CASA --> FAA (FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR)

[DRss]

I'm In the process of looking at options of undertaking Flight Instruction In the USA, (With a potential Employer). I am Australian Citizen with CASA Flight Instructor Fixed Wing licence holder.

I am trying to obtain Information about the process/eligibility, the recognition and privileges that may now be carried over to an FAA licence, from the current Part 61 CASA licence?

From previous Information I've sourced from other threads that date a while back ( CAR 5 Licence) and earlier when Part 61 was about to come into effect, the FAA will only issue a PPL...?? And further Issuances of other ratings i.e. CPL , FIR, will require theory & flight testing? DOES THIS STILL HOLD TRUE?

My status stands at the FAA looking at my Licencing Conversion Application ( Form you fill out) with Full Licence/Medical Evidence.

Does anyone In Australia have FAA licensing conversion testing privileges , that allows you to undertake, If required the testing to obtain the licence, without having to go over to the USA beforehand?

I need to have the licences In order to be given a formal offer of employment, & to commence a VISA process i.e. E3 . And meeting this is getting to be a catch - 22

So any Information about my challenges I am facing about this ordeal, and how to go about it, would be greatly appreciated...

FAA Inspectors, FSDO person(s), If you are reading this, please provide your professional Input!

[MarkerInbound]

Not FAA but I deal with them at times. The 61.75 process is still the same. The FAA will issue you a private certificate based on your CASA license. Everything above the private level is done with a written test and a checkride. If you have 1500 hours and a foreign commercial or ATPL you can skip the FAA commercial. Your hours count and some of the instruction may count depending on how it is documented. But you will have to pass the written and checkride for each certificate and rating you want. You would have to present yourself to a FSDO to get the PVT. Looking at the list of FAA written test sites I do not see any outside the USA or its territories. Your closest ones would be Hawaii or Guam. The FAA Designated Pilot Examiner list is by FAA office but going through all the West Coast FAA offices I don't see anyone outside of the US or it's territories.

[Tinstaafl]

Do you have the min. experience for either FAA CPL or ATPL? Make sure you check the FARs because the x-country requirements are different for each of them, and different from Oz. You will need a medical ('flight physical'). My annual Class 1 med hwith ECG costs $100 at the Dr. I use here in Orlando.

You will also have to satisfy the TSA insecurity bull**** before you start any training so will need to go to a flying school that is authorised to teach foreign students. Unless you're also a US citizen?

The FAA ATP is the better option to CPL. You will need to do fewer exams ('knowledge tests') & flight tests ('checkrides'). CAVEAT! For an ATP-ME you *will* have to do a multi-crew prep course before you can sit the ATP exam. You don't have to do this course if you get an ATP for SE, but will if you ever want to add ME to your SE ATP. If you do a ME ATP first then adding a SE to the ATP is simple. Just an add-on flight test. Not hard at all. I did that, but also trained for seaplane. Did the SE ATP test in an amphibian with both splashes & thumps, giving me two add-ons with one checkride (ATP-Single Engine Land, S.E. Sea)

CPL route: Note: check your hours against the FARs.

Commercial theory exam, Commercial flight test. You will require a few hours min. training from an FAA Certified Flying Instructor qualified for SE (CFI) or ME (MEI)), as appropriate. You will need an instructor recommendation for the exam and for the flight test.

Instrument rating: Again, theory exam & flight test, with a required min. amount of training prior to the flight test. Also the same re instructor recommendations for the theory & flight tests. Don't forget to check you meet the FAR's min. experience for the IR.

ATP route: Ditto check your hours against the FARs.

Do the ME ATP prep course, if appropriate. Do the ATP theory exam. Do the ATP checkride. No instructor recommendation needed for either of these (excluding that ME ATP prep course, of course) *however* I strongly recommend you do a few hours with an IFR instructor (CFII). The US does some things differently that will trip you in a flight test.

NOTE: The FAA ATP *includes* IFR privileges! So no need to add an instrument rating. The flight test is pretty much an IR test, but to smaller tolerances (+- 50'. 1/4 scale LOC & GS).

Instructor rating: Three fixed wing instructor ratings, commonly known as CFI, CFII, MEI (Certified Flight Instructor, CFI-Instrument, Multi-Engine Instructor). Each one is stand-alone, with its own flight test, and can be done in any order (or not all of them, if you wish).
Same as the CPL & IR. Do exams. Two of them this time - Fundamentals of Instructing (very similar to Oz PMI), and Airplane Flight Instructor for 1st of CFI or MEI. Add Instrument Flight Instructor for the CFI-I - and do the flight test. Need a CFI recommendation for the exams & flight tests.

While you're doing the theory exams you should also do the Advanced Ground Instructor exam, and when/if you do the CFII theory, do the Instrument Ground Instructor exam. These two *ground* instructor certificates are stand alone **and issued on application once you pass the exams**. So for the cost of the theory exam the AGI lets you teach ground theory for *any* pilot certificate except instrument rating theory, and the IGI adds IR stuff. It means that you can easily instruct (theory only, obviously) even if your flight instructor certs. have lapsed.