UK then US then UK PPL

[Swerve550]

Hi guys,

I know this may have been covered numerous times, and I have searched the forum for the answer I'm looking for, but I'm a bit lost in the regulations. Background:

I've currently only got five hours flying in London (one in Scotland) and I'm aiming for my PPL. I would like to spend two weeks in sunny California getting a sun tan and building some of the hours I'll need to clear the 45 hour mark for a PPL, in summer this year. The end goal is to complete my PPL skills test in the UK.

Question therefore being: If I build hours in the US, lets say 20 hours in two weeks, will they count toward my UK JAR PPL if I complete the skills test, medical and all of my exams over here? I aim to have at least fifteen hours UK before going to the US.

Thanks in advance,

Swerve

[Genghis the Engineer]

Yes they will.

However, personally I'd recommend:

- Medical, exams plus a few hours in the UK
- Finish the PPL in Florida/CA/AZ... (More JAA schools in Florida than elsewhere in the USA).
- Come back and do a UK airspace checkout with the club you'll be flying with.

G

[Swerve550]

Thanks for the reply G.

Is your reasoning based on the fact it'd be cheaper/more efficient that way?

Swerve

[Whopity]

If I build hours in the US, lets say 20 hours in two weeks

At your stage you will not be hour building but learning how to fly. The style of instruction is quite different in the USA to the UK so interfacing into the UK system on return will not be seamless. You will need 25 hours dual instruction with a JAA FI.

The UK CAA will not be issuing JAA licences after 30 June so you will be looking at an EASA licence however; that won't make any significant differences.

For two weeks flying, the paperwork is not likely to be worth it.

[Genghis the Engineer]

Expanding upon my earlier answer then (and broadly agreeing with Whopity):

- Get the exams out the way early, they're hard work and time consuming, so particularly if you are planning to get your licence reasonably quickly, get them done first and with the ability to fail the odd one and deal with it without unreasonable pressure.

- Different schools, and different countries, will have different learning styles. So, do the bulk of your learning where you're going to take your skill test. Doing that in the USA makes reasonable sense because you'll get the high rate of flying, which makes for less hours overall as you learn quicker. On the other hand, if you are planing to do your skill test in the UK, then frankly, do all your learning in the UK.

In an ideal world, you'd do your whole course with one instructor, and he or she knows the examiner fairly well.

- If you do learn in the USA, you will need some time with a UK based instructor to get to know the environment here (and that really wants to be post PPL, not right at the start when you're really just learning effects of controls). Nothing wrong with this, just budget for it.

G

[BackPacker]

For two weeks flying, the paperwork is not likely to be worth it.

Agree. You will need an M1 visa and a TSA clearance for this. That's quite a lot of time and money for a mere 20 hours of training.

Furthermore, there's only one school (as far as I know) in CA that does JAA training. They were called Anglo-American Aviation or something like that, but I think they recently changed names. They were in San Diego as I recall. So that's going to be the place to work on your tan, if you want this scheme to succeed at all.

And that's apart from the question whether the school will actually agree to a "pre-PPL hour builders" scheme, where you just take a few flying lessons but without the other things that make up their package (ground school, ground exams, ...).

Situation like this, go all the way or don't do it at all. So do all the hours, tests and exams in the US, or forget about it.

[Swerve550]

Thanks guys, this is really good advice. The paperwork for the US does sound laborious and therefore i guess nulifies the cost advantage (which as you say may not be that significant unless i'm completing the licence over there).

Appreciate the help.

Swerve