CPL in the UK or Canada?
 

Hi All,

I have the chance to move out to Canada but want to get my CPL. I'm currently hour building after getting my PPL, but need to decide if I should get a UK CPL or move to Canada and get my CPL there?

What are the benefits/downsides to both?

Any advice would be great.

Save your self money, do your commercial ME IFR in Canada. If you then stay on after, you may also actually get a job with out paying for a type rating, you will not be on a jet right away but you will get some excellent experience flying a turbo prop that is very rare in Europe.

Thanks MarkJJ great info. The other half will be getting a transfer to Toronto so just need to get looking for some flying school around there. Did an hour out of Billy Bishop when on vacation but was quite pricy.

Is there a greater chance of a job in Canada than Europe?

Think you have a bit of research to do, here are some pointers. Firstly, look at pilot licencing on the transport canada website, you will find its not quite as simple as 'transferring it over' . The only simple licence to transfer is an faa one. Also, can you get a work permit even to instruct let alone work as a cpl/ir? The canadian commercial sylabus is similar to the uk except the canadian one includes spinning. I dont know about the ir but I expect they are simikar, with probably more attention to real world on the canadian one, I cant speak for that personally. Canada is a little less per hour than the uk and similar weather, and a great place to fly. I also suggest you read some of the other threads in here about european pilots flying on canadian contracts. Hope this helps.

Canadian CPL or UK CPL have 2 diffrents requirments. For the 2nd one, you'll need ATPL theory while for the other you need just a CPL exam. Also, one gives previliges to work in canada while JAA-EASA CPL in the UK is to work in the UK or Europe with other requirments...where are you looking to be after completing your CPL's? you might go for the canadian CPL than convert it to JAA EASA

If you can avoid the EASA :mad:, do so. Just get a Canadian CPL, much more straightforward (do the EASA thing when you need it and not before). A lot of good schools there, but you could start with Harvsair in Steinbach Manitoba.

If you have a PPL its very easy to transfer, speaking from personal experience. Go on the transport canada web site it will give you details on how it's done. Also note there are changes coming to Canadian regs on flying commercially on a permit in Canada. Check out Canadian Gazette for the proposals, not sure on the details and this may anger some people over here. Good luck.

Excellent thanks guys, already started costing it all up, with some places giving a £34,000 (C$54000) savings to in the UK. Mental!!

Ive heard its easy(and free)to transfer JAA cpl,ir,me.. to FAA but difficult vice contra. Anybody knows exactly how it works?

Further to the input from others here I would encourage you to look at the Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement, in force between the United States and Canada, on flight crew licensing. Once you hold a Transport Canada CPL, with whichever ratings are appropriate to the work you intend to perform, it can be converted to an FAA equivalent fairly painlessly. The conversion process is outlined in TC AC No. 401-001 here.

Secondly, should you choose to acquire an EASA-FCL CPL the route to obtaining a TC equivalent will be extremely straight-forward. The details for that process can be found here. Aside from those two routes there will be, in time, a bilateral agreement between EASA and Transport Canada similar to the one mentioned above.

For others interested in doing something similar - Canada operates a Youth Mobility scheme with a number of European states providing a work opportunity for 12 to 24 months. The relevant information for British citizens can be found here.

Mantis, search on pprune or the internet using the term faa 61.75, that will tell you more than you ever wanted to know. Short answer, neither way is particularly easy. Thw only free item is a faa ppl on the back of another country cpl. The canada thread isnt the place to go into more detail, but suffice to say there is plenty on that elsewhere on pprune.

drinkduff send me a PM mate, it's not a difficult process, in my case my school where I flew took care of the whole think, while I was waiting for the paper work which took a few weeks I flew on a permit having taken a written test.

I can recommend a few places to fly if you need help, cheers.

Do the license wherever you're planning to work, if you want to work in canada get the Canada CPL. Do you have a work permit lined up though? Very unlikely any company would sponsor you to work for them in the aviation world, you'd need to have that figured out first.

For jobs, you'll generally need >1500 hrs to land a turbine/jet job in canada, be prepared to work the ramp or head up North to get the hours in for the first few years. If you want to stay in civilisation instructing is the other route to the hours.

As for converting the UK PPL to Canadian PPL, this is easy. Just go write the PSTAR exam at a flight school and you can apply for a Canadian PPL "issued on the basis of UK license". You'll need to keep your UK PPL valid and current after this. But you can then start training for your Canada CPL with this in hand. Once you pass your canadian CPL flight test the condition of keeping your UK license valid is then removed.