EASA Conversion Question
 

I am a recently retired major airline captain from the USA thinking of looking for contract work in Europe. I retired early after 30 years at age 60. I have an FAA issued ATP with multiple type ratings and approximately 27,000 hours of total time, 24,000 PIC. How do I go about converting to an EASA license, time involved etc.? Thanks for any info or direction to websites for this.

It's not going to be easy, nor cheap and offers no respect of your experience, other than the fact that you have greater than the required 1500 hours.

Basically, it'll involve sitting 14 exams (and paying for the privilege of doing so), getting a class 1 medical from the country in which you're going to get the licence issued, doing any training considered necessary by the training organisation you choose to use for your type rating and getting a course completion certificate from them and then doing a licence skills test (LST) in order to get that type rating (from an EASA TRE). Finally, an English proficiency test.

So, in the UK, you would nip along to the CAA with:

14 exam passes (no Freedom Of Information, so you can't just study the answers)
UK class 1 medical
UK EASA TRE-signed LST
Course completion certificate
English certificate
A load of application forms for the licence and type rating to be put on that licence
Your credit card

You need to 'open' your licence with a type rating, hence the need to do one before the licence is issued.....they won't just issue you a blank ATPL with no type on it. Clearly, if your last type was a 744 then you'd probably choose to do a type rating on that but be very careful with which training organisation you use. Remember, you have to get a course completion certificate from them BEFORE you can sit the actual type rating test (LST). You can, therefore, imagine how some organisations take advantage and will require more hours in the simulator than others before they sign that certificate and, in the meantime, clear out your bank account paying for those hours......especially if you haven't got a sim partner.

I know a lot of US pilots complain about the FAA but be very prepared if you want to enter the bureaucratic world of EASA. It's all about forms, money and more forms and woe betide you if you haven't got one of those forms correctly signed!

My advice would be to forget the EASA licence idea all together. If you really want to fly (or need to fly) that badly in Europe then sign up with a bunch of agencies because sometimes the contracts will allow FAA licences; they could be flying 'N' registered aircraft, for instance. The other thing to consider is if you'd be able to work in Europe. You didn't mention it in your post but for most work in Europe you have to have the 'right' to do so i.e. do you have a EU passport (for most of EASA Land)?

NOW you can see how aviation-friendly the USA is :)

CAP 804 is the UK CAA reference for all things licensing.

EASA Conversion Question
 

For conversion you don't need to have a type-rating course completion certificate, if your license is current you just need to do an ATPL skill test! So, 14 exams, medical, FRTO, language test and sim check ride! Have already gone through it converting my ICAO license. Good luck!

I stand corrected and am always willing to learn.

The problem is the "sim check ride" as you termed it, or LST, or whatever the relevant country calls it. It's up to the people that you do that check with to determine how much training you need beforehand and that was my primary point when I said "imagine how some organisations take advantage and will require more hours in the simulator than others." Some organisations look at your experience on a particular type and decide that you can go straight into the check ride. Others decide that you need training first and all the $$$$s that that involves. There are no clear-cut rules as far as I've been able to ascertain and so you're left to the vagaries of sharks, in some cases, or nice people in others. I was obviously incorrect to say that a course completion certificate is required but it's still up to the ATO to 'approve' you before you do a check ride with them and that has the potential to be very expensive unless you do your homework and find a company that assesses your experience realistically and doesn't just see you as a revenue stream.

Excellent timing of the original post and thank you for the information. I just sat my 14th exam today and am headed next month to Gatwick for my medical. I am still waiting to speak with the FCL office to see if I can finish this up with just a B300 sim ride... Out of my own pocket naturally. The costs keep climbing and it has been a two year process so far since signing up for distance learning ground school. Studying, kids, and a full time job don't necessarily work well together.

Good luck to anyone going through this process. I have run into several Americans at the testing center, there are those of us that either choose to or are forced to, but it was nice to know I wasn't the only one trying.

Congats with finishing exams! I've done all my exams in 5 months also flying around 80 hours a months, so it was quite hard, because you are always with books as for EASA several topics you need to completely understand to be quite sure with exam results! Concerning check-ride it was quite straight-forward, they give you details of it and all depends on your ability to fly and manage! Good Luck!

Erm... when spending your cash on an EASA license, bear in mind that Europe is still an ageist region. At 60+, you can expect age discrimination to be well under way with many jobs requiring pilots to be in their 50s, not 60s - even though 65 is still currently the limit for a commercial command position. I believe Australia is the only country currently permitting pilots to fly commercial to the age of 68 although I'm sure members will correct me if there are others ;)

If it was me, fancying a change, I'd be looking West (from where you are) to China. I gather the agencies bend over backwards to help you get your Chinese ATPL . A year or so of that should be enough to get the flying bug out of your system I reckon.

Japan raised the age now to 68 (up to not including) as well.

Thank you for all of the information everyone. Was a lot easy starting out in the USA. Kind of confirms my thoughts that its more of a pain than its worth.

What is the FRTO? And do you need to do the theory exams before the medical check?

Not really much point is eroding the medical validity while waiting to complete the process..and I am not sure if you have to have an EASA licence ref number to pin the medical to under Part Med, in this case the admin/ theory bit would need to be completed before the medical.Flight Radiotelephony Operators licenced (FRTOL)

Can't apply for the licence without the medical need the FROL unless you have 1500 hours international...

Anyone seen an reference for this exception?

Check out form SRG119A for reference of Medical required in bold
Check out CAP 804 section 6 part A page 3 4th dot point re FROL...

Just spent the last 10months going through this nightmare...

Why are you interested to work in Europe after such a long career?

In any endeavor to obtain an EASA medical, consider your BMI.

EASA and particularly the UK CAA, seem obsessed with the ludicrous BMI formulae devised by a Belgian part-time statistician in the 1800's.

The formulae has never been adjusted for physiological progression and modern lifestyles. BMI was used extensively during WW2 to determine food rationing. It is used by insurance companies to 'tip the scales' in their favor when determining health insurance premiums.

Using the BMI formulae Usain Bolt is obese and members of the England rugby team excessively obese.

If your BMI is over 35, EASA requires you to undergo additional medical testing and a special flight test conducted by a TRE, to determine your ability to reach and operate the controls and systems - for each of the aircraft you are rated on.

Another nonsense from Europe, obediently obeyed by the subservient UK, but dismissed for the utter nonsense it is by most other member state AME's.

Flight School Recommendations for FAA -> EASA Conversion?
 

I would appreciate any recommendations for reputable UK or Spanish flight schools willing to provide the flight training/test portion of the EASA conversion process for an FAA IR/CPL/MEIR + MCC/JOC. All the 'big names' are apparently too busy with their integrated ATPL intake to take this kind of business (one actually said that). Thanks!

Both my recommendations are in Greece, Egnatia and Global. Expect to spend around €10K on the CPL/IR conversion. What sort of MCC/JOC I would suggest depends on your experience, budget and aspirations. They start at about €2K and go up to around €14K. You need to do an approved ATPL theory course and pass all 14 ATPL exams prior to flight tests, but I assume you know that.

Thanks Alan, I had not thought of Greece so will take a look. Yes, I am aware of the ATPL ground requirements. On that subject, do you have your 2016 exam and class weeks scheduled yet? I looked on the website but could not see anything and the CAA site does not have them posted either. I am currently not UK resident so schedule is more of an issue..