Qalupalik wrote:
The felony visa fraud charges against the former owners probably wasn’t very helpful.
As Silvaire also pointed out, this was “even before my time” and has nothing to do with the current setup.
(Apologies for resurrecting an old thread, but this is still a “live” question it seems).
I’m in this position – I have more than enough hours to take a PPL skill test, a (CAA-issued) FRTOL, and an EASA Class II medical. 40+ of those 60 hours are in the USA, the rest are in the UK. I attempted to gain an EASA PPL and the instructor at my flight school expressed concern that the US hours wouldn’t count toward the totals – leaving me potentially in a position whereby I’d be capable of passing an EASA PPL skill test (I’d passed the ground exams) and yet be unable to meet the minimum hours requirement. My biggest obstacle is time & weather – I work and therefore find it difficult to schedule lessons & aircraft around the patches of good weather we get at home.
He queried it with the CAA, and got a definitive “no, they don’t” answer. I didn’t accept that (it’s ridiculous) and queried it directly with them myself. I too received the answer that hours carried out at a non-ATO cannot be counted toward the hours requirement for an EASA licence at all; I could, therefore, count the 17 hours of dual UK time toward the 45 total but not the rest. That would leave me needing 8 more dual hours (to meet the 25 minimum dual hours) and 10 more solo (to meet the 10 minimum solo hours) hours in the UK, AND an additional 10 more hours to meet the 45 total hour requirement. FWIW, I fundamentally disagree with the CAA’s read of the final point there regarding total hours and believe they’re wrong, but they’re the regulator and they set the rules… I accept that their interpretation around the 25+10 requirements is “correct”, but it’s an unfortunate and unhelpful situation when compared to the rules in the USA and other non-EASA ICAO member states.
An NPPL(SSEA) can credit “incomplete foreign training from an ICAO member state” but it’s an application process and each case is judged on its merits. There’s also elements to the NPPL(SSEA) which aren’t included or required for an EASA or FAA licence because the syllabus is now somewhat dated. Making an utter mockery of all these differences are the facts that an NPPL(SSEA) can then be converted to an EASA LAPL, and then upgraded to an EASA PPL, and that an FAA private pilot holder can count UK hours and US hours and then fly a G-reg in the UK day-VFR, or can fly day or night VFR and VFR-on-top in the UK in an N-reg. So, I’m doing that. One hopes that the “we’re definitely out of EASA if we go ahead with Brexit” stance will mean a more sensible, FAA-like, approach from the CAA in future – but until then it’s essentially the case that training and time at a non-ATO (note, there are EASA ATO’s in the USA which DO count) doesn’t count toward EASA licence requirements at all.
Hope that’s helpful to other people googling this and wondering what the deal is.
I’ve never known the nppl guys refuse to accept hours. I’ve done the via the nppl ssea route many times. If you do it this way as things stand at the moment you have to get it all done before April this year.
AFAIK foreign hours (say in the USA) never counted towards a Euro PPL, except via the “100hr PPL conversion route” where if you have 100hrs TT post-PPL you could do a shorter conversion, comprising of IIRC 2 exams and a checkride.
Sure this is a restrictive practice (the FAA accepts most foreign hours) but that is what Europe is about 
It is mostly about ATO/FTO protection. After all, you still have to pass the checkride (skills test).
The NPPL route is interesting but it takes a couple of months to get an NPPL issued, most of which is CAA admin time.
You will also need an EASA medical.
KevinE wrote:
So, I’m doing that
Makes sense, but you need to get the FAA license first (not clear from your post if you have that already).
KevinE wrote:
“we’re definitely out of EASA if we go ahead with Brexit” stance will mean a more sensible, FAA-like, approach from the CAA in future
Be careful what you wish for, you may just get it….
Peter wrote:
except via the “100hr PPL conversion route” where if you have 100hrs TT post-PPL you could do a shorter conversion, comprising of IIRC 2 exams and a checkride.
Correct, and if you have or get your FAA standalone license (which btw, is always a good idea to have), then that’s what you can do.
Depending on how many hours you have as PIC you can use them towards an LAPL.
If you have 30 hrs as PIC or more you only need to fly 15 hours(+theoretical part) before the skill test.
I understand that it might seem silly but if it would be possible for you to get full credit for the hours towards your EASA PPL then the whole system would be bypassed meaning that no flight schools would be needed. Even though I am pro freelance instructing for basic training, it simply is not allowed in Europe.
is not allowed in Europe
Yet, that is what the 100hr conversion appears to be – except for the checkride which is not avoided.
I don’t see a problem really. If you pass the checkride, you can fly well enough. And for decades the UK allowed, with no validation or anything at all, any ICAO PPL to be directly used on a G-reg, worldwide, VFR and IFR (IFR OCAS only) and this ended only recently, although it continues for uncertified aircraft, de facto in UK airspace only.
Same with the ICAO IR to CB IR conversion. Oral exam and a checkride.
Be careful what you wish for, you may just get it….
The present-day FAA is nothing like the great team which produced the FARs as we know them. The place is filling up with knuckleheads, fast. Field approvals are pretty well bogged down, special issuance medicals take for ever… One day it will catch up with EASA and it’s mad projects
Does this mean my hours toward an FAA IR will not count toward an EASA IR? ( which I plan to pursue after getting my FAA IR)
Yes, they won’t count as far as I remember from when I researched the possible routes towards my CBIR, unless you first fly 50 hours IFR as PIC on your FAA ticket and then do a skill-test to get an EASA IR via the CBIR route. I think even the other means of crediting prior experience in a CBIR setting require these hours to have been flown with an EASA instrument instructor.
Sorry to be late to the party, but let me ask if this will work:
– getting a FAA 61.75 piggyback PPL based on an existing EASA PPL
– getting a FAA IR on top of that piggyback
– flying 50h IFR as PIC on a N-reg anywhere in the world
– getting an EASA IR via CB-IR based on experience
Bonus question: under FAA rules the IFR hours for IFR training count as PIC time, correct? Is that applicable for the EASA CB-IR IFR PIC time requirement?
