There was a problem with PMs – now fixed. Apologies! All “missing” PMs have been re-delivered. I will clean up this thread, for clarity.
Michael, I wasn’t able to offer any useful info so no worries in this instance.
(Sorry for the diversion anyway!)
I would check spam boxes initially, etc. PM delivery is working for me – I got some yesterday.
If possible, whitelist (at your email ISP’s config) the email address [email protected] from which the forwarded PMs are emailed to the recipient. Many ISPs offer a “trusted sender” config of some sort. Some ISPs will mark an email address as trusted if you send an email to that address…
But also overly aggressive spam filtering remains a big problem all over the place…
I can also forward email addresses to somebody, if you ask me to 
Michael – I will send you a PM now.
There are some grandfather routes e.g. go to the USA and do an A&P (maybe 2 years’ stay while working on maintenance) which gives you certain credits towards EASA66 stuff. A colleague of mine (A&P/IA) has done this recently. But there is no quick shortcut. Every route involves work experience, and it’s not well paid work. You have to like working on small planes.
FWIW, here’s how the five A&Ps who typically sign off work on my planes got their FAA A&Ps.
1) Best friend as a teenager was 5 years older (say 21) and was an A&P. As time went on best friend took test for IA, then became DAR, and he signed off the experience requirement for my friend ‘working under him’. He took A&P test and IA test, but never actually did paid work in the field until after getting the A&P.
2) Dad operated a small FBO, and was an A&P. Same basic idea as guy #1.
3) Hung around rural fire bomber base until they gave him a part time job after school at age 16, gained experience, took exam.
4) Hired on as unskilled labor at Great Lakes aircraft factory, circa mid-70s. Took A&P exam
5) Works as truck mechanic and wanted to work on his own plane without supervision. Took classes at local community college. Took exam.
With the exception of Guy #5 they all got the experience very young, when money wasn’t a big factor. None of them make their money as an A&P now, its just a card in their wallet used when necessary.
I often seem to do things backwards so after I retire I might try to figure out a way to get an A&P certificate, even taking the classes if necessary.
Yes – you have to do the EASA exams to go FAA to EASA.
The EASA66 exam material is terrible. I have seen some of it. The electronics stuff is about 50% simply wrong (was written by some idiots) so somebody who understands the subject will never pass.
The only grandfather item is that they accept is experiance. So it doesn’t give you an advantage unlike you would like to be FAA AND EASA licensed.
The same is true the other way around, FAA accepts the experiance under EASA license, but does not accept any exams.
The license structure between FAA and EASA is completely diffent, the EASA one being more fragmented / limited / stricter.
There are some grandfather routes e.g. go to the USA and do an A&P (maybe 2 years’ stay while working on maintenance) which gives you certain credits towards EASA66 stuff. A colleague of mine (A&P/IA) has done this recently.
But there is no quick shortcut. Every route involves work experience, and it’s not well paid work. You have to like working on small planes. A lot of people are leaving piston GA maintenance and going to work on big jets, where the pay is a lot higher despite the work being described as “brain dead simple”.
Thanks a lot for answers.
Vic
That is the very nub of the problem within the EU, some states want the very minimum of govenment regulation and others want to controler every little thing a citizen does.
The the best air safety in the GA sector has been delivered by the USA, Australia and the UK who all have a relitivly soft touch to regulation, so why do we have to be listening to regulators from states that have failed to deliver effective oversight ?
