Thanks you a lot for the information. Yes I have flown the C150 throughout my PPL, I like this aeroplane. But I am more interested in flying the PA28 to get some more experience with a low-wing design .
I have some time to organize since I can go there in the end of July at the earliest, so I'll do some more research.
Ideally, I would like to fly around the Midwest. But in case I dont find such an option, I guess Airplanes4Rent or FlightTimeBuilding would be a probable option.

A question to anyone reading this thread, do you know of any reliable company renting aircraft in the Midwest? Thanks

That video is amazing dunc 201.

Does anyone one know a good flight school to do time builiding near Los Angeles??. I need to build just under 90 hours towards my CPL.

Kind regards

Hey all,

I'm heading to Florida for my hour building in June and I've received my certificate of validation from the FAA for conversion of my UK EASA PPL to an FAA one. My understanding was that I now had to go to my FSDO (Orlando) with an appointment and to be issued with the temporary licence. However, I called them up asking for an appointment and the lady on the phone had no idea what I was asking for.

So what do I need to do?

Do I get a flight test with an international examiner THEN go to the FSDO? Or what exactly do I need to do from here to actually fly solo/PIC in Florida?

Thanks for all help!

EDIT: On a different note: What GoPro mounts are recommended to take videos and photos of the hour building? I see a lot of videos from behind the pilot seats looking out and I cannot think of any way to actually achieve this!

Locarno,

The Orlando FSDO has farmed this job out to the local Designated Pilot Examiners. There's one at Jack Brown's in Winter Haven who charges about $50 for a twenty minute process of filling in forms. There is an FAA database of DPEs here. Use FAA office "SO15" for the Orlando FSDO region.

Prior to acting as pilot in command you must complete a flight review (14 CFR 61.56) with a US-certificated flight instructor. The short FAA guide for instructors, Conducting an Effective Flight Review, might be of interest. The instructor conducting the review will expect you to be acquainted with the flight rules in subpart B of Part 91.

I did my EASA PPL in San Diego and decided to do hour building in the same region since I was already pretty familiar with that environment. I looked around a lot before deciding and in the end decided to become a member with Plus One Flyers (http://www.plusoneflyers.org/), who run ops at four different fields in the San Diego area. They do not own their own aircraft, rather individuals rent their planes through them using their platform.

There are a ton of different planes. I choose a great, newly refurbished PA28 Archer (180hp) with a Garmin 430 stack, digital fuel monitoring, etc. The price was 115 USD (wet) per hour and I managed to squeeze that down by 10% agreeing to fly at least 50 hours in my month. In the end I logged close to 90 hours in that time, flying to some great locations (Las Vegas, Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles...).

The One Plus organisation is very professional, they even have on-call instructors around the clock that you call if you have any questions regarding safety. You pay 30 USD a month for membership.

I had a EASA PPL and did some paperwork through the FAA website. I booked a meeting at the local FAA office and did a very brief interview with them, basically to check that my language skills was proper enough. I then got a 90-day paper slip (and my FAA card was sent to my adress in Sweden a few weeks later). This license is a piggyback-type, meaning that I have to have a valid EASA at all times to back it up.

I came back after a month, a much better pilot thanks to the challenging environment (Class B, a lot of traffic) and the amazing scenery.

Here's a video summing up that month of flying: https://youtu.be/nxDbVjl8q6A

Hi Farewellfire what school did you go in san diego to do you easa ppl?

Guys, I've searched a lot but couldn't find much about Hour building with Flying academy in USA.
Anyone who has done it recently could share some thoughts?

I'm thinking about to do it with Airplanes4rent, but Flying academy is an option. Apart most of the questions about them, one thing was different in their website. They say you need a FAA Medical class 2. In other websites and even here in the forum I learned that with a license like the one I hold, EASA UK CAA PPL, you could just convert license and medical, go to the FSDO when you get there and they would print the license. Or should I get an FAA medical anyway?

Horus,

See 14 CFR 61.75(b)(4).

Thanks selfin, so there's no need for a FAA medical if you hold one from the country which issued your license.

Another question just came up:
All the hours that you log in USA as PIC, not P1 and not dual for the biannual, will count 100% for EASA correct? Is there anything that is recommended to have in order not to have problems to prove the hours you've flown?
I read that it was just a signature of the renter and a stamp would be it. So having those can I have peace of mind when I go to start my IR and CPL back to Europe?

Cheers

Horus,

Yes, however if your non-US medical certificate expires then you may obtain an FAA one.

Not all logged pilot-in-command time is deemed as such by EASA which only credits you for pilot-in-command time when you were the acting pilot-in-command. EASA treats training time received from an instructor as dual.

Any dual time received from a US-certificated flight instructor should be countersigned in your logbook. If you are not certain about the distinction between US and EU logging rules then forward a copy of the logbook to the prospective EASA training organisation for an assessment.

what school did you do your easa ppl farewellfire?

Hi guys and girls,

Could anyone give me a bit of advice about the heat in Arizona in summer?
I've got some time off in July/Aug and really fancy going out to chandler air service to do some hour building. I haven't had a holiday in years, since I've been saving for my training and am really looking forward to flying out there, hopefully having a few free days to relax too. I could go to other places or stay in the uk, now its summer, or even wait until the end of the year to go to Phoenix but if possible I would prefer to go during those months.
I've spoken to the school about the performance of their aircraft; they have told me they will cover all that when I get there. They also told me that it is hot and that it's better to fly early in the morning and get back to the pool in the afternoon to relax and plan the next days flying.
I know that it probably depends on the type of person you are and how much you feel the heat. I'm quite skinny and always cold compared to my family and friends half the time! So I love a bit of heat but 44 degrees is a different story!
I really hoped someone could give me their opinion on whether it would be ok if I'm careful or whether I'm crazy and would be miserable for the whole 3 weeks. I'm concerned with safety most of all and whether my concentration would be affected if it is too hot?

Any comments would be appreciated, whether you have done some flying in Arizona or even visited there in the summer 😅

Thanks

I just came across a very good deal that I thought I'd share with you.

If you go to vfrmap.com and make your way over to Knoxville Tennessee you can follow along on our odyssey.

The trip started out of Knoxville Downtown Island Airport (DKX).

I met the local examiner Jerry Rasmussen a retired FBI agent, who can do all types of check rides.
He is available full time.

The first stop was Sky Ranch Airport. It is located within the class C airspace of Knoxville Tyson-McGee Airport. I know it say (R) for a restricted airport, which is privately owned, but very open to the public. You must talk to Knoxville approach before entering their airspace, but apart from that one time, it was the only time we ever spoke to anyone during our three day trip. All other communication were just position reports over Unicom frequencies.

We landed there as a part of a check out from the owner of the plane, and to get to know the locals. It's a really down to earth fun community of flyers. Their web site is skyranchairport.org.

They have three very nice older Cessna 172s for rent at $80 an hour wet. They are the 140hp and 150hp versions that can be run on 87 octane ethanol free car gas, known as Mo-Gas. Flyunleaded.com has a map of Mo-Gas airports, and puregas.com a list of everywhere you can buy Mo-Gas from. Do not over load these models. Two people with full tanks, three with half tanks maximum. If you throttle back to 2200 rpm, they burn just 7 gallons per hour. I do not know what the dry rate would be. It is a club that has a $225 membership fee and $48 a month dues. But if you fly a lot, this is not a lot.

The club has five instructors. They are all part time instructors that have full time jobs. So they won't be up and gone half way through your training.

A word of warning. This is a grass strip, down by the river. Sometimes the runway gets soft and slippery. All patterns are over the water, not the hills. Their web site shows how to get in and out of there. The runway is only 2100 feet long. It is NOT suitable as a touch and go field for flight training. There are plenty of other airports that you can go to for that.

Another word of warning. You are in the foothills of the Great Smokey Mountains. These can be very dangerous for novice flyers. I did not venture into them.

I thought Sky Ranch was a great deal. Mine of free was better, but still.

From there we went to (if you'd like to follow along on the map)
Monroe, McMinn, Chilhowee (paradise) This is a glider port, where you can get a GPL as the examiner runs the place, Cleveland, Collegedale, Dallas Bay (busy, be careful), Marion (mo-gas), Stevenson, Scottsboro, Guntersville (beautiful), Moontown (great), Hartselle, Addison (paradise), Double Springs (stunning), Posey, Pugh, N-W Alabama (night stop), Iuka, Savannah, Hassell, Tucker, Beech River, Benton, Humphries, Houston (lovely), Pirate Cove (restricted), Murry (Mo-Gas), Lake Barkley (nice), Kentucky Dam (impressive), Princeton, Tradewater, Muhlenberg, Bowling Green (night stop), Glasgow, Tompkinsville, Jackson (beautiful, but be careful), Livingston, Jamestown, Scott, Campbell and back to Downtown Knoxville.

All in all a fantastic few days.

Today I'm in Northern Florida, doing some sight seeing with Sky Warrior in Pensacola. It's a very professional Pt 141 school. But that part of the country is a nightmare for private flying because of all the military activity and restricted airspace in the area. The weather in June is awful. I don't know why people think of going to Florida or Arizona in the summer time.

The United States is a great big beautiful country, go explore it.

Just got to give a shout out to Jerry - I did my IR and CPL with him - great guy!

00000

^^^ just don't do that if you want an EASA licence, EASA will not recognise safety pilot hours as PIC.

rudestuff,

Do you care to back up that statement?

That is indeed correct. EASA does not recognise safety pilot as PIC

Fact. Don't do it!

jamesgrainge,

Yet the decision is left to the national authorities which must disregard one or more Part-FCL rules to discredit pilot-in-command hours logged by a person acting as pilot-in-command. The discussion properly belongs in this other thread: http://www.pprune.org/professional-p...-faa-easa.html