AndyAus
11th Jan 2024, 13:24
This is a poorly edited anecdotal ramblings of information slapped into a journal that may help others that may undertake this journey.
I found there wasn’t much information out there so hopefully it helps people who may wish to undertake the same journey. In my opinion if it helps one person then it was worth it.
My reasoning for moving to Europe was twofold,
Firstly my all family except my parents live in France so moving here has allowed me to see them and connect with them better in the last few months than the last 30 years.
Secondly in Australia progressing to the airlines is a slow process, unless you’re a gifted individual and can get into a Cadetship. You’ll be toiling away in a Cessna in the outback hopefully in a company with a twin/turboprop as time on this plus 1500hrs to even apply to the airlines.
The outback is a vast and empty place, being isolated for my time out there made me think what other ways are possible to achieve my dream.
I then worked it out that it would take me probably another 18 months to get a look in with Aussie airlines or 6-7 months pushing through the EASA exams to reach the same point. I decided the latter. O and the French baked goods alone nearly made me decide.
My flight history,
Flight school completed CPL ME IR (commercial Pilot Licence, Multi Engine, Instrument Rated) well before COVID
after the training process and hiring out aircraft to build hours and endorsements ended up with 280~ hours
Experience was mainly in C172, DA40, DA42
Got to experience some other aircraft, C182, C210 and a of skydiving in a C208.
First job in aviation
Got an opportunity to work for a small company in the NT doing Private/Charter/government contracts/Medivac/flood relief/firefighting/animal control and groceries for some farms 400km away from the closest supermarket in a C206.
Yes it was wild, even nature is against us, weather can pretty temperamental, you’ll get Dust Devils (or Willy Willy’s for you Europeans since I've never heard of that name until I moved here....), 500nm spanning cyclones, fires that ravage the countryside and create curtains of smoke you have to navigate around, runways with wildlife (cows, kangaroos, a crocodile once!) floods and flooded runways, 1500fpm thermal up draughts, just to name a few!
With nearly every other new challenge and job request so was interesting and keeping us on our toes.
Ended up with 700~ Hours
Started looking at what’s required to convert a license, besides the rights to work in Europe, Visa or citizenship etc.
Quick list (for non type rated lower hours) my situation
Must have a CURRENT CPL IR ME . don’t let it lapse or you’ll have to renew it before practical component.
Get a license Verification from your current CAA (Civil Administrative Advisory)
Find an ATO (Authorized Training Organisation) that offers EASA ATPL course, distance or integrated. <- Can be any country that is in the EASA / Doesn't even have to be in English haha
Obtain a EASA class 1 medical, (medical can be done anywhere BUT has to be converted to your Licence's CAA) <- Process is called a SOLI
Conduct the CPL, SEIR, MEP and MEIR tests,
then an MCC (which can be done anywhere in EASA once you have a EASA CPL ME IR)
Wait for licence issue and get out there and Find a job!
Spoke to Airways Aviation in Australia, Completed an IPC as its a requirement for a current IR to convert
Through coincidence they helped me get in contact with a school in France, ESMA Airways Aviation (sister school of the Aussie one)
After some talks/questions it looked good and did the initial student application
Flight School Preliminary Tests
Did a physics test; reminded me of high school
Arithmetic test; found this one a lot easier since it was basic math +-*/, percentage, patterns good fun etc.
English phone test; Gave a brief description of myself, english is my first language. 30 years of practice payed off.
Sent photo of my Flight Crew Licence with current MECIR and last 3 pages of my logbook.
Personal Prep,
International credit card, then opening bank account in Europe. I use and continue to use my Aus Revolut for everything else.
Big note with revolut it has very agreeable conversion rates, AS LONG AS YOU PAY WITH THE CARD!!!!! Don’t bank transfer… The CPL ME IR conversation is by far the most expensive part. I moved over €25’000+ and paying with my revolut card instead of an Aus->Europe bank transfer saved me over €200 (which is about 50 beers!!!!!!)
travel insurance -> health insurance once social security card obtained was obtained in France <-This step was a nightmare
Trains aren't planes but still very convenient to get around quickly obtaining a travel card for the SNCF for a small discount was helpful
Accommodation, food, time frame, holidays? budget? etc,etc
Went to France,
In France organised a bank to get an IBAN, Must visit the bank in person for initial setup, Unsure how expats do this step.
SIM Card, accommodations, food
Hobbies you cant just do the exams 100% of the time, Life is life, balance it with study 13 exams is a lot don’t burn out.
End of April is cold, 15deg Celsius is cold, compared to aussie 30+ beach weather.... PACK ACCORDINLY! < obviously more relevant for warmer country folk
MONEY MONEY MONEY
This were my recorded spending for each step, prices can vary from 2023
These are the costs added up only regarding my conversion . Aka no food, rent, life etc.
ATPL Theory Distance Learning €2000 (included digital books and AviationExam subscription 1yr)
DGAC ATPL Exams. € 970 (75ish per exam)
Jepps GPVSM and nav computer €80 (for €12 I bought the cheapest nav computer with a board, worked great! DON’T BUY THE €100+ version)
English Language Proficiency level 6. €180
Initial class 1 medical €670
Medical can vary; France is €450-500 with a 6+ month waiting period, Spain was €550-650, Sweden was €1800
Radio telegraphy RT test. € 300
CPL Conversion. (CPL, MEP, SE IR ME IR) €17000 combined which was about what I was tad over what I was quoted, (but within my budget)
URPT. €1800
MCC. € 2800
TOEIC (Air France specific) € 180
CASA Licence Verification. €30
TOTAL. €26020
Prices were in mid-to late 2023 so prices will vary with time
Non Conversion related expense list as an example.
Accommodation/rent. In Jerez at the flight school has student accommodation for €150/w
Food, I had a 3000calorie diet for €68/w to meal prep and was bulking.
Travelling, trains planes ride shares (blablacar in France is pretty awesome) or hiring / owning a vehicle, definitely adds up!
Insurances, medical and/or home and contents
Administration (makes me cry)
Going out <- the biggie, met a girl and my weekly expenses tripled haha (I’m not complaining)
Subscriptions memberships or plans, ->phone, gym, Netflix, Spotify etc
ATPL's 13 exams with ESMA
All revision was heavily focused on AviationExam's and I also had a Padpilot access to the theory books.
Bought GPVSM Jeppesen book 70Euro, 'Flight computers' E6-B 12 EURO, I also had an Aussie CR3 equivalent. (shout out to the blue ASA one, Many examiners did not like it haha)
Bring protractors, rulers, pencils, compasses etc.
My exam centre had provided basic non scientific programmable Calculators. (Couldn’t bring your own but again experiences may vary)
They also will provide a booklet containing relevant charts/maps/diagrams on each subject. You can ask them to reprint shoddy graphs but you’re still at the mercy of their printer or printer operator haha.
My order 3 blocks
PHASE 1 Late June
Module 010 air law
Module 021 aircraft general knowledge
Module 061 general navigation
Module 090 VFR/IFR communications
PHASE 2 Late July
Modules 022 instrumentation
Modules 033 flight planning and monitoring
Modules 040 human performance
PHASE 3 Early Sept (couldn’t do AUG as France practically shuts down during summer holidays)
Modules 032 aircraft performance
Modules 062 radio navigation
Modules 050 meteorology
Modules 081 principles of flight
Modules 031 mass and balance
Modules 070 operational procedures
A little about the French System
13 exams, 4 attempts per subject.
18 months to complete all 13
6 sessions MAX to complete all exams.
If you PASS, congratz no feedback on your score though until the very end when the issue you the certificate
What is a session?, well glad you asked, and might be DGAC specific.
A session is an arbitrary set of days that can be reserved for the your exams.
You can choose the compact version where you sit multiple exams in a day depending on the exam centre.
or a 'calm' version where you do at least 1 a day,
These days are only offered at specific exam centres. I did mine at Bordeaux, where they were hosting exams most tue/wed/thur most weeks except holidays.
I mostly did an exam per day (relaxed style) as it wasn’t too difficult to get to and from my exam Centre.
PERSONAL SUBJECT FEEDBACK
After finishing each exam I wrote a lil blurb about things I noticed during my study and the exams themselves .
Across EVERY exam there is some “interesting” wording demonstrated by the exam writers. Read the question careful!
061 General Navigation,
Went through the books to catch up on equations and remember the theory component.
Pretty tight on time if your not on top of the math which entails over half of the exam.
Quite a lot of equations so get comfortably with them. drawing on charts/maps practice m
theory side is Relearning all the chart related shenanigans, rhumb/straight lines and great circles on various charts. Try to figure out what my predecessors were thinking of, check my surname for the bad joke.
All the maps, diagrams are provided at the exam centre in a booklet.
021 Airframe, Systems Powerplant,
Study was read through turbine stuff and a lot of practice exams.
Personally found the electrical systems trickier as well as systems in large transport AC. I flew a lot of smaller piston aircraft so that part was covered.
Not a time critical exam, but she’s a big one 84Q’s in 2hours and no calculations.
010 Air Law
Covers a lot Law shocking right, Parts of this subject are very dry, has many ties with Operations 070
Also covers importantly VFR/IFR actual rules that must be followed, debatably interesting
Learn some Mnemonics to associate answers. Get ready to learn about all 19 annex’s and what they cover.
What worried me is Annex 19 is Safety, so was it the 19th most important?
090 Communications
If you’ve had flying experience it won’t be to difficult. a lot is standardised globally
Answers are quite long, just slowly take time to read exactly what they're saying,
Hard to give much feedback as this one I already had a solid foundation for.
033 Flight Planning
This is Nav 2.0, there really isn't anything unexpected from the practice.
Still a lot of math and a tight Time constraint, know your equations and process for each question, the theory was pretty light.
022 Instruments
Probably 60/40 split big/small aircraft. Big being at least a 737/320 and small could be a C152
Covers info on all the instruments you’d expect to see, most ADC and FMS questions are based on larger AC.
This is one of those wide subjects you got to touch on everything just in case.
040 Human Performance
Theory on the body how it works and aspects which are relevant in flight,
learning about the illusions you can experience. Worked with a lot medical staff so for me it’s interesting and didn’t find it to bad.
TEM, a fun part but necessary evil to understand as I had a lot of 2 point questions in my exam. Whilst a few questions are 'subjective' there is general consistency which they follow.
032 Performance
V speeds, AoA stuff, a good amount of Mach questions, some tables and gradients so a bit of math
The charts and tables are all freebies learn them and get those points.
They assume class A or B aircraft at their leisure so be careful.
There is a very wide math component but I barely got asked any questions on it.
050 Meteorology
Main focus on weather is on Europe/Northern Hemisphere but they have been branching out so knowing the weather in other countries isn’t unheard of. Learning to go from a indicated to true alt was a common 2mark questions. Veering/backing as well popped up a bit.
I was lucky and got some Aussie questions, Tropical cyclones affecting Darwin Australia and dust devil .
It’s 84 questions so expect a grind.
062 Radio Navigation
All about radio waves how they work and used. Then off to space.
a lot of questions on RNP, SBAS, GBAS so big plane stuff. then learn how to read RMI, ADF, VOR needle indications. Requirements for approaches and heights.
I got asked what height a geo satellite sits in case I fly into it I suppose?
081 Principles of Flight
Grasp the graphs! I had way to many questions on them.
You instantly can tell when someone is sitting this subject since they move a lot with the roll yaw pitch etc
If you’ve flown a plane a lot if it can be figured out from experience.
031 Mass n Balance
Only 25 questions so quite short. Accuracy is key
TABLES which are freebies, CoG calculations, Weight affecting T/O or LDG and floor loading.
Probably the most maths related alongside Gen Nav and Flight Planning, Once you know the equations it’s very straightforward, has overlap with performance and principles of flight regarding CoG.
070 Operational Procedures
Law 2.0 but less direct law quotes and a bit more of the actually useful stuff. Duty times, Dangerous Goods, Anti/De-icing, waiting time behind another Aircraft on T/O and LDG on runways. DODIA 23232 < worked for me
tricky to optimally study since 42 q's on such a wide scope isn't the easiest to prepare for.
Seems to have a lot of questions that are duplicated from other subjects,
Found it to have mostly common sense, but did you know first aid/oxy are dangerous items but the crash axe is fair game -_-
KSA100,
The path my flight school took to cover these segments was
1. Questions geared on PPL level theory. And situation based activities where you need to figure out the issue and actions you would take.
2. then planning an ifr flight reading NOTAMS, weather, STARS, SIDS, ERC-LOW charts, and explaining choices and why?
The KSA100 learning objectives are
Communication, Management of FlightPath, Leadership/teamwork, Problem-Solving and Decision-Making, Situation Awareness and Resilience, Workload Management , Knowledge, URPT and Mental Maths.
I found my experience I could simplify it to.
Have a plan, explain your plan, execute the plan, expect a spanner thrown into your plan, go to plan B
If you do the integrated course it’ll be covered along the way.
For those doing distance learning it’ll done during a visit to the flight school for a week which will cover the mentioned above and you’ll have a theory instructor to assist and ask questions for your remaining exams. My school recommended me to do it at the 2/3rds in case you missed an exam and/or couldn’t wrap your head around a concept somewhere.
Closing thoughts on the theory.
Overall I believe the exams are not something that can be breezed through I did them in 99 days Distance Learning with full time studies. I did this as a money saver for accommodation and since the 9month ground school didn’t feel required with my prior experience.
A question bank is MANDATORY, I don’t believe someone could pass the exams relying solely on the books. I used AviationExams and found it pretty good, they show an explanation to the question where they try to figure out why the writer is asking for xyz. A lot of people swear by ATPLQ and Bristol but never used it so can’t comment. These question banks contain around 60-70% of actual questions you may experience in the exams Or at least in structure they are very similar. Best part of the question banks is that they’re on your phone so you can stay productive anywhere. Hardest part of the exams is the wording, it is very particularly so would recommend getting familiar with it.
Note, I did my exams through the French DGAC so my thoughts on question banks applies to there, other regions may be different or have preferred options. The general feedback the 2 most difficult are MET and GEN NAV.
Study Tips and how I structured my time
I wouldn’t consider myself the smartest cookie but I will throw time and effort at obtaining what I want and that stubbornness (might be my French blood) got me to finish the subjects quite quickly.
I had a study plan and my days were structured around it. Wake up train at the gym, then segment my day into study blocks which went for the same amount of time as the exam/s, then have a 15-30min break so I don’t burnout. There’s a point when your mentally cooked and your just staring at the questions considering your life’s choices. Good time to have a break.
Then mirroring my practice tests to be at the exact same time as the actually exam. It creates a habit where my mind was sharper at those times which may or may not help. I also tried to get earlier exams as I’m a morning person and eat a big lunch so the post lunch dip is real.
I’m also very mathematical so for me the subjects that were more maths inclined felt much easier than LAW or MET where it’s a theory dump. I find the way to learn the theory for me is through acronyms or mnemonics. ONUS/SAND etc.
ELP English Language Proficiency
I had to do this prior to my practical component. I did it with Lingaero and it was a smooth level 6. The guys are all fluent bilinguals and do this mainly for pilots and air traffic controllers.
During the assessment they’ll ask you to,
1. Describe yourself
2. A situation or difficult flight
3. Describe an image they provide, try to be descriptive
4. Repeat audio snippets of ATC radio calls (they are short and accents vary)
5. You’ll be given an IFR/VFR flight plan and they’ll role play ATC from initial clearance call to levelling off in the cruise.
There’s something else which I don’t recall.
They have one person who you interact 1 on 1 with (either in person or online) and a second who you’ll meet briefly but will be listening in as a second opinion. If your first language is English and you’re descriptive you’ll have no issue. My 30 years was sufficient. And a level 6 has a lifetime validity hurray!.
*FUN FACT, having a Level 6 EPL from Australia, an English speaking country, was not recognized when I went through my conversion so yeah.... The more you know!
Class 1 initial medical exam
TO ALL NEW PEOPLE STARTING TO FLY IN EASA. ASK YOUR SCHOOL WHAT LICENCE THEY’LL ISSUE SINCE THE MEDICAL MUST MATCH. Or do a SOLI to transfer it across (May take time depending where you do it!)
I was intending to do it in France for 450€ but with its very long waiting time of 6+ months I didn’t want to wait,
So I opted to do it in Spain which was 670€ with a 3ish week wait, for reference a Swedish medical centre offered it in a week but at 1800€.
Flew down to Barcelona and spent a full day at the centre. Day starts at 0830 to 1800 and they conduct everything on site.
The fasted the morning of the day and it went as followed,
Arrive and fill in new client medical form,
Meet a GP to discuss the form and pre-existing medical conditions.
An ECG and bmi tests (every bmi test I had to take my shirt off and this nurse really liked this one)
Go take another bmi, blood and urine test.
A sonography, spirometry, eye and bmi test
Spoke to another GP about drug / prescription/ alcohol/ smoking usage
Ophthalmologist, eye doctor who does some pressure thing to your eyes that I did not enjoy
And bmi again (4th test with the same nurse!)
Psychometric exams which included an intelligence test and a 165 Q questionnaire on how you feel about certain statements.
Lunch time about 1300,
Spoke to a psychologist or psychiatrist (I’m not sure which)
Then an otolaryngologist aka an ENT -> ear nose throat doctor
Then finish at 1800 and wait 10 days for the results. Received it 2 days later.
The Practical part of my conversion.
My shortlisted options for flight school were GlobalAviation, South Sweden Flight School and FIS Spain
I chose FlyinSpain in Jerez Spain since I’m better acclimated to the heat, they usually have nice weather in oct/nov and life there is very affordable.
They also offered me the earliest start date of the 3 choices and my medical was already booked in Spain so saved time since no need to change it to another country (which made no sense as my currently Issued licence is Maltese).
Jerez de la Fronterra
Sits in the south of Spain so warmer and nice weather almost all year round.
Public transport consists only of buses and a train line to get form town to airport.
BUS ONLY TAKE CASH……. <- this was a fun surprise and cost me a taxi ride be warned.
Spanish Rail ‘RENFE’, the trains are always on time one third of the time. And I think the times were decided by playing darts. Very very odd schedule
Food is cheap for Europe and with my broken Spanish people we’re very patient and lovely. They do speak very very fast though.
My FlyinSpain experience,
I signed a contract which broke down my conversion into 4 modules + URPT
Their student accommodation was a nice apartment in the western side of Jerez, it’s probably a bit more expensive than what I could source myself but came with wifi and was cleaned once a week. And living with other pilots let’s you bounce ideas back and forth and I found it nice to assist the newer PPL guys and girls which also worked to refresh my own knowledge plus we would carpool to/from school . The flights school also has a more relaxed uniform policy (wear what you find comfortable and enclosed shoes) which is nice in 30+ temps (I’ll get plenty of that when I work in the airlines).
The school had a wide range of aircrafts all with slightly different setups which kept me on my toes, there were a few delays when a lot of the fleet ended up in maintenance or awaiting parts. It happens everywhere and I’ve heard countless scheduling stories from other students in all schools allover.
They advertised the course to be done in 5 weeks, which at 46 hrs total (Includes SIM) (plus tests 6hrs~) is 10 hours a week. I completed it in 7 weeks. So only flew 7
Spanish ATC in the area were also on strike which made everything very tricky for IFR flights.
Radio Telephony (RT exam)
School provided 2 hours theory (this for me was overkill) with a ground instructor. It showed and demonstrated radio calls for a flight through a CTZ, FIR, MATZ etc and with plenty of position reports. The test was similar to the theory with a few random added surprise elements (responding to a mayday call) and diverting due to weather etc.
Unfortunately just another paywall to go through.
So the path for ICAO to EASA conversions are (with a current ICAO ME IR)
1. SE CPL Skill Test
2. SE IFR (15 hours with credit of passing a skill test) a lot can be done in a SIM
3. ME Skill Test (6 hours plus a 7 hours brief)
4. ME IFR (5 hours with ME skill test and SE IFR skill test complete)
+ some required briefing time which I can’t find
+UPRT which I did in the last few weeks
I WROTE TO MANY CHARACTERS according to PPrune, so part 2 is the first Comment
I found there wasn’t much information out there so hopefully it helps people who may wish to undertake the same journey. In my opinion if it helps one person then it was worth it.
My reasoning for moving to Europe was twofold,
Firstly my all family except my parents live in France so moving here has allowed me to see them and connect with them better in the last few months than the last 30 years.
Secondly in Australia progressing to the airlines is a slow process, unless you’re a gifted individual and can get into a Cadetship. You’ll be toiling away in a Cessna in the outback hopefully in a company with a twin/turboprop as time on this plus 1500hrs to even apply to the airlines.
The outback is a vast and empty place, being isolated for my time out there made me think what other ways are possible to achieve my dream.
I then worked it out that it would take me probably another 18 months to get a look in with Aussie airlines or 6-7 months pushing through the EASA exams to reach the same point. I decided the latter. O and the French baked goods alone nearly made me decide.
My flight history,
Flight school completed CPL ME IR (commercial Pilot Licence, Multi Engine, Instrument Rated) well before COVID
after the training process and hiring out aircraft to build hours and endorsements ended up with 280~ hours
Experience was mainly in C172, DA40, DA42
Got to experience some other aircraft, C182, C210 and a of skydiving in a C208.
First job in aviation
Got an opportunity to work for a small company in the NT doing Private/Charter/government contracts/Medivac/flood relief/firefighting/animal control and groceries for some farms 400km away from the closest supermarket in a C206.
Yes it was wild, even nature is against us, weather can pretty temperamental, you’ll get Dust Devils (or Willy Willy’s for you Europeans since I've never heard of that name until I moved here....), 500nm spanning cyclones, fires that ravage the countryside and create curtains of smoke you have to navigate around, runways with wildlife (cows, kangaroos, a crocodile once!) floods and flooded runways, 1500fpm thermal up draughts, just to name a few!
With nearly every other new challenge and job request so was interesting and keeping us on our toes.
Ended up with 700~ Hours
Started looking at what’s required to convert a license, besides the rights to work in Europe, Visa or citizenship etc.
Quick list (for non type rated lower hours) my situation
Must have a CURRENT CPL IR ME . don’t let it lapse or you’ll have to renew it before practical component.
Get a license Verification from your current CAA (Civil Administrative Advisory)
Find an ATO (Authorized Training Organisation) that offers EASA ATPL course, distance or integrated. <- Can be any country that is in the EASA / Doesn't even have to be in English haha
Obtain a EASA class 1 medical, (medical can be done anywhere BUT has to be converted to your Licence's CAA) <- Process is called a SOLI
Conduct the CPL, SEIR, MEP and MEIR tests,
then an MCC (which can be done anywhere in EASA once you have a EASA CPL ME IR)
Wait for licence issue and get out there and Find a job!
Spoke to Airways Aviation in Australia, Completed an IPC as its a requirement for a current IR to convert
Through coincidence they helped me get in contact with a school in France, ESMA Airways Aviation (sister school of the Aussie one)
After some talks/questions it looked good and did the initial student application
Flight School Preliminary Tests
Did a physics test; reminded me of high school
Arithmetic test; found this one a lot easier since it was basic math +-*/, percentage, patterns good fun etc.
English phone test; Gave a brief description of myself, english is my first language. 30 years of practice payed off.
Sent photo of my Flight Crew Licence with current MECIR and last 3 pages of my logbook.
Personal Prep,
International credit card, then opening bank account in Europe. I use and continue to use my Aus Revolut for everything else.
Big note with revolut it has very agreeable conversion rates, AS LONG AS YOU PAY WITH THE CARD!!!!! Don’t bank transfer… The CPL ME IR conversation is by far the most expensive part. I moved over €25’000+ and paying with my revolut card instead of an Aus->Europe bank transfer saved me over €200 (which is about 50 beers!!!!!!)
travel insurance -> health insurance once social security card obtained was obtained in France <-This step was a nightmare
Trains aren't planes but still very convenient to get around quickly obtaining a travel card for the SNCF for a small discount was helpful
Accommodation, food, time frame, holidays? budget? etc,etc
Went to France,
In France organised a bank to get an IBAN, Must visit the bank in person for initial setup, Unsure how expats do this step.
SIM Card, accommodations, food
Hobbies you cant just do the exams 100% of the time, Life is life, balance it with study 13 exams is a lot don’t burn out.
End of April is cold, 15deg Celsius is cold, compared to aussie 30+ beach weather.... PACK ACCORDINLY! < obviously more relevant for warmer country folk
MONEY MONEY MONEY
This were my recorded spending for each step, prices can vary from 2023
These are the costs added up only regarding my conversion . Aka no food, rent, life etc.
ATPL Theory Distance Learning €2000 (included digital books and AviationExam subscription 1yr)
DGAC ATPL Exams. € 970 (75ish per exam)
Jepps GPVSM and nav computer €80 (for €12 I bought the cheapest nav computer with a board, worked great! DON’T BUY THE €100+ version)
English Language Proficiency level 6. €180
Initial class 1 medical €670
Medical can vary; France is €450-500 with a 6+ month waiting period, Spain was €550-650, Sweden was €1800
Radio telegraphy RT test. € 300
CPL Conversion. (CPL, MEP, SE IR ME IR) €17000 combined which was about what I was tad over what I was quoted, (but within my budget)
URPT. €1800
MCC. € 2800
TOEIC (Air France specific) € 180
CASA Licence Verification. €30
TOTAL. €26020
Prices were in mid-to late 2023 so prices will vary with time
Non Conversion related expense list as an example.
Accommodation/rent. In Jerez at the flight school has student accommodation for €150/w
Food, I had a 3000calorie diet for €68/w to meal prep and was bulking.
Travelling, trains planes ride shares (blablacar in France is pretty awesome) or hiring / owning a vehicle, definitely adds up!
Insurances, medical and/or home and contents
Administration (makes me cry)
Going out <- the biggie, met a girl and my weekly expenses tripled haha (I’m not complaining)
Subscriptions memberships or plans, ->phone, gym, Netflix, Spotify etc
ATPL's 13 exams with ESMA
All revision was heavily focused on AviationExam's and I also had a Padpilot access to the theory books.
Bought GPVSM Jeppesen book 70Euro, 'Flight computers' E6-B 12 EURO, I also had an Aussie CR3 equivalent. (shout out to the blue ASA one, Many examiners did not like it haha)
Bring protractors, rulers, pencils, compasses etc.
My exam centre had provided basic non scientific programmable Calculators. (Couldn’t bring your own but again experiences may vary)
They also will provide a booklet containing relevant charts/maps/diagrams on each subject. You can ask them to reprint shoddy graphs but you’re still at the mercy of their printer or printer operator haha.
My order 3 blocks
PHASE 1 Late June
Module 010 air law
Module 021 aircraft general knowledge
Module 061 general navigation
Module 090 VFR/IFR communications
PHASE 2 Late July
Modules 022 instrumentation
Modules 033 flight planning and monitoring
Modules 040 human performance
PHASE 3 Early Sept (couldn’t do AUG as France practically shuts down during summer holidays)
Modules 032 aircraft performance
Modules 062 radio navigation
Modules 050 meteorology
Modules 081 principles of flight
Modules 031 mass and balance
Modules 070 operational procedures
A little about the French System
13 exams, 4 attempts per subject.
18 months to complete all 13
6 sessions MAX to complete all exams.
If you PASS, congratz no feedback on your score though until the very end when the issue you the certificate
What is a session?, well glad you asked, and might be DGAC specific.
A session is an arbitrary set of days that can be reserved for the your exams.
You can choose the compact version where you sit multiple exams in a day depending on the exam centre.
or a 'calm' version where you do at least 1 a day,
These days are only offered at specific exam centres. I did mine at Bordeaux, where they were hosting exams most tue/wed/thur most weeks except holidays.
I mostly did an exam per day (relaxed style) as it wasn’t too difficult to get to and from my exam Centre.
PERSONAL SUBJECT FEEDBACK
After finishing each exam I wrote a lil blurb about things I noticed during my study and the exams themselves .
Across EVERY exam there is some “interesting” wording demonstrated by the exam writers. Read the question careful!
061 General Navigation,
Went through the books to catch up on equations and remember the theory component.
Pretty tight on time if your not on top of the math which entails over half of the exam.
Quite a lot of equations so get comfortably with them. drawing on charts/maps practice m
theory side is Relearning all the chart related shenanigans, rhumb/straight lines and great circles on various charts. Try to figure out what my predecessors were thinking of, check my surname for the bad joke.
All the maps, diagrams are provided at the exam centre in a booklet.
021 Airframe, Systems Powerplant,
Study was read through turbine stuff and a lot of practice exams.
Personally found the electrical systems trickier as well as systems in large transport AC. I flew a lot of smaller piston aircraft so that part was covered.
Not a time critical exam, but she’s a big one 84Q’s in 2hours and no calculations.
010 Air Law
Covers a lot Law shocking right, Parts of this subject are very dry, has many ties with Operations 070
Also covers importantly VFR/IFR actual rules that must be followed, debatably interesting
Learn some Mnemonics to associate answers. Get ready to learn about all 19 annex’s and what they cover.
What worried me is Annex 19 is Safety, so was it the 19th most important?
090 Communications
If you’ve had flying experience it won’t be to difficult. a lot is standardised globally
Answers are quite long, just slowly take time to read exactly what they're saying,
Hard to give much feedback as this one I already had a solid foundation for.
033 Flight Planning
This is Nav 2.0, there really isn't anything unexpected from the practice.
Still a lot of math and a tight Time constraint, know your equations and process for each question, the theory was pretty light.
022 Instruments
Probably 60/40 split big/small aircraft. Big being at least a 737/320 and small could be a C152
Covers info on all the instruments you’d expect to see, most ADC and FMS questions are based on larger AC.
This is one of those wide subjects you got to touch on everything just in case.
040 Human Performance
Theory on the body how it works and aspects which are relevant in flight,
learning about the illusions you can experience. Worked with a lot medical staff so for me it’s interesting and didn’t find it to bad.
TEM, a fun part but necessary evil to understand as I had a lot of 2 point questions in my exam. Whilst a few questions are 'subjective' there is general consistency which they follow.
032 Performance
V speeds, AoA stuff, a good amount of Mach questions, some tables and gradients so a bit of math
The charts and tables are all freebies learn them and get those points.
They assume class A or B aircraft at their leisure so be careful.
There is a very wide math component but I barely got asked any questions on it.
050 Meteorology
Main focus on weather is on Europe/Northern Hemisphere but they have been branching out so knowing the weather in other countries isn’t unheard of. Learning to go from a indicated to true alt was a common 2mark questions. Veering/backing as well popped up a bit.
I was lucky and got some Aussie questions, Tropical cyclones affecting Darwin Australia and dust devil .
It’s 84 questions so expect a grind.
062 Radio Navigation
All about radio waves how they work and used. Then off to space.
a lot of questions on RNP, SBAS, GBAS so big plane stuff. then learn how to read RMI, ADF, VOR needle indications. Requirements for approaches and heights.
I got asked what height a geo satellite sits in case I fly into it I suppose?
081 Principles of Flight
Grasp the graphs! I had way to many questions on them.
You instantly can tell when someone is sitting this subject since they move a lot with the roll yaw pitch etc
If you’ve flown a plane a lot if it can be figured out from experience.
031 Mass n Balance
Only 25 questions so quite short. Accuracy is key
TABLES which are freebies, CoG calculations, Weight affecting T/O or LDG and floor loading.
Probably the most maths related alongside Gen Nav and Flight Planning, Once you know the equations it’s very straightforward, has overlap with performance and principles of flight regarding CoG.
070 Operational Procedures
Law 2.0 but less direct law quotes and a bit more of the actually useful stuff. Duty times, Dangerous Goods, Anti/De-icing, waiting time behind another Aircraft on T/O and LDG on runways. DODIA 23232 < worked for me
tricky to optimally study since 42 q's on such a wide scope isn't the easiest to prepare for.
Seems to have a lot of questions that are duplicated from other subjects,
Found it to have mostly common sense, but did you know first aid/oxy are dangerous items but the crash axe is fair game -_-
KSA100,
The path my flight school took to cover these segments was
1. Questions geared on PPL level theory. And situation based activities where you need to figure out the issue and actions you would take.
2. then planning an ifr flight reading NOTAMS, weather, STARS, SIDS, ERC-LOW charts, and explaining choices and why?
The KSA100 learning objectives are
Communication, Management of FlightPath, Leadership/teamwork, Problem-Solving and Decision-Making, Situation Awareness and Resilience, Workload Management , Knowledge, URPT and Mental Maths.
I found my experience I could simplify it to.
Have a plan, explain your plan, execute the plan, expect a spanner thrown into your plan, go to plan B
If you do the integrated course it’ll be covered along the way.
For those doing distance learning it’ll done during a visit to the flight school for a week which will cover the mentioned above and you’ll have a theory instructor to assist and ask questions for your remaining exams. My school recommended me to do it at the 2/3rds in case you missed an exam and/or couldn’t wrap your head around a concept somewhere.
Closing thoughts on the theory.
Overall I believe the exams are not something that can be breezed through I did them in 99 days Distance Learning with full time studies. I did this as a money saver for accommodation and since the 9month ground school didn’t feel required with my prior experience.
A question bank is MANDATORY, I don’t believe someone could pass the exams relying solely on the books. I used AviationExams and found it pretty good, they show an explanation to the question where they try to figure out why the writer is asking for xyz. A lot of people swear by ATPLQ and Bristol but never used it so can’t comment. These question banks contain around 60-70% of actual questions you may experience in the exams Or at least in structure they are very similar. Best part of the question banks is that they’re on your phone so you can stay productive anywhere. Hardest part of the exams is the wording, it is very particularly so would recommend getting familiar with it.
Note, I did my exams through the French DGAC so my thoughts on question banks applies to there, other regions may be different or have preferred options. The general feedback the 2 most difficult are MET and GEN NAV.
Study Tips and how I structured my time
I wouldn’t consider myself the smartest cookie but I will throw time and effort at obtaining what I want and that stubbornness (might be my French blood) got me to finish the subjects quite quickly.
I had a study plan and my days were structured around it. Wake up train at the gym, then segment my day into study blocks which went for the same amount of time as the exam/s, then have a 15-30min break so I don’t burnout. There’s a point when your mentally cooked and your just staring at the questions considering your life’s choices. Good time to have a break.
Then mirroring my practice tests to be at the exact same time as the actually exam. It creates a habit where my mind was sharper at those times which may or may not help. I also tried to get earlier exams as I’m a morning person and eat a big lunch so the post lunch dip is real.
I’m also very mathematical so for me the subjects that were more maths inclined felt much easier than LAW or MET where it’s a theory dump. I find the way to learn the theory for me is through acronyms or mnemonics. ONUS/SAND etc.
ELP English Language Proficiency
I had to do this prior to my practical component. I did it with Lingaero and it was a smooth level 6. The guys are all fluent bilinguals and do this mainly for pilots and air traffic controllers.
During the assessment they’ll ask you to,
1. Describe yourself
2. A situation or difficult flight
3. Describe an image they provide, try to be descriptive
4. Repeat audio snippets of ATC radio calls (they are short and accents vary)
5. You’ll be given an IFR/VFR flight plan and they’ll role play ATC from initial clearance call to levelling off in the cruise.
There’s something else which I don’t recall.
They have one person who you interact 1 on 1 with (either in person or online) and a second who you’ll meet briefly but will be listening in as a second opinion. If your first language is English and you’re descriptive you’ll have no issue. My 30 years was sufficient. And a level 6 has a lifetime validity hurray!.
*FUN FACT, having a Level 6 EPL from Australia, an English speaking country, was not recognized when I went through my conversion so yeah.... The more you know!
Class 1 initial medical exam
TO ALL NEW PEOPLE STARTING TO FLY IN EASA. ASK YOUR SCHOOL WHAT LICENCE THEY’LL ISSUE SINCE THE MEDICAL MUST MATCH. Or do a SOLI to transfer it across (May take time depending where you do it!)
I was intending to do it in France for 450€ but with its very long waiting time of 6+ months I didn’t want to wait,
So I opted to do it in Spain which was 670€ with a 3ish week wait, for reference a Swedish medical centre offered it in a week but at 1800€.
Flew down to Barcelona and spent a full day at the centre. Day starts at 0830 to 1800 and they conduct everything on site.
The fasted the morning of the day and it went as followed,
Arrive and fill in new client medical form,
Meet a GP to discuss the form and pre-existing medical conditions.
An ECG and bmi tests (every bmi test I had to take my shirt off and this nurse really liked this one)
Go take another bmi, blood and urine test.
A sonography, spirometry, eye and bmi test
Spoke to another GP about drug / prescription/ alcohol/ smoking usage
Ophthalmologist, eye doctor who does some pressure thing to your eyes that I did not enjoy
And bmi again (4th test with the same nurse!)
Psychometric exams which included an intelligence test and a 165 Q questionnaire on how you feel about certain statements.
Lunch time about 1300,
Spoke to a psychologist or psychiatrist (I’m not sure which)
Then an otolaryngologist aka an ENT -> ear nose throat doctor
Then finish at 1800 and wait 10 days for the results. Received it 2 days later.
The Practical part of my conversion.
My shortlisted options for flight school were GlobalAviation, South Sweden Flight School and FIS Spain
I chose FlyinSpain in Jerez Spain since I’m better acclimated to the heat, they usually have nice weather in oct/nov and life there is very affordable.
They also offered me the earliest start date of the 3 choices and my medical was already booked in Spain so saved time since no need to change it to another country (which made no sense as my currently Issued licence is Maltese).
Jerez de la Fronterra
Sits in the south of Spain so warmer and nice weather almost all year round.
Public transport consists only of buses and a train line to get form town to airport.
BUS ONLY TAKE CASH……. <- this was a fun surprise and cost me a taxi ride be warned.
Spanish Rail ‘RENFE’, the trains are always on time one third of the time. And I think the times were decided by playing darts. Very very odd schedule
Food is cheap for Europe and with my broken Spanish people we’re very patient and lovely. They do speak very very fast though.
My FlyinSpain experience,
I signed a contract which broke down my conversion into 4 modules + URPT
Their student accommodation was a nice apartment in the western side of Jerez, it’s probably a bit more expensive than what I could source myself but came with wifi and was cleaned once a week. And living with other pilots let’s you bounce ideas back and forth and I found it nice to assist the newer PPL guys and girls which also worked to refresh my own knowledge plus we would carpool to/from school . The flights school also has a more relaxed uniform policy (wear what you find comfortable and enclosed shoes) which is nice in 30+ temps (I’ll get plenty of that when I work in the airlines).
The school had a wide range of aircrafts all with slightly different setups which kept me on my toes, there were a few delays when a lot of the fleet ended up in maintenance or awaiting parts. It happens everywhere and I’ve heard countless scheduling stories from other students in all schools allover.
They advertised the course to be done in 5 weeks, which at 46 hrs total (Includes SIM) (plus tests 6hrs~) is 10 hours a week. I completed it in 7 weeks. So only flew 7
Spanish ATC in the area were also on strike which made everything very tricky for IFR flights.
Radio Telephony (RT exam)
School provided 2 hours theory (this for me was overkill) with a ground instructor. It showed and demonstrated radio calls for a flight through a CTZ, FIR, MATZ etc and with plenty of position reports. The test was similar to the theory with a few random added surprise elements (responding to a mayday call) and diverting due to weather etc.
Unfortunately just another paywall to go through.
So the path for ICAO to EASA conversions are (with a current ICAO ME IR)
1. SE CPL Skill Test
2. SE IFR (15 hours with credit of passing a skill test) a lot can be done in a SIM
3. ME Skill Test (6 hours plus a 7 hours brief)
4. ME IFR (5 hours with ME skill test and SE IFR skill test complete)
+ some required briefing time which I can’t find
+UPRT which I did in the last few weeks
I WROTE TO MANY CHARACTERS according to PPrune, so part 2 is the first Comment