Hello,
I want to add my fresh EASA IR on a FAA foreign-based pilot certificate (obtained as per 14 CFR 61.75 with an EASA PPL).
Where could I take the proctored FAA IPC exam in Europe ?
Thanks for your guidance.
FAA written exams have not been possible in Europe for some years – here. You have to do that exam in the US.
Note that FAR 61.3 allows you to fly an N-reg on a non US license, in the airspace of the issuing country, so with a French issued PPL/IR you can fly an N-reg in France, VFR and IFR.
Note that an FAA IPC (Instrument Proficiency Check) is just a proficiency check on an existing FAA IR licence. It can be done by any current FAA instrument instructor. There are a fair number of those in Europe. Getting the IR added to your FAA PPL (whether full or foreign-based) is as described by Peter, with the written needing to be done in the US and the oral/flight test done by an FAA examiner (instrument DPE), of which I believe there is only one in Europe in the UK.
with a French issued PPL/IR you can fly an N-reg in France
And for 78 GBP you could have a UK National PPL granted on the basis of your EASA PPL (there’s still time to apply), so you could fly here as well. 
FAA written exams have not been possible in Europe for some years – here. You have to do that exam in the US.
Peter: You are right.
But, in the newly released EASA/FAA BASA Section 3.1.3. refers to the Knowledge Test Exam.
Does doing the Knowledge Test Exam presume that people will only be doing this in the USA?
If they can do this in Europe, presumably the ability to do ‘Knowledge Testing’ would have to be reintroduced back into Europe (Farnborough or Le Bourget?)
If Lasergrade or PSI (the two privatised outsources) re-established themselves in Europe would they be prohibited from allowing their Test Centres to be used for other exams?
The problem is that both routes to the FAA IR are now difficult, because both require a written exam, which requires a trip to the US
I reckon, accordingly, that very few new people are doing the FAA route these days. Typically, those who went this way were older pilots (who have both money and time ) and they desire a route which can be integrated into their life.
A younger person could just hang loose in the US for some months, get the standalone PPL/IR, get the EASA PPL also (at the right school) and have a good time at the same time.
Peter_G: I don’t know; the exact BASA requirements are not yet known.
Jacko wrote:
And for 78 GBP you could have a UK National PPL granted on the basis of your EASA PPL (there’s still time to apply), so you could fly here as well.
My FAA61.75 PPL number no longer match my EASA PPL, so this is the arrangement I have now French EASA PPL and UK CAA PPL (and even post-Jan UK NPPL), I am still waiting for someone “very smart” to tell us that does not work that way “as you need an FAA PPL to fly N-reg across borders”
Meanwhile, we can rely on alternative means of compliance: land at the border, push the aircraft by hand to the other side and fly again with the other licence
That sounds like the FAA foreign pilot IR exam route.
No FAA examiner is involved. AFAIK you pass the exam (50 questions) and then an FSDO issues the IR. You get a new green plastic card.
I have to say I don’t think I have ever known anybody who did this route. I have known quite a few 61.75 “piggyback” PPL holders who did the standalone FAA IR (written, oral, checkride).
as you need an FAA PPL to fly N-reg across borders
That is from the French AOPA mis-interpretation of the BASA
