I have probably lost count of the number of people I have bumped into who, via various torturous paths, converted their FAA CPL/IRs or ATPs into JAR-FCL ones, but AFAIK all of these involved getting a job for a “commercial operator” (which doesn’t actually have to involve carrying paying passengers) operating some aircraft on a JAR (now EASA) registry.
Many years ago (say 20) it was really very easy to go FAA → Europe. Even a straight paper swap at Gatwick!
I was offered such a route in south east Europe, to convert my FAA CPL/IR into a JAR CPL/IR, without doing anything other than an air law exam and a flight test (which is historically pretty standard for this sort of thing) but it would have involved living there for maybe 6 months. And I have no interest in flying commercially. The Q at the time was purely whether it would be easier than doing then then 15hr IR conversion, and I decided it would not be.
AIUI you have to be an ATP to be LHS (Captain) in a multi pilot aircraft carrying paying passengers. A privately flown MP aircraft can be flown by 2 × CPL/IR, even under EASA.
A privately flown MP aircraft can be flown by 2 × CPL/IR, even under EASA.
Theoretically it can be flown by 2 PPL holders with type ratings. Other than the FAA, JAR/EASA requires both pilots to be type rated. But our LBA here in Germany refuses to enter multi-pilot typeratings in anything other than EASA ATPLs. For that reason, some years ago I had to covert my ICAO CPL/IR with ATPL theory and MCC credit into a JAR (now EASA) ATPL, which meant I had sit a long-range exam, even if I would rather quit flying than do long range flights…
Yes – you can fly a private 747 with 2 × PPL+TR 
But to get paid by the owner who is being flown around, you need a CPL or ATPL.
But our LBA here in Germany refuses to enter multi-pilot typeratings in anything other than EASA ATPLs
That’s bizzare. Doesn’t that mean that nobody can fly a D-reg MP jet without an ATPL? That would be completely mad because you can’t get an EASA ATPL unless you have logged 500hrs MP time.
That’s bizzare. Doesn’t that mean that nobody can fly a D-reg MP jet without an ATPL? That would be completely mad because you can’t get an EASA ATPL unless you have logged 500hrs MP time.
Exactly. The PIC needs a “full” ATPL, the co-pilot a “frozen” ATPL, which is an EASA CPL/IR with ATPL theory and MCC credits. “Unfreezing” the EASA ATPL is just as it was under JAR-FCL: 1500hr total time, 500 of which on multi-pilot types, 50 (or 100?) hours in actual IMC and so and so many hours at night + ATPL checkride. The times when CPL holders with typerating could sit in the right hand seat of a multi pilot aeroplane and ask money for their service are over.
OK… so Germany will add the TR to a “frozen” ATPL. That makes it possible to train on MP jets without getting an airline job.
But it means that to fly a private D-reg MP jet, you need the same paperwork as flying a public transport / AOC one, doesn’t it? Aren’t most corporate ops on some other registry?
A few years ago I went to a NATS presentation at which it was claimed that Germany was going to demand an ATPL for any jet in German airspace, regardless of operation, even for overflights. The guy said this with a straight face, obviously not quite appreciating the meaning of India Charlie Alpha Oscar… Obviously they haven’t quite achieved that, but they have had a good go a a nice restrictive practice… However this was in the era of the VLJ hype, and they said that having “10000 VLJs flying out of Luton” (no kidding, ten thousand) is going to cause problems. If NATS (and probably Germany) bought into this, no wonder Eclipse were able to get $1BN.
But it means that to fly a private D-reg MP jet, you need the same paperwork as flying a public transport / AOC one, doesn’t it?
Not exactly the same, but 80 percent I would say.
Aren’t most corporate ops on some other registry?
Either on a German AOC or on some foreign registry. Cayman was very popular for a long time, but they ask for more paperwork than the German authority nowadays so it really mainly attracts tax-evaders now. Some are on the Swiss register, some N-reg. But quite a few corporate MP jets are German registered.
A few years ago I went to a NATS presentation at which it was claimed that Germany was going to demand an ATPL for any jet in German airspace, regardless of operation, even for overflights.
I never heard of that! What they demand for (German) commercial operations are two pilots, even for complex part 23 aeroplanes (all jets and some difficult types like the Metroliner). But ATPL? No. Many of my colleagues who fly the CJs on our fleet – as PIC and co-pilot – have “only” CPLs.
Have sent off for my Letter of Validation at the FAA on my EASA licence and ratings, and may carry out the training last week of July in Chicago.
If you pass the written before August 1 you have a further 24 months to carry out the practical, and you don’t need either an LoV or TSA for the written – I think you can sit the written at Flight Safety in Farnborough.
In short you need a Class 1 FAA medical, a LofV from the FAA (see link below), the TSA visa and the following experience:
1,500 Hours Total Time:
500 Hours Cross Country Time
100 Hours Night Time
75 Hours Instrument Time of Actual or Simulated Instrument Time
50 Hours Must be in an Airplane
250 Hours PIC Airplane
50 Hours Airplane Multi-Engine Land
LofV link, this typically takes around six weeks.
http://www.atpflightschool.com/faqs/international/Certificate_Verification_61-75.pdf
I was impressed with FAA Oklahoma, they resurrected my PPL and mailed it in a week.
Just to clarify, you don’t need a Class 1 medical to get the ATP rating, but you will need it to exercise the privileges of it.
Assuming I get through the CPL written in the US in July I am going to take the ATP while there just because I can. The flight test is just a slightly less tolerant IR test.
