european JAR pilots

[joseba]

Hi all,

I am sure there are plenty of european pilots flying in the states and I need an advice from you please: what is the right process to convert an european JAR licence into an american one? Is it something fast or lots of time and money are required?

If anyone could also tell me how is the situation to fly there for non-american pilots, responses will be also welcome.

Joseba (the basque pilot)

[Squawk7777]

Buenos dias Joseba,

the license conversion should be rather simple. I had a few students with European licenses, and the FAA had no problem in changing it in a rather uncomplicated way. The bad news is that this was before 11 Sept. Go to the FAA (http://www.faa.gov) website and you should find a link (Alerts: Foreign Pilots: US Certification) regarding the new precautions due to Mr. bin Laden & co. :mad:

It used to be that the FAA credited your PPL but you needed to take a written and flight test for both your IR and Comm. I stopped instructing about two years ago, so I am not as current as I should be. The cost should still be rather low.

But before you spent your money on an airline ticket, books and flight etc. it is VERY difficult to get a working visa unless you have some good connections. The pilot market also seems to be a bit worse than the European one IMHO. Remember that US Air and United laid off a lot of pilots, and others may still follow!

Good luck,

7 7 7 7

[joseba]

hello 7777,

thank you very much for your advice. i know it must be very difficult at the moment but still my intention was to get a job with a small freight company just to build some hours. i am not very sure about this but maybe people who worked for really big companies are not interested anymore in working for small cargos or corporate aviation companies.

thanks and good luck ;)


joseba

[B767300ER]

True, Squawk7777. US has laid-off 1800 pilots, UA 1300, DL 1100, NW 650, AA(TWA) 1050 and even UPS has 100 out. Overall, about 8000 pilots on the street, looking for very few available jobs.

[richiya]

Que tal joseba,

I´m from madrid and currently thinking of going to the US to do a first officer course on a turbo prop. The cost of changing my JAR PTLA to a commerical FAA is more or less 3000€ and it takes more or less 2 months. This is a quotation from one of the cmpanies I´ve contacted.
Where are you thinking of going to in the US? Any recomendations for me, do you think it´s worth paying to fly?
Un abrazo,
Richard

[DesiPilot]

Joseba,

What licence are you looking to convert?
If it is just PPL, than you need to apply with FAA HQ in Oklahoma city for conversion (find out more at www.faa.gov). You will also be require to choose a FSDO (flight safety district office). The FAA will only convert the licence once they have authenticated with the authority that issued your JAA PPL. For authentication purposes, you will be required to apply with the licensing authority that issued your JAA licence so that they can send an official letter to FAA. (Currently UK CAA charges GBP 10). All this takes about 7-10 working days. Once approved you will be required to go to FSDO for conversion.
You cannot add any new ratings to this converted licence. If you like to get commercial licence, you will be required to start from PPL written exam, flight test and move your way up.
I hope this helps.
As for job in the USA, if you are not a green card holder/american citizen you can forget about the jobs here (sorry didnt mean to sound this harsh). Presently you cannot do any new type rating (>12,500 lbs) in the USA if you are not an American citizen. For non American citizen the process is very lengthy and time consuming. The dept of Justice was supposed to come out with some new regulations for the same on the 17th March.
Good luck with your flight training.

:) Jatin

[joseba]

buenos d'as,

I don´t think you should pay anymore than what you have paid so far. We are commercial pilots and we are supposed to be paid for flying, just wait for your chance. Even if you can pay much more it doesn´t mean you are gonna be the first of the queue, some companies only want to make good money from desperate pilots like you or me.

I will not go to the states at least by the moment as the situation now is even worse than before.

Good luck ;) ,

joseba

[Tinstaafl]

I converted from an Oz ATPL to a US ATP-MEL about 6 years ago.

Bearing in mind I met all the experience requirements the process involved:

* Class 1 medical

* Pass the ATP theory exam. I used the Gliem & ASA ATP prep books. Took a week of (very) part time study + a few days concentrated once I was at the flight school I used.

* Sufficient flying to be familiar enough with the system to pass a flight test.

Note: The amount of training required is zero. I chose to have a few hours to allow for it being a foreign system to me.

* An ATP flight test.


All up it took less than two weeks, including for holiday time & a retest. Dopey me had a brain fade & misunderstood US ATC common practices in the flight test & had to repeat an item. :O

Even with a test item to repeat I can say I found it all quite easy.

At the time I had a couple of thousand hours & had been teaching Oz CPL, IR, multi & instructor stuff + air taxi etc.

Hope this gives you some comparison