CASA Hours to FAA Logbook

[WheyPCRocks]

Hello,

I currently hold around 40 hours of flying experience (but no license to show :\) under my CASA logbook but have ceased training in order to complete all my licensing in the USA under the FAA from the start.

Is it possible to still somehow transfer these hours over to my FAA logbook as opposed to wasting the already spent funds?

Thanks

[aviatorhi]

AFAIK, the experience/time counts just the same, to go up for a license in the US you just need to fulfill the experience/time requirements, have the written complete and an instructor endorsement (it should go without saying that the written needs to be the US written and the instructor needs to be FAA certificated).

[WheyPCRocks]

Thanks for your reply.

To certify these Australian hours in the US for documentation purposes, do I require any more than my logbook in which the hours has been stamped and certified by the previous Australian flying school? Would I require anything further like a written statement from the flight school?

Thanks

[ReverseFlight]

and the instructor needs to be FAA certificatedAllow me to clarify this somewhat. The Aussie hours can be certified in your FAA logbook by an Aussie instructor (indeed no FAA instructor can certify those). Your FAA instructor can then certify all the subsequent hours in your FAA logbook.

I say this because even with a recurrency (eg IR) you can fly outside the USA and get your hours certified by a non-FAA instructor. However, all flight checks and reviews under your FAA licence must be signed off by a current FAA instructor. Hope this helps.

Btw, congratulations. If I could live my life over again, I would have done everything under FAA (rather than CASA), chiefly due to the lower cost. :{

[B2N2]

OK, we deal with this a lot.
The following are my reccomendations;

Under FAA regulations the FAA CFI signs your logbook for every dual training flight. The "FAA" logbook is also considered to be a training record.
So your Instructor will usually write in the comments section what you have done during the flight. Since the space is limited, they usually abbreviate somewhat. If you are on a Part 141 course of training a Instructor should also put in the lesson number.

Example: slow flight, steep turns, stalls touch and go's various flap settings becomes: SL FLT/ST TURNS/STALLS/TGO's VAR FLAP.

I don't specifically know about Australian logbooks but European logbooks always lack this information, it usually only shows the flight time without any specifics.

*** THE FAA WILL RECOGNIZE ALL OF YOUR FLIGHT TIME IF LOGGED PROPERLY ***

However, since most of the training time for the PPL is required training, in order to count the experience you have it must be logged in a certain way.

I would highly recommend the following:


Logbook signed and stamped by the training organization
Solo time or PIC time properly recorded.
Solo cross country time properly recorded with airport names and distances.
Dual XC time doesn't matter since this needs to be an FAA instructor.
Night time properly recorded including a night cross country
Instrument or hood time properly recorded.


We deal with this all the time, finish up PPL we get to see the logbook and it's a mess and we can barely count any of the time towards the US PPL requirements because it is so poorly logged.

We ask for instrument experience and they go: yeah this flight and this flight for a total of 2:36. But there is nothing logged to verify this. Result; we can't use this time.

This can safe you a lot of money so be serious about it.
If you have any questions; ask.

Keep in mind that ultimately your Instructor or your school has the final word.
If your solo XC was (just an example) 9 months ago and you haven't flown solo XC since I would have you fly a solo XC prior to signing you off for a checkride. Discuss this with the school you intend to go to.

[sasben]

I just used my CASA logbook (and still do), logging all of my FAA dual time and subsequent flying to pass my extra ratings.

As a perm resident however, I did have to go through the TSA Alien program for additional ratings

[WheyPCRocks]

First of, please let me thank you guys greatly for your assistance; I've searched high and low on both CASA and FAA's website to find very few recommendations. (Still waiting on a reply from the FAA)

B2N2,
Thank you greatly for your detailed response. Luckily, even before commencing my CASA training, I decided to be 'different' to my fellow students and ordered a Jeppesen Logbook (http://www.skygeek.com/js506050.html) and unknown to me at the time was the fact that it was more so tailored for FAA certification standards so luckily, most of my Australian hours are logged similarly to FAA standards :\

To what extent of logging would you consider sufficient enough to approve of its validation into the FAA logbook? As with your example of IF hours; I have done similarly by logging my IF hours in a specific column from my total but have only described it as "IF Flight". Is this insufficient evidence to validate it for approval or is more evidence required?

For further clarification, the fact that my Australian hours have been stamped and certified by a qualified CASA instructor is all the documentation I need to present to certify those hours? Just in case as it would be a bummer to request documentation from Australia when I am in the US.

As I previously mentioned, the main goal of this for my situation is to simply attain the hours I have already paid for; I do not mind having to actually train the same concepts again (student from 0 hrs) as I haven't flown for a significant period of time anyways (1 year). It would just be nice to not 'waste' these hours.

sasben,
Am I correct to assume that I can simply continue on from the next page of my logbook under FAA standards? Meaning I only need one logbook which contains both my previous CASA hours + FAA now?

Reverse,
I understand your pain! I was shocked to see what a difference in pricing it is!

Thanks again for your help and time.

[sasben]

WheyPCRocks

Correct. Just use the next free portion of your logbook. Any "log" is sufficient just to show the required components you need to show. It could be a set of napkins if it was formal enough and identified your ratings and limitations etc. Besides it is a good talking point to instructors because of how different it is.

If you didn't have your Private in Australia and are looking to complete it in the US, most instructors will be watching you fly and can tell pretty quickly what you need to sharpen up on.

You will have to do the US based manoeuvres which differ from Oz for a checkride.

As you don't have a Private rating and are not getting certificated as a Foreign Based license nor are you doing a "conversion" , you must go through the TSA Alien training approval process. AOPA Online: AOPA's Guide to TSA's Alien Flight Training/Citizenship Validation Rule (http://www.aopa.org/tsa_rule/)

Additionally you will need to get a number of signoffs in your CASA book before doing the FAA checkride anyway. (Foreign based is easy to get and doesn't require this, however I have my full FAA license as well)

Off the top of my head, my first instructor needed to sign off (each was separate and following a specific phraseology that a) I can take the written/computer test, b) That I have reviewed the questions I missed on the written with the instructor, c) I meet solo privs for local and cross country, d) I meet all requirements to take the checkride (instrument, night, cross countries etc).

Remember, no night VFR, so actually do and enjoy the night flying. It is great over here.

Only other major difference is the oral portion of the checkride. But it is good to brush up on those knowledge areas. Obviously some differ from Australia, so buy the little study book for it.

Good luck!