US Validation on EASA Licence (FARs 61.75)

[Finals19]

Hi all,

I understand its possible to get an FAA validation (read: issued licence?) on the back of an EASA licence and have the relevant (EASA) ratings added to it. This is processed by sending all the blurb to the FAA via CAA and then getting a licence issued via a US Flight Standards District Office.

My question is does anyone know of a way of getting this done without being in the US? My understanding is that you have to actually show up at an FSDO with the approval paperwork and your licence to get it issued?

Ratings are automatically added with the exception of an IR, for which a written FAA exam needs to be completed before this can be done?

Thanks.

[Fuji Abound]

Yes, there are a very few FAA approved "agents" operating in Europe (or at least I assume they still are) who will do the honours for a fee not too far removed from the cost of a trip State side. I doubt unless things have changed their service saves money but it does save time.

Hopefully some one else can provide you with more specific details.

Strictly I am not sure it is correct to say "ratings are automatically added", more the case that you are entitled to excercise the priviliges of your CAA / JAR / EASA license, so for example if you have a night rating you can fly at night, but without, even though you would be entitled to fly at night under a stand alone FAA certificate, under a 61.75 you have no night priviliges. The IR as you correctly point out is the exception as is there some debate regarding type restrictions in Euroland licences which are not restricted in equivalent terms in FAA land.

Bookie has some interesting views on this topic with which I agree.

[IO540]

I would go to the USA and do a standalone FAA PPL there.

The 61.75 route is a pain because you have to go to the USA (or pay a load of money to somebody here) to get any change done to the 61.75 paper, whenever anything changes. The forthcoming photo license will probably generate the same hassle as the ICAO English Language Proficiency stuff which had huge numbers of European 61.75 holders running around like headless chickens a couple of years ago.

[S-Works]

As IO says, go and do the PPL. Anyone doing a 61.75 other than for actually flying in the USA is daft. It just builds a pointless house of cards that is going to come tumbling down in the next few years. The photo ID will be the next one, along with the change of pilot numbers that may occur when EASA take over. The photo expires every ten years which will need the card replacing. Any change of rating on the underlying licence invalidates it.

If you get a full PPL you can do everything on line and there is no involvement of the national CAA or a need to pay a DPE to issue paperwork.

A few days in the USA should see an experienced pilot through the PPL. The exam can be done here or practiced here using the dauntless software and sat on arrival in the USA. All really easy to do.

[AdamFrisch]

I agree, do the stand alone.

But.

Maybe I'm a bit daft, or a slow learner pilot, or both, but just be prepared for it not taking 5 hrs and be done in a day. That won't happen, not even in Twin Peaks, Omaha. Mine took 25 hrs. Granted, this was in Los Angeles right next to LAX, so the workload is high, but still.

5 hrs of those were night and night xcountry that you need for the FAA to start with. The rest were familiarization with the airspace, procedures, ATC and maneuvers that I haven't done in 20 years. Unless you are super proficient with turns around a point, S-turns, forward slips, recovering from power on/off stalls, slow flight, recovering from unusual attitudes on instruments, 45 degree turns, crosswind landings, short field take offs/landings, soft field take offs/landings etc, then it's going to take more than a couple of hours.

On top of that the oral is no joke - it takes some severe studying and most certainly a good few hours of ground instruction. The DPE will grill you for an hour if you're good, but could be up to three hours if you have weak spots. That's three hours of where you need to provide all the answers - that's not something you can fudge. Sure, many things are common sense, but you need to know US FAR/AIM definitions of them, not just in general terms.

It can probably be done in a week, but there won't be any time hanging on a beach with the family - that's for sure.

[BackPacker]

Don't forget that your trip to the US for a standalone FAA PPL will most likely require an M-1 visa and TSA approval (or at least the succesful submission of fingerprints). Going to the US to get your 61.75 "piggyback" FAA PPL plus a BFR requires neither.

Also consider the medical requirements. AFAIK the 61.75 FAA PPL can be flown on either a JAA class 2 or an FAA class 3 medical. But for the standalone FAA PPL you'll need an FAA class 3.

It all depends on what you want to do eventually with your FAA PPL. If you're only going to have a flying holiday in the US then the 61.75 process is good enough - and actually that's what it was designed for.

If you're going to be flying (owning?) an N-reg for a longer period of time, possibly outside the US and possibly add ratings (IR?) to it, then the standalone FAA PPL makes perfect sense.

[IO540]

The oral is potentially no joke, indeed, but it mainly centres on the questions which you failed to answer right in the written exam.

And if you do it all in the USA you are very unlikely to get some of the, shall we say, situations which used to happen here in the UK.

Get your ducks in a row while still over here (the process (http://www.peter2000.co.uk/aviation/faa-pplir/index.html) is not hard), with the written exam, the medical, the visa/tsa stuff, and it will be a well oiled process out there, and you end up with a license which you can keep for the rest of your life and which nobody in Europe can take away from you.

Later you can attach the FAA IR to it, which is recognised one way or another in most of the world and even the anally retarded protectionist EU is bound to give some conversion route / credit for it.

[patowalker]

5 hrs of those were night and night xcountry that you need for the FAA to start with.

Hmm. Only 3 hours, 10 landing and a 100nm XC, included in those 3 hours, are required. No need to do it in the US either, I did my night hours out of EGHH.

[IO540]

Yes, all training towards any FAA license or a rating can be done anywhere in the world, in any aircraft, with any appropriately authorised instructor.

Except that you need to be signed off by an FAA CFI/CFII as ready for the checkride, plus you need to have flown 3hrs with him within the preceeding 60 days. Those bits need to be done with a pukka FAA instructor.

All other flights e.g. the various cross-countries, can be done in Mongolia :)

On occassions, questions might be asked about some long ago logged flights, so having a neatly written up logbook, annotated by the instructor for any instructional flights, is a good idea. Before I did my CPL checkride, the DPE (a bloke from the USA) spent ages going through my logbook in minute detail, checking I had all the qualifying flights, and the FAA instructor did the same a few hours before.

[patowalker]

It is interesting that the dual hours required in preparation for the PPL checkide and the checkride itself can be done in an LSA and that hours done in a 450kg microlight count towards the solo and x-country requirements.

[AdamFrisch]

I had to print all my cross countries and map them out on Google map and prove they were over 50nm straight line. Je ne kid pas.

[patowalker]

Yep. A few examples from a print-out of Garmin FlightBook were checked against the logbook. Fair enough.

[AdamFrisch]

I was talking about the plane.:ok:

[B2N2]

My question is does anyone know of a way of getting this done without being in the US? My understanding is that you have to actually show up at an FSDO with the approval paperwork and your licence to get it issued

Look people it's not that hard. To get a FAA validation FOR FREE you need to come to a FAA office to identify yourself.
It's not rocket science.:ugh:

Can I get a free JAA validation without ever going to Europa land?
I didn't think so.

RANT OFF

Maybe I'm a bit daft, or a slow learner pilot, or both, but just be prepared for it not taking 5 hrs and be done in a day. That won't happen, not even in Twin Peaks, Omaha. Mine took 25 hrs. Granted, this was in Los Angeles right next to LAX, so the workload is high, but still.

In my experience the average is 17-20 hrs of flight training.
Any reasonable skill in maneuvers and radio communications are usually lacking.
Understandable, very few can remain proficient with 12hrs /year.

Anyway, to the original poster, if you need any help or advise, let me know.

[S-Works]

Whilst it may not be rocket science currently you don't need a validation to fly with an FAA licence in most of JAA land, you just jump in and go.....