Decision Regarding PPL and Hour Building Question.

[TheyCaptain]

I Apologize in advance if this has been asked already. Had a quick look in the forum and could not seem to find it. I have two questions and if anybody with the correct knowledge could answer it would be much appreciated.

1. I wish to purse a professional piloting career. I am in the UK and therefore need to have EASA licences to work in the UK as well as Europe. Having looked at the cost of PPLs in the UK they seem to be much more expensive then other countries.

a. Is it possible to get an FAA PPL in the USA and simply build the other EASA licenses such as the CPL and IR on-top of the FAA Private Pilots Licences or must the PPL also be EASA .

b. So many Polish flight schools seem to be cheaper than British ones. Is it possible to obtain an EASA PPL in Poland ? Certain flight schools even advertised they could submit the PPL under the UK CAA as they are an EASA member. Hence my license would be issued by the UK authorities rather than Polish. Is this true ?



2. To begin CPL training you require 200 hours. Again, the USA seems like a great option ; cheap, newer aircraft, better weather. Would time logged in the USA count towards this 200 hours or would it have to be logged in an EASA member aircraft ?

I look forward to your replies.


Thanks

[banjodrone]

1. (a) Yes. It can be any PPL issued by an ICAO member country.

1. (b) There seems to be a bit of a kerfuffle about that at the moment. A lot of mix ups and confusion, depending on who you talk to - so much for EASA being Europe's answer to the FAA.

2. No, the time for CPL buildup can be logged in any aircraft in any country as long as that aircraft is a "type" in EASA land. So basically any Piper, Cessna, Cirrus etc etc.

Whatever you do, avoid doing a full Non-EASA CPL plus multiengine instrument rating and plan to "convert" that. It won't be any cheaper and if you don't budget correctly you could be waiting a long time to finish that.

[RedBullGaveMeWings]

Poland is an EASA country so they would issue an EASA licence and it can be issued by the UK CAA if you have a UK medical certificate. You can take your medical certificate in Poland and then transfer it to the UK CAA.

The time logged in the US counts, either you have a FAA standalone licence or a FAA licence based on your EASA PPL.

[TheyCaptain]

Thanks for the info. Much appreciated. Honestly don't understand how some of these UK flight schools compete. They are charging virtually double compared to US and Polish flight schools.

[FRALH]

banjodrone,

could you be so kind to explain me why should I avoid to earn a FAA CPL-IR-MEP and once I came back to Europe make the conversions into EASA?
I've planned and estimated time of 10 months for the "practical" part without the theorical exam for the ATPL theory
I'm in the same condition as TheyCaptain and I don't know which is the simplest way to earn an EASA fATPL.

I don't know which way is the easiest between these "options"

a) FAA PPL-IR Hour Building MEP and CPL and then make the conversion ( 14 ATPL exams and practical part)

b) FAA PPL-IR (thes is requird to rent the plane during the hours building) and make the Commecial part of the training here in Europe maybe UK or Germany.

At the end I would like to obtain a German fATPL.
Thanks