Foriegn Pilot Working in UK
 

I am a Panamanian national with a FAA CPL/IR, B737/300/700 series type rating, and 2500 hours in total. In a couple of years I will be going to live in the UK with my British husband, and would like some advice on what I need to do to be able to apply for jobs in the UK. Would you recommend getting my ATP rating before coming back? Do you know if I have to convert my FAA licence to a UK licence? Any advice you could give me would be much appreciated :confused:

There is no way, not even for the CAA, to find out what the regulations will look like in a couple of years. JAR may not even be around as they plan it now.

Best advice you will obtain from the makers of the rules....

UK CAA Safety Regulation Group
Licensing Section
Aviation House
Gatwick Airport South
Gatwick
West Sussex
RH6 0YR
Licensing department +44 (0)1293 573700
fax +44 (0) 1293 573996

Hi denisevv,
I am a German/American and thought about transferring my FAA to LBA. Trust me, you don't want to go down that road. If I were you, I would be more willing to consider the idea of commuting to England. I am based at IAD and I know of several who jumpseat to the UK. I hear it is actually easier than commuting to the West coast. (6 1/2 hour flight vs. 5.)

Since you seem to have a good amount of experience you might also consider IASCO or some other crew leasing company. They often have people based in Europe. I have never heard any complaints about working for them.

If you are set on converting though. From what I learned about converting to the LBA (Germany's FAA), the best way is to go straight to a flight school and cough up the money to retrain. Sometimes the flight schools will have ideas on how to save you money. Since they know the newest regulations regarding training and so on. In addition, you will actually have a CAA license which means a lot in Europe when job hunting.

Good luck,

BBB

Help BBB
 

Hello BBB, it seems I can't contact you but I need to pick your brain for a minute.

Currentlly going down the LBA-JAA route to convert an FAA ATP, I have found a pretty good school in Berlin (Comfly...).

If you have any advice re this tricky road or if you could recommend the "better schools" email me at the attached address.
:D

Apologies for hi-jacking the thread but i need to speak to BBB

Cheers;)

Hey IHD,
first off good luck with the training ahead of you. It has been about four years since I seriously looked into converting. For some reason in Germany many employers don't like seeing an LBA license based on an FAA license. What I was going to do and seemed to be the quickest (not necessarilty the cheapest) was convert my FAA PPL/IFR to an LBA PPL/IFR. This is a very simple conversion. You basically just have to find an IP who will sign you off after doing a three leg cross country flight. Herr Wakawitz at Ikon is very familiar with this conversion.

Once you have your PPL/IFR, sign up for the CPL course. Do it from scratch without being based on your FAA. That way you learn all the German/European regs, etc. The course takes 4-6 weeks. Once you have that you are almost done as the ATPL 1 in Germany is only a written exam. (Only does not mean easy ie very hard)

I got most of my info from Fr. Feiertag at the LBA in and Dr. Kotzohr at Ikon. I have heard of Comfly and they are probably great too. I do know that Ikon has a close relationship with the LBA examiners and almost everyone passes without a problem. Here is their web site: www.ikon-flugschule.de

Hi Denise,
are you by any chance the same Denise who trained at Businness Air in Oklahoma?
Anyhow, here's some info about the easier way to convert an FAA license to JAA (which you need in order to work in EU)

1st. get an FAA ATP. It's very easy, just a simple written test and a flight check (same as the commercial multiengine). You only need 3 hours of flight instruction (can be done in a couple of days.
2nd. once you have the ATP, enroll in a correspondence JAA ATPL course. I highly reccomend Bristol. The cost is 1000 pounds if you don't want the 2 weeks brush up course (although I've heard it's worth it)
3rd. get a JAA 1st class medical certificate (it's not as simple as it is in the States)
4th. with an ICAO (FAA) ATP, a type rating, and 1500 hours in type you only need to pass a flight check conducted by a CAA examiner and, of course, all the 14 JAA ATPL exams.

If you are already qualified (ATP, type rating, and 1500 hours in the 73), you DON'T need any additional flight training. On the other hand, if are not qualified, then you have to go through the whole training process again (although you get some credits).

Should you have any question, please e-mail me. I musthave made hundreds of calls to the CAA, so the above information are reliable.

Oh, I forgot, you can also get your license validated for a year, but that's been difficoult after 9/11.

Take care.

P.

Dear erjdriver,

thank you for your very helpful post. I am the same Denise that studied at Business Air in Oklahoma. How do you know me? The only P that I can remember is Paulo. Is that you?

I've tried to send you a couple of e-mails but I'm not sure if they reached you. I'm interested to find out more about the courses in the UK. Do you have more details (i.e. about Bristol). I'd like to keep in touch with you to pick your brain. It sounds like you've investigated this alot! :)

Regards,

Denise

ERJ

I stand to be corrected, if the rules have changed and I am not aware of that, but my understanding is as follows;

To convert a non-JAR ATPL, you must have a minimum of 1500 hours on a type heavier than 30k+ Kilos (can't remember the exact figure), a JAR Class 1 medical, a pass in Air Law and Human Performance (2 quick exams) and satisfactory pass in a skill test which is observed by a CAA Inspector. You do not need to sit the full ATPL theory courses.

I apologise if I'm wrong, but don't think I am.

Denise, if the above is correct, then I agree, get the FAA ATPL first.

Cb

Has the JAA actually been implemented or are individual countries still issuing their own licences? For example, if you get a German, Austrian, Italian (etc etc) licence is that a JAA licence? Do they grandfather in as a JAA if and when they all merge??

Cumulunimbus -

unfortunately, to convert a non-JAA license to JAA, one must pass ALL 14 exams. To validate a license (1-yr validation), it is only necessary to demonstrate knowledge of JARs.
There are some countries (see Italy) which will validate a professional license in order to allow one to obtain a full JAA license, but, at the end, one must still pass the 14 exams.

BTW, very cool name. I guess friends can call you CB?


PEACE

Cumulunimbus, what you said is absolutely correct, you only forgot one most important thing...this applies to non-JAR licences from JAR-Member countries only...
Non-JAR member countries have to follow erjdrivers words...

CB,

Mea Culpa. I see where you got that information.
There is indeed a paragraph which states "different terms apply to ATPL(A) holders with a minimum of 3,000 hours flying experience as pilot of public transport aircraft over 30,000kgs MTWA on scheduled international or similar routes, including a minimum of 1500 hours as PIC."

I just drive an ERJ (MTOW 48,500 lbs).


PEACE