Australian wanting to do an FAA PPL - Please help.

[junhiua]

Hi, Im an Australian with 10 hours up, i am looking at doing my PPL in the USA (Starting fresh not converting the 10 CASA hours to FAA). I have contacted many flight schools there and have been bombarded with loads of info stating i have to fill do this and have to do that first. It is all very confusing on where to start. I know i have to get my FAA medical which i can get in Sydney but what about all the other items like correct Visa and forms ect. Has anyone recently done this and any help would be greatly appreciated.

[B2N2]

Jun,

Flight training in the US requires a visa, usually the M-1 but it can also be a F-1 if the school qualifies.
In order for you to be able to go to the US embassy or consulate to apply for the M-1 visa you need the I-20 from the flight school.
It is a visa application form if you will. (not quite technically correct but ok)
Finger prints will be electronically taken at the embassy/consulate upon entry into the country and again upon arrival at the school.

Only FAA approved schools (141 schools) may accept foreign students.
Types of Pilot Schools & Choosing a Pilot School (http://www.faa.gov/training_testing/training/pilot_schools/)
You can find a list here:
Federal Aviation Administration - Pilot Schools (http://av-info.faa.gov/PilotSchool.asp)

Some schools may have another business name that they have used to register with the FAA, so when in doubt ask them if they are registered under a different name.
You can get more info about the visa reqs here:
http://www.pprune.org/professional-pilot-training-includes-ground-studies/418519-m1-visa-no-visa-sevis-approved-schools-usa.html

[joseph500s]

Are you considering doing flight training in the USA to save money?

If so, I was going to do my training over there as well but ended upchoosing not to as after you factor in air fares to get there and back andliving costs then the cost of converting your FAA license to CASA when you getback to Australia there is not much cost saving at all, mate

[junhiua]

Thanks B2N2 for the information. It was the head start i needed. :):):)

@ joseph500s, after tallying the costs it still so much better going to the States than here. 1 hour has been costing me $370.00

[custardpsc]

Junhia, use the search function, some of your current and next questions have already been covered on here, several australians asking about how to convert faa to casa afterwards etc. Also good discussions about issues of learning in the usa flying environment and then moving back to home where things are different.

From what I saw of flying costs in oz and casas attitude to ga, even with the visa and tsa hassle it would be cheaper and easier to go to the usa.

Fyi there is no such thing as 'converting the hours' , your australian hours were presumably for an oz pl, which is icao compliant, so they are quite acceptable as they are toward an faa licence. Thst point had akso been covered on here, in the 'down under' section if I rember correctly

[500ft]

Have you thought about NZ. Probably not as cheap as the states but closer and no visa issues to worry about.