A visa to study is required when a "course of study" is being undertaken. See above memorandum and 8 CFR 248.1(c).

Your reference to 18 hours is a conditional requirement for a "full course of study" under a vocational curriculum (not provided by a high school), e.g. training requiring an M-class visa.

Flying is closer to shop/laboratory work than to classroom instruction so the lower bound for an M-visa should be 22 "clock hours" per week. You're a bit screwed if doing fewer hours than this since a "course of study" can't lawfully be pursued on a B visa (visitors / visa waiver program). I'm sure Uncle Sam is willing to turn a blind eye if the money flows fast enough.

Cu Chulainn
you better get the flight review signed in log and then 'company rental checkout' training flights signed and THEN nothing else mentioned (you put it as rental or something), else you're 100% gonna run into troubles with any EASA CAA claiming you were PIC because you paid rental rate and not training rate and company instructor was with you as 'safety pilot' collecting log hours.

To think otherwise, you'd be too naive. THe responsibility for safe conduct of flight and any emergency decision making, that'd NOT be you on flight with FAA CFI rated and legal company instructor. Google any interesting NTSB or FAA reports regarding any responsibility in incidents/accidents. One passenger CFI rated pilot did last minute save to prevent serious damage and 'manipulating controls' self-preservation bacon saving got him into trouble. Or the CFI rated friend of airplane owner in trouble for fuel starvation flight where he wasn't even legal to fly that time.

I trained and instructed in the US in the past and have been involved with EASA stuff, have kept track of various things, issues, considerations, legal stuff or practicalities.

In the eyes of FAA or IAA, UK CAA or whichever, instructor onboard that has dual controls installed (that'd be litmus test if whether the CFI is there for tips and ideas and solely for a nice view ride), is the acting PIC. End of story.

Hour building Florida
 

Hi guys I'm heading to Florida around January time waiting my verification letter at the moment,and so confused which place to go
1-pilots paradise
2-Florida Flyers
This schools at my top of the list at the moment any suggestions any other recommendations thanks in advance...

Hour building in FL
 

Dear @Trust737,

You're more than welcomed to visit us also. We have a fleet of C152, C172, C172SP G1000, PA28 in our base in Miami (KTMB).

Time building starts at $88/hr for a C152, the C172 starts at $107 and the C172SP G1000 starts at $140/hr, depending on the number of hours you would like to fly. Check our website and you might even get free accommodation. We don't apply any surcharges.

Let me know if you would be interested and would like to know more about Flying Academy Miami.

Thank you,
Radim Olbrecht
Head of Training

@Trust737

I went to florida flyers in 2011 and done about 60 hours, they were great to deal with, 150/152's were in good tidy condition and the PA28 I flew for a few trips was also in good nick.

Would love to go back for some flying in the sun this coming year, really enjoyed it.

I stayed in a motel in St.Augustine (Merida Inn & Suites). It was a clean comfy wee place and a very friendly and helpful owner.

Hour Building In Seattle
 

Any good flying schools for hour building in Seattle.??

Anyone with some info on NCB Aviation in Ohio? Their rates are very cheap approx. $68 wet incl. tax for a C150. What worries me though is that they ask for the full block of hours to be paid up front (you can split this in to two payments for a fee). I am looking to build almost 100 hours, which means I would have to pay about $3400 upfront, twice.

I am just debating with myself if that's worth the risk, or if I should look elsewhere.

Thank you!

Hey all!


I'm going to Chandler Air Service in November for 4 weeks, going to do 80-100 H/B...

Hello All,

I have decided to do my hours building in Florida. I was thinking to do in Seattle but changed my mind because of weather and schools .

I will go to Florida this April. Researched a lot and I think Florida is the best place to fly as weather is good there.

PM if anyone is planning to go there by that time.

My Plan is to hire PA28 from Florida flyers. I have heard good reviews about them.

Cheers:)

Be weary. Any FTO insisting on cash upfront for 'special discounted rates' reeks of cashflow problems. I mean, there isn't any way to determine whether you'd get stung or not so it's your call.

Personally I would pay as you go. Try negotiating for a cash price paid in full after every flight.

Good luck

Hi All!

I am in the process of getting my verification letter and looking to go out to the states in June!

I have been onto "Superior Flying Services" in Duluth, Wisconsin about renting there 152 and 172.
Rates are 152 (10hr block) - $77 an hour wet (Add 5.5% sales tax)
172 (10hr block) - $91 an hour wet (Add 5.5% sales tax)

I would love to get some reviews from someone who has flown up that end of the country and past experiences with the company whether it be renting from them or communicating with them

All feedback is welcomed and much appreciated! :)

Hi all!

I´m planning my hours building (80-100 hrs in 4 weeks) in CA or AZ due to the weather and rent fee which are cheaper than FL.

I trained in a glass DA40 and have to choose between:

Chandler Air Service and rent a PA28-140 @92$ wet plus tax

American Flyers (KLGB) and fly the DA40 glass @109 dry.

I read good feedback for CAS but they are a little bit old, there are someone who recently made his/her hours there?
Personally I would go for the PA28 but I do not know,because I´ve never flown PA aircraft and there are familiarization and the check-ride

Thanks

Further endorsement for CAS in Arizona.

I was there in April/May last year for a month, and had a great time. Great team, very helpful and know their stuff.

Among other trips, I managed a Grand Canyon overflight and a transit over LAX whilst a Korean A380 departed a few thousand feet below me. Something never to forget. I don't think the A380 crew enjoyed being asked to look out for a Cherokee at 9000ft but I certainly did!

For anybody choosing to hour build in California; be VERY hot on your R/T. Busy airspace, and lots of VFR. Have to be on the ball.

Time Building Florida Cheap Flight Schools
 

@Pilot lad
What schools did you time build with in CA & AZ? What places in FL did you look into that CA or AZ prices beat? What year was the DA42 you flew? Most of the international pilots I trained with either went to Deland Aviation in Deland, FL or Berichi Aviation in Pompano Beach, FL. Berichi Aviation has a 2016 c172 w/g1000 and autopilot @120/hr WET with tax included. For the multi-engine guys, they have a 2016 DA62 with all the options @345/hr WET with tax included. They buy and sell new airplanes every two years so they are the only ones with new aircrafts and they are dirt cheap. You have to schedule far in advance because they are always packed with students. Very cool instructors, they are all laid back. Only place that beats their prices (but has very old airplanes and also has a packed schedule) is Deland Aviation. They have a c150 @ 85/hr WET plus (100 hour block pricing, pay up front). They also have a few c172's (1976-1984) @ 105/hr WET plus tax (115/hr without block pricing). However, a pilot I flew with there from Spain had multiple in-flight failures. Their planes are very old and poorly maintained. The mechanic/owner 'Bob' and his son are the worst with customer service. They limit where you can fly and give you problems if your late. They don't care about the weather. The AI on the c172 frequently was INOP. And we had a total electrical failure when flying back from Georgia. We also had a radio failure in the Class B @ MIA just before landing. Go with Berichi Aviation, they don't limit you if you pass the checkout and show your a professional (or at least pretend you know what your doing).

Rates | Berichi Aviation

Aircraft Rentals

the aircraft must be registered to a US citizen or resident- or a corporation- or in trust - the trust costs about $700 a year i believe. I am looking to do this if you want to share fuel costs!

Hello all, anyone interested to share hours by the middle of October for 2 weeks in Florida @Edgewater at 35usd per hour?

Does anyone know anything about the two following places for hour building, both in Florida?
Home Page - Time Build Inc - Flight building hours services
FlightTimeBuilding.com - Affordable aircraft time building

As above. Has anything heard about them? Are they worth it or is it a scam?
Cheers

Hello mate,
I'm currently doing my modular ATPL theory in Oxford, after that was considering to go to USA for time-building.
My question is, you said you did alot of research, would you recommend Airplanes4rent company over FlightTimeBuilding , and why?
Becase the dry price for a C150 for a 100 hour block is 50$ , plus the fuel & oil i guess something like 25$ max . My friend went to that company he said that he paid as he flew, that everything was fine , he flew the PA28 for dry+fuel rate cca. 100$ ...

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?

Flying in Arizona
 

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

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

Thanks to you and all other guys, who made the same statement.
 

Thanks to you and all other guys, who made the same statement.

Still, as I do understand, Total Time is not counted as well in this case?

And most important, if I'll still do it, with intentions to go to Africa/ Asia to beat 500TT mark, it strictly depends on the particular country/ authorities, to recognize safety pilot time and include in total?
Anyone has info/ examples of particular state?

The discussion is irrelevant though buddy.

Thems the EASA rules I'm afraid