Namibia questions, Part.145 & license [Archive]

ChickenHouse

30th Dec 2014, 10:29

Does anybody have a recommendation for a shop to do maintenance and annual for a D-E reg Cessna in Namibia?

What do you think is more appropriate for longer stay, keep D-reg or move to V5-?

Did anybody do a conversion or validation, to Namibian license from a new EASA Part.FCL and can report on the procedure?

@admin: if you feel answers are easier in the African forum, please feel free to shift these questions over to there.

172driver

2nd Jan 2015, 11:00

Disclaimer - the info here is a few years old, so use it as a first pointer.

Maintenance - the 'go-to' place is / was Aviation Centre. What Peter Hartman, the former owner, doesn't know about -100 and especially -200 series Cessnas isn't worth knowing. AKAIK he's semi-retired but still involved in the business.

Validation: been there, done that. You'll have to do two exams (air law and radio) and a check flight. Don't take the radio part lightly, the procedures differ greatly from what you're probably used to. The actual license issue takes a few days - African time, but they get their stuff done quite quickly and efficiently and are, in my experience, very helpful.

However, CAUTION - the real issue lies in Europe! It totally depends who in EASAland issued your license. If the UK CAA, you need to fill in some forms and pay them money, and then they quote something like 10 working days to process the application, once received from Windhoek! I'd suggest to have a word with your CAA (whichever that is) before going and make sure you've got your ducks in a row for the European part. This includes working email addresses and fax numbers. Do NOT rely on the numbers that are published on websites, but ensure you've got working / attended ones. And be prepared to spend a bit of money on long-distance phone calls....

Cannot help re the long-term reg issue, there may well be legal issues to observe.

Other than that - enjoy! Flying in Nam is some of the best you'll ever do.