FAA PPL Written Exam in the UK

[Paris Dakar]

I've used the 'search' function and a couple of names have come up but was wondering if fellow PPRuNer's could advise from personal experience......

I have a UK CAA PPL and want to do a standalone FAA PPL - I'm content with the flying part and will do that in February when I'm in Florida. Can anyone recommend (from experience) where in the UK I can sit the FAA PPL Written Exam - ideally not a million miles from Newcastle as I want to get this done before I go (within a 150-mile radius would be good).

Cheers PD

[sternone]

Why don't you do it in the USA ? It will be half cheaper to do it in the USA. Almost every flight school has a place where you can do the written.

[IO540]

I think Flight Safety at Farnborough, UK do the writtens.

Get the medical in the UK too.

For the rest, definitely go to the USA.

[patowalker]

Do the test in the States and get the medical there too. It will be cheaper and less hassle.

Fill in this form to save time when you visit the AME https://medxpress.faa.gov/

[Paris Dakar]

Cheers folks - I was just trying to save a bit of time by doing some of the non-flying stuff in the UK as the rest of the Dakar family are keen to spend as much of their Florida time in the 'parks' and not hanging around airfields waiting for me.

Thanks for the AME link patowalker :ok:

PD

[IO540]

Do the test in the States and get the medical there too. It will be cheaper and less hassle.

It will be cheaper but doing this in the UK eliminates the obvious risk.

The FAA exams may be only "one" exam but do not underestimate it. It is perfectly possible to fail it.

[ab33t]

Dr Peter Orton , Stansted . Very helpful and good .

I can assure you it will be the same price in $ as you pay in £ . I still would do as advised above do all the study here and do the exam as soon as you arrive in the US . The exam can be done in 1.5 hrs if you have prepared well . The biggest time consuming and painfull procedure is the TSA, M1 , SEVIS.... fingerprints not difficult just painfull

[patowalker]

To spend more time at the parks, be ready to fill in this form, where the breakdown of hours is not necessarily the same as in your UK logbook.

http://forms.faa.gov/forms/faa8710-1a.pdf

and you can always test yourself here Pilot Practice Page (http://exams4pilots.org/)

[421C]

One additional thought: Flight Safety Farnborough have an exam sitting one afternoon a week, limited to 4 candidates (? it's something like that, I don't remember exactly). You might need to book weeks or months in advance. I almost got badly caught out assuming it was an "on demand" service you could book the week before you had to do your written.....

[Paris Dakar]

I will make sure I give FSF as much advanced warning as possible - having said that, I just used the link posted by patowalker and I have a lot of revision to do..............to say the least!! :{

[Katamarino]

Just study a bit, and you'll be fine to do it in the US. I did the PPL written in 20 minutes, and got 100%; as you have already flown a bit, just read a US PPL book (I found Rod Machado's to be good) and go through the question bank and it's a piece of cake.

[Paris Dakar]

SoCal App,

I'm confused now - I have to be signed off to do the written? If I'm doing the exam in the UK who signs me off - I have a current CAA UK PPL and Farnborough won't know me from Adam when I turn up?

[IO540]

I don't know how Flight Safety work this "signoff" business but, historically, when one sat the written here in the UK (I did a couple here years ago, at a business no longer existing) the business simply charged you a wad of cash for an "authorisation" ;)

When I did the stuff in the USA, the CFII signed my logbook saying I am OK to sit the exam. This was done FOC. There is no formal oral examination involved, to see if you studied the material.

I guess that with Flight Safety they either have an in-house CFI/CFII (probably a whole raft of them milling around) and they charge you some money for this service, or you have to find a CFI (loads of them freelance around Europe) to sign your logbook.

I vaguely recall the ATP exam doesn't need this signoff.

If you are consistently scoring 90% plus on the computer exam then going to the USA to do it is pretty safe and will save you a few hundred quid.

[Paris Dakar]

Thanks for the help and clarification - it's appreciated

The reason for me doing a standalone FAA PPL was because my 'piggybacked' certificate is now useless as I didn't get the English Proficiency endorsement put on it and it was the old paper type licence.

As I'm off to Florida next Feb anyway, I thought I might just do an FAA PPL conversion but it seems a little more involved than I first thought. It might just be simpler (in the short term) to get a new plastic style 'piggybacked' licence by contacting the CAA and arranging to go to Orlando FSDO in person. I can then turn up at FBO X, do a BFR and go flying, and leave the conversion for another time - when I've got more time.

Cheers PD

[moonym20]

FlightSafety are the only guys in the UK to my knowledge who offer the gateway to sit the FAA exams. I sat mine about three years ago they charged me £150 a pop for each exam :eek:

If your confident with the theory i'd say go sit them exam in the states. wherever you go you need an endorsement / sign off to prove you have done the study leading up to the exam, if you don't have this they wont let you sit the test.

Good Luck :ok: