ICAO CPL to EASA ATPL
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ICAO CPL to EASA ATPL
Good morning/evening
I'm a pilot in Australia who finished their CPL, Multi Engine and Instrument rating in Australia and has been struggling to find the first job.
I completed my Aussie ATPL's in the meantime and was looking at going to Europe to find a job as a pilot as I have family and citizenship in France.
I've read up the general steps to do this are
1. Get the Class 1 Medical (for the country i decide to do my conversion in)
2. Complete the 14 EASA ATPL theory exams,
3. Conduct a CPL Flight test
4. Conduct an IR flight test
5. possible get MCC as many places possible employers do seem to ask for it.
I'm unsure which country I should conduct my conversion, obviously being in France i can save costs staying with family, but I'm ready to move to any location.
I've read up the general process but I am asking around to others who can share their experience so i can plan ahead before I decide to leave the land downunder.
Cheers
I'm a pilot in Australia who finished their CPL, Multi Engine and Instrument rating in Australia and has been struggling to find the first job.
I completed my Aussie ATPL's in the meantime and was looking at going to Europe to find a job as a pilot as I have family and citizenship in France.
I've read up the general steps to do this are
1. Get the Class 1 Medical (for the country i decide to do my conversion in)
2. Complete the 14 EASA ATPL theory exams,
3. Conduct a CPL Flight test
4. Conduct an IR flight test
5. possible get MCC as many places possible employers do seem to ask for it.
I'm unsure which country I should conduct my conversion, obviously being in France i can save costs staying with family, but I'm ready to move to any location.
I've read up the general process but I am asking around to others who can share their experience so i can plan ahead before I decide to leave the land downunder.
Cheers
Step 1 and 2 are correct.
If I am not mistaken you will have to do a conversion course with an FTO, as you don't have experience on any type etc.The conversion course than leads to doing a CPL / ME / IR skills test. I am not sure, but I believe you can in theory do all of that in one check, but get this confirmed by the CAA or/and an FTO.
MCC course is mandatory for low experience pilots with no Multi Crew experience.
However the best source of advice, would be to contact the CAA directly and get their exact legal requirement, instead of getting loads of "half truths" here on these forums. As the rules have been changing quite a lot over they years. So the only one who can give you the correct requirement is the CAA of any EASA country.
If I am not mistaken you will have to do a conversion course with an FTO, as you don't have experience on any type etc.The conversion course than leads to doing a CPL / ME / IR skills test. I am not sure, but I believe you can in theory do all of that in one check, but get this confirmed by the CAA or/and an FTO.
MCC course is mandatory for low experience pilots with no Multi Crew experience.
However the best source of advice, would be to contact the CAA directly and get their exact legal requirement, instead of getting loads of "half truths" here on these forums. As the rules have been changing quite a lot over they years. So the only one who can give you the correct requirement is the CAA of any EASA country.
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Which is kind of out of date these days. If you want to do combined rides, ensure it is in the ATO's training manual. Otherwise you are best talking to a training organisation
PPRuNe Handmaiden
G'day Boris,
Where have you been looking for the first job in Australia?
Good to see you have French citizenship, that'll be useful post-Brexit... Can you speak the language? Pretty much all French companies will want at least Level 4 in French. You'll have English covered.
Workwise. There's some signs emerging that the aviation market for pilots is beginning to cool, esp for low houred pilots. Converting to an EASA licence is not cheap. I'd be budgeting £20-30,000. No, I am not kidding. It cost me $A50,000 18 years ago. (I held an Aussie ATPL).
Where have you been looking for the first job in Australia?
Good to see you have French citizenship, that'll be useful post-Brexit... Can you speak the language? Pretty much all French companies will want at least Level 4 in French. You'll have English covered.
Workwise. There's some signs emerging that the aviation market for pilots is beginning to cool, esp for low houred pilots. Converting to an EASA licence is not cheap. I'd be budgeting £20-30,000. No, I am not kidding. It cost me $A50,000 18 years ago. (I held an Aussie ATPL).
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I have recently gone through the process. It was a minefield of complications. The hardest part of the whole process was dealing with all the bureaucracy. Harder than the exams.
I converted an ICAO ( South African) ATPL to an EASA ATPL. So a bit different.
1) Get a class 1 medical, I waited till the end of my exams, as did a bunch of mates and this is more time consuming than you imagine.
2) Register with the CAA and get your license verified and register with a ground school ( if you meet the requirements for an EASA ATPL you can be exempt from registration but you still have to write the 14 exams)
3) Attend some ground school and write exams.
4) Your practical training will depend on how much experience you have. Over a 1000 hrs may include as little as 5 hours. You will need to pass an English proficiency test ( what they don’t tell you and I found this out by accident , is that it can be done as part of your skills test.
5) mountain of paperwork ( more than you can possibly imagine) and wait and hope the CAA don’t mess it up. They cost me quite a few months of delays by messing up my paperwork.
I converted an ICAO ( South African) ATPL to an EASA ATPL. So a bit different.
1) Get a class 1 medical, I waited till the end of my exams, as did a bunch of mates and this is more time consuming than you imagine.
2) Register with the CAA and get your license verified and register with a ground school ( if you meet the requirements for an EASA ATPL you can be exempt from registration but you still have to write the 14 exams)
3) Attend some ground school and write exams.
4) Your practical training will depend on how much experience you have. Over a 1000 hrs may include as little as 5 hours. You will need to pass an English proficiency test ( what they don’t tell you and I found this out by accident , is that it can be done as part of your skills test.
5) mountain of paperwork ( more than you can possibly imagine) and wait and hope the CAA don’t mess it up. They cost me quite a few months of delays by messing up my paperwork.
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Indeed, I can’t imagine the Irish could be any worse. Don’t get me wrong, I think the people at the UKCAA would like to help but they always seem so completely out of their depth. The law also has become so convoluted and confusing that you can ask 5 different people a question and 5 different interpretations.
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Dude 1: How long are our exams valid for when converting ICAO ATPL (yup good ol' SA) to EASA ATPL? I have a validation but it is in its second year and not sure that I can get it renewed for a subsequent year in order to get the reminder of 150 hours for the type rating I would like to add (Did the conversion course just pre-Covid so lost 7 months then lost my job), [using the undergoing training rule?]
Can I do a completely different and new type rating (not on my ICAO licence) and then do the skills test on that? Sadly most of my other types are obsolete or nearly obsolete.
I do have a vallidation of my licence which expires in 2022, do I only have until then to complete the skills test or can I do the skills test at a later stage?
Can I do a completely different and new type rating (not on my ICAO licence) and then do the skills test on that? Sadly most of my other types are obsolete or nearly obsolete.
I do have a vallidation of my licence which expires in 2022, do I only have until then to complete the skills test or can I do the skills test at a later stage?
A validation can only be extended once, so when yours expires you won't be able to fly EASA aircraft. The EASA exams themselves are valid for 36 months.
As long as you have 500 hours multi crew you can get an EASA ATPL.
If you have 500 hours on a multi pilot type - all you need to do is the skills test on that type.
If you don't have those 500 hours on type (it sounds like you've only got 350?) then you'll need to do a full type rating course plus skills test.
So yes, you can do any new type and get your ATPL, but once your valuation runs out you won't be able to fly your current type any more without passing an EASA skill test on it and either (a) getting 500 hours on type or (b) doing the full type course.
As long as you have 500 hours multi crew you can get an EASA ATPL.
If you have 500 hours on a multi pilot type - all you need to do is the skills test on that type.
If you don't have those 500 hours on type (it sounds like you've only got 350?) then you'll need to do a full type rating course plus skills test.
So yes, you can do any new type and get your ATPL, but once your valuation runs out you won't be able to fly your current type any more without passing an EASA skill test on it and either (a) getting 500 hours on type or (b) doing the full type course.
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EASA Conversion
First of all, You are not suppossed to get class 1 medical in the state that you wanna make your conversion. You may get class 1 in any EASA member state.
2. ATPL Theory: First You must get EASA Atpl theory course (650 hrs) to take official exams. (You may get your course and exams in any EASA member state)
3 and 4: First You must get approved conversion refresher training from an EASA ATO then You can go for skill test.
5. MCC is optional additional course anyway
2. ATPL Theory: First You must get EASA Atpl theory course (650 hrs) to take official exams. (You may get your course and exams in any EASA member state)
3 and 4: First You must get approved conversion refresher training from an EASA ATO then You can go for skill test.
5. MCC is optional additional course anyway
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The problem is EASA updated to a new central question bank last year (ECQB2020) and those apps are still not completely up to date with the new questions. It will take some time until they catch up since they are dependant on students currently undertaking the exams provide feedback.
From what I hear you can have anything like 10% to 70% of your exams coming from those apps at the moment whereas in the old ECQB it used to be easily 70% or more, so it's a big bet relying solely on it for studying.
Your airline experience will definitely help with many subjects, but I would recommend buying some theory books to review some subjects and use the apps in parallel to practice (and read the explanations). I heard Padpilot ebooks are quite straightforward to read and updated with the latest learning objectives.
From what I hear you can have anything like 10% to 70% of your exams coming from those apps at the moment whereas in the old ECQB it used to be easily 70% or more, so it's a big bet relying solely on it for studying.
Your airline experience will definitely help with many subjects, but I would recommend buying some theory books to review some subjects and use the apps in parallel to practice (and read the explanations). I heard Padpilot ebooks are quite straightforward to read and updated with the latest learning objectives.
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Hello! Can you help me what the regulation is if I already did some exams from syllabus 2016, but I still have some exams to do in the beginning of 2022? Can I continue with the old syllabus or do I have to take the exams from the new one? I only learnt for the exams from AviationExam QB so far.