CAA Updates on EASA

[Mariner9]

I wonder what the possibility is of the current seven JAA IR exams being void if/when EASA brings in this crap, if you haven't done the IR checkride by then?

That is a very good point IO, and has prompted me to get my finger out and start the flying training, having completed the writtens last year.

[421C]

I wonder what the possibility is of the current seven JAA IR exams being void if/when EASA brings in this crap, if you haven't done the IR checkride by then?

The recent CAA update on FCL details this. Licensing and Training Standards | EASA | Safety Regulation

Para 3.4 refers. I can't paste because the PDF is secure. Basically, the current UK JAA exams are "old standard" and will be available from now until April 12. You must pass all these before April 12, they will then be valid for an EASA IR for up to 36mths (IIRC). BUT, if you take "old standard exams" and don't pass all 7 by April 12, you may need to retake the lot.
The "new standard exams" will be available from June 2011. If you have passed some but not all the papers by April 2012 to the new standard, no problem.

The issue (IIRC) is that a JAR FCL amendment to the written exams was passed several years ago, but the CAA have chosen not to implement this amendment for whatever reasons until now. I think this amendment has a meaningful slimming down of the IR syllabus (10-20%, still 7 exams). One has the choice of waiting for the new syllabus or taking the old one now. My concern would be with slippage in the June 2011 date. The CAA need to make the exams available, but also the schools have to have Approved courses and course materials etc etc. It wouldn't surprise me if there was some issues with timing and availability. It would be worth checking with the TK schools who do the IR. At the time of the transition to JAR-FCL, the IR was very poorly handled. There are now some UK schools who offer good support of IR-only candidates, so worth contacting them. Two I think are very good are GTS and CATS.

brgds
421C

[IO540]

That is a very good point IO, and has prompted me to get my finger out and start the flying training, having completed the writtens last year.

Where did you do the exams and the flight training? Reply by email if you like

I was looking at GTS, and a location in Spain which someone recommended as supporting SE IR training, which is unusual.

I also never found anybody selling the computer revision ground school material - unless this is 100% identical to the ATPL version, but then I never found anybody whose product defined which 7 out of 14 to use.

I also heard, several years ago, that all jet-specific questions were removed from the ATPL syllabus, if one was doing just the PPL/IR. Is this true? If true then the exams cannot possibly be the same.

For somebody doing the exams, the 12-month timescale is not a bad idea because that is enough time to fail it 3 times and then you have to retake the lot anyway. But I was concerned about their eligibility towards flight training, if e.g. one is doing the flight training abroad. I am not doing the training in the UK - too much hassle with window screens (which AFAIK nobody has done for the TB20GT) and too much gold plating.

[Mariner9]

Where did you do the exams?

I used CATS for the IR groundschool. They offer CBT as standard, or printed manuals (which are duplicates of the CBT) for an additional price.

The CBT is indeed the full ATPL syllabus, but CATS also supply a detailed study guide for the IR which advises the sections that can be ignored. They also have an IR-specific question bank.

Personally, I can recommend CATS - they helped me get through all 7 written exams 1st time.

As for the flying - I have my first session with Aeros Gloucester this coming weekend.

[IO540]

Did you have to actually visit CATS?

I've just looked at their website and they seem to offer the same £1k deal as GTS who I contacted a while ago.

[Mariner9]

Some classroom attendance was mandatory for a "new" IR, though I'm not sure whether that is the case for an FAA IR conversion - check lasors (while you still can )

In any event, CATS helpfully ran a couple of weekend classes where we got everything done so it was no big deal.

[IO540]

Classroom attendance should not be mandatory for a conversion IR but I think these firms both offer something like 1 day's heavy classroom revision, just before the exam(s).

[Maoraigh1]

4.2 "...an EASA license wth SEP rating is valid for UK-Registered non-EASA single engine piston aeroplanes..."

This makes everything look sensible for most of us.

[421C]

I also never found anybody selling the computer revision ground school material - unless this is 100% identical to the ATPL version, but then I never found anybody whose product defined which 7 out of 14 to use.

There are 7 IR exams. They are seperate from the 14 ATPL exams. There is not a simple mapping of "you do these 7 ATPL exams for the IR". The IR syllabus is a subset of the ATPL syllabus in totality but that syllabus is clustered into 7 exam papers which map in different ways to the ATPL. For example (and take this as illustrative, I am doing it from memory)
...some exams are identical to the ATPL equivalents (HPL and IFR comms, I think)
...some exams are a subset of the ATPL equivalent. For example, the IR MET exam and syllabus is a simple subset of the ATPL MET exam and syllabus with about 90% of the ATPL content, but excluding various bits on global weather patterns etc
...the rest of the IR exams are a combination of parts of the ATPL syllabus bundled into IR exams. For example, the ATPL has an Air Law exam and an Operating Procedures exam. The IR has a single Air Law and Operating Procedures exam. It includes a subset of the ATPL syllabus for both these. It is a minor nusiance during the CATS course that you have to flick from the ATPL manuals to the paper that tells you which bits are relevant to the IR. However, the Question Banks are good - they are specific to each IR paper without you having to worry about any of this ATPL subsetting.

I also heard, several years ago, that all jet-specific questions were removed from the ATPL syllabus, if one was doing just the PPL/IR. Is this true? If true then the exams cannot possibly be the same.

See above. The exams have never been the same. They do not include any jet-specific content. You can see the "Learning Objectives" for each paper here:
JAA - Licensing: Learning Objectives IR (A)
(these are probably the post-amended JAA standard, not the current CAA one)

too much hassle with window screens (which AFAIK nobody has done for the TB20GT) and too much gold plating.

There is a detailed write-up here of a PPL/IR Europe members experience doing an FAA to JAA IR conversion on a private N-reg TB20 here:PPL/IR Europe - Getting a JAA/IR - Personal Practical Experience

There is also a detailed write-up of the TK exams here:
PPL/IR Europe - JAA IR Written Exams: Much easier than you think

I also never found anybody selling the computer revision ground school material

The market is tiny - why would anyone sell it? Every candidate has to go to an approved school, so you sign up for a course, and they sell you the materials - online or paper. If you want to get a sense of the question bank, a number of the ATPL question bank providers will sell you the IR QB - google it.

Classroom attendance should not be mandatory for a conversion IR but I think these firms both offer something like 1 day's heavy classroom revision, just before the exam

It's not mandatory, but it is at the schools' discretion. I would imagine that they would not require completion of the coursework and classroom attendance if you convinced them in good faith you were able to self-study in the spirit required of the JAA/EASA exam process (.....eg. not an intention to try the exams without studying to see which you pass!).

I was looking .....a location in Spain which someone recommended as supporting SE IR training

Of course it was (quite rightly) possible under the JAA to do this sort of thing. I believe there was a bit of greyness one needed to be careful of about which bits of the process were done where, but plenty pilots with UK JAA licences got IRs added to them on the basis of completing training and the test in Spain. The JAA has since evaporated, so I would just be cautious that the process you choose ticks the right boxes for the CAA - it's really down to their discretion now whether to and how to accept overseas training and testing. One advantage of EASA is that these rules about cross-border training and testing will be clearer and more consistent.

brgds
421C

[IO540]

The market is tiny - why would anyone sell it?

That explains why I never found any and why none of the ground school firms never replied to my enquiries. Interesting to see some recent disinformation from a well known pilot forum ego-tripper corrected

The CAA has very recently accepted a Spanish IR, so it seems ongoing. In any case, one would do the exams before looking at where to do the rest.

I cannot use TB20 window screens because the TB20GT has different windows. Anyway I think it is dangerous to fly with those things. Anybody blocking the view like that, in normal ops, would be regarded as completely mad.