they even speak ICAO level 4 English... ;)

[bern444]

Thank you, very kind. I assumed SIA was the place to go. Lots of other people I know want to know this so hopefully the problem is solved.

[BackPacker]

Yeah, I did not know this either but it looks like the SIA is just the information publisher, while the DGAC is the French CAA.

[ExSp33db1rd]

I have an FAA CPL predicated on the validity of my NZ CPL - not a stand alone FAA lic. It is also not to be used for Hire or Reward. I used to be able to fly for recreation in the US until after 9/11. last time I enquired, I had to apply to the FAA 6 weeks prior to visiting and they checked with the NZ CAA, then I had to nominate an FAA Flt. Service Station where I would personally present myself, with I.D. to collect my temporary validation, which would then only be valid for 6 weeks after issue. Forget it. Hire a car and drive the Pacific Coast Highway. I used to have a saying about aviation - Do It Today Because Tomorrow It Will Be Worse. Nothings changed.

[BackPacker]

I had to apply to the FAA 6 weeks prior to visiting and they checked with the NZ CAA, then I had to nominate an FAA Flt. Service Station where I would personally present myself, with I.D. to collect my temporary validation, which would then only be valid for 6 weeks after issue.

This sounds exactly like the procedure you need to go through when you first apply for a "piggyback" FAA PPL. Once you've got that piggyback PPL, it is supposed to stay valid for life, provided that the license it is based on is valid, and that you've done a BFR not more than two years ago. I have never heard about the six weeks period in this context.

It also doesn't seem like the page describing the process has been changed lately.

http://www.faa.gov/licenses_certificates/airmen_certification/foreign_license_verification/

There's also nothing in the FAR 61.75 that mentiones a limitation to six weeks:

http://www.airweb.faa.gov/REGULATORY_AND_GUIDANCE_LIBRARY%5CRGFAR.NSF/0/8EA366A0C603B8CA86256959004BCCFD?OpenDocument

You're talking about an FAA CPL "piggyback". I'm not familiar with that procedure but if you're only going to fly for pleasure in the US, it looks like nothing has changed and it is fairly painless to obtain an FAA PPL based on your NZ CPL.