Need advice on validity of UK training in EU

[rjmusto]

Hi all,

A newbie forum user and ex-pat here, now living in Slovenia and needing help with bureaucracy.... (have tried the CAA and EASA but not got anywhere yet)

I have completed 23 hours flying training in the UK (a few years ago now) and have just completed all 9 ground exams, also in the UK (tried to do it here, but was just getting too complicated).

Finding a reliable training facility has also been a bit of a challenge here, but have settled on the big guys at Ljubljana airport. Seem like a friendly and professional bunch. However, they have told me that the Slovenia CAA will not accept my UK training - even the ground exams - and that I must start from the beginning. Jeez. Surely that can't be right?

Their words:
He called on our CAA and they told him that you must do everything again because you must know our Slovenia relief and our planes and everything.

Anybody know what the rules are for transferring training to another EU country? It was my belief that EASA had sorted this out - but maybe not?

Thanks,
Ralph

[Gertrude the Wombat]

I've flown one of the 172s at Ljubljana - it was just an aeroplane.


Circuit and radio procedures are different to the UK, and there is apparently a need to file a flight plan for every little local flight, but the flying is the same.


Oh, and the navigation is different - lose track of where you are for a couple of minutes and you've probably crossed an international border.


So in a sane world you'd have to do a local Air Law exam and that would be about it.

[S-Works]

Get your medical issued with the UK and they will have to send your paperwork to the UK CAA for issue.

[Baikonour]

Sounds like they're trying it on...

But unfortunately, you are at their mercy. If you dig out EASA regulation 4321.32 sub paragraph 23.x and show them that they're wrong, they'll just say "Ah, OK, us bad". And then, in 12 months when you have flown another 50 hours with them, they'll tell you that you are just about starting to approach test standard, irrespective of whether or not you reached that level 20 hours earlier.

What I am saying is that if you cannot trust them on this, you may not want to trust them at all.

B.

[S-Works]

The reason its not accepted as that Slovenia is not a mutually recognised EASA state. The are EASA members but have not achieved EASA compliance according to the current list. I can't find anything to indicate that has changed.

So if you want an EASA licence then I suggest you consider an EASA state.

[rjmusto]

I've flown one of the 172s at Ljubljana - it was just an aeroplane.
Yes, quite.

Get your medical issued with the UK and they will have to send your paperwork to the UK CAA for issue.
Now that's interesting. Maybe I could find an instructor here to take me through to Skills Test, but then finish off in the UK. That's if they will accept the Slovene flying in the UK....

At least then I would have UK CAA issued EASA PPL.

What I am saying is that if you cannot trust them on this, you may not want to trust them at all.
Hmm. Yes, well there still is an element here of 'who you know, rather than what you know'. So maybe I just need to find the right person and it would all be sorted.

The reason its not accepted as that Slovenia is not a mutually recognised EASA state.
Really? Crumbs, bit of a can of worms then. The school certainly says it provides 'EASA compliant' training. But ok, maybe it really would be best to try and finish this off in the UK. The weather is so much better here though and experience of flying in the local Alpine environment would be good.

Why does life have to be so complicated sometimes?

R

[Silvaire1]

Ralph, assuming you're based in Bled as per your site info, how about training in Austria?

(Says he remembering a day on the roads that started in Obertauern, with lunch in Bled and dinner in the center of the Dolomites...)

[rjmusto]

(Says he remembering a day on the roads that started in Obertauern, with lunch in Bled and dinner in the center of the Dolomites...)

Hah, sounds good!

Yes, I'm close to Bled, so Austria is an option I guess - must check on the nearest airfield, but can't be all that far.

Ralph