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Australian validation of EASA licence

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Has anyone here successfully validated their EASA licence in Australia? I am contemplating a vacation down under and would of course want to fly around a bit during that time.

From what I’ve found so far, the process is nowhere near as straightforward as getting an FAA 61.75 validation. That’s why I’d be interested to hear some real world experiences. Is it possible to find N-reg planes to rent in Australia, and would you be allowed to fly that around on your FAA ticket? It seems that in any case, you need some ASIC and/or AVID security certificate which is another pain to get issued when in Europe.

Otherwise, it seems easier in New Zealand. Has anyone gone that route? Maybe if the CASA is less welcoming to visiting pilots than the NZ CAA, we’ll make just a short stopover in Sydney to visit friends and then head off to NZ for the flying and vacation part… What seems hard to achieve is renting a plane that they let you fly without safety pilot in NZ. Does anyone have tips for that?

It sounds to me like you want the temporary validation?

Have a look here.

https://www.casa.gov.au/standard-page/converting-overseas-licences

Generally, I found the process in Australia is not too bad, but allow plenty of time to have everyhting lined up, make sure you have spoken, not just emailed your chosen rental company (assuming you are renting and dont have a friend) so that you can work with them. As usual everyone (whereever you are in the world) seems to have their own idea of what they need, both in terms of paperwork and check rides, and you really dont want to pitch up and find the story has changed.

In particular, I think sometimes clubs, schools and hire companies are never certain how serious you are, and it is only when you get down to exchanging the paperwok etc that they become convinced you are serious!

I cant report on NZ I am afraid, I dont know anything about their process, but as long as you have time Australia is not an issue. Which part(s) are you visiting?

Last Edited by Fuji_Abound at 03 Jul 15:52

Fuji_Abound wrote:

It sounds to me like you want the temporary validation?

Have a look here.

Yes only temporary, and I have already read that page. This part started to worry me, because my friend is in the case where the medical is from another state than the licence:

For JAA and EASA licenced pilots, please note that the CASA regulations currently require that a Licence and Medical certificate submitted with a Certificate of Validation or Special Licence application must be issued by the same contracting state.

While EASA member states may agree to the adoption of uniform regulations, those arrangements do not and cannot supplant the legislative requirements under the Australian civil aviation legislation.
but as long as you have time Australia is not an issue

Then I also read that they won’t issue the ASIC before you have entered the country, and it takes 2 weeks from the application date. The whole vacation is planned to be 2 weeks, so that’s another show stopper.

Fuji_Abound wrote:

Which part(s) are you visiting?

The only fixed point would be Sydney, the rest would be to where it’s most beautiful…

Last Edited by Rwy20 at 03 Jul 16:01

I did it twice, but it was back in 2008 and 2009 so this information is not really current. As Fuji says, the process was rather straight forward, getting the 61.75 was more effort. However, the Australian validation is only valid for a year (or even a half?). You’ll need an ASIC, but in my case the company we rented from assisted with that.

We rented an Archer out of Sydney and an Arrow out of Perth, both times for about a fortnight. I didn’t have the problem Fuji mentions, I found the companies easy to work with, but maybe I was just lucky. I can try to dig out the contacts but it’s probably of limited value as it’s quite a while ago.

EDFM (Mannheim), Germany

We have been there and rented two planes for 2,5 weeks. The renting process was easy, only the checkout flights and then we could go. We organized the maintanance to be done in adance because we were flying around for nearly 50 hours. The only forbidden thing was to land on the beach.

The validation process took a while, because sometime the understanding of who might sign a copy as valid was strange. Finally it was all signed by the doctor we ate doing the mefical with, because he was a approved authority. But this might depend on the person working at the CASA. As they return the whole papers if there is one thing going wrong, wemailed copies in advance and tried to verify, that they will accept it like it was mailed. So we got only twice the papers retoured.

You can apply for the ASIC in advance, but they will give it to you only after landing in Australia. In fact this means, if you are flying around without having it in your hands just say, that you have one, but it is not handed over yet. We were asked for the ASIC only at the Uluru, but as we haven’t had it, they gave us a temporary one just to leave the airport and for re-entrance. No problem at all.

It was great flying around there.

EDDS , Germany

I flew an ‘around the Islands’ trip in NZ a few years back.

I got an NZ PPL which was not much more trouble than the alternative visitor permit route. They accepted my standalone US private cert as a basis (No need for UK CAA validation). You can use the NZ PPL on issue with an existing medical and then you need an NZ medical there after (Lifetime licence). I sent logbook copies and other data (a police statement for instance) all well ahead of time. It took about a week after arrival to get through the NZ CAA, but they were very helpful, as was the CFI of the club I rented from, the Airline Flying Club at Ardmore.

One gotcha is the need for specific mountain and low flying training. They accepted my Canadian mountain flying qualification and logbook entries of desert low level regarding the low flying part, but it would be wise to budget for the mandated 5 Hr training (+1.5 Hr check ride) if there’s any doubt about that. Low flying means looow and they have designated areas for that! Also note that type certificates are specific and a 152 is not a 172!

However, there’s a much simpler alternative. A visiting PPL can fly an LSA on an instructor signoff. I’m sure Peter will instantly delete this if it’s too much advertising, but a lifelong friend and CFI runs a very nice Tecnam P2008 out of Bay of Islands, about 4Hr N of Auckland, for PPL hire. You can read about it at https://www.flyitnz.com/. This is a real aeroplane suitable for touring, not a microlight, and John is the real deal.

NZ airfields are stunningly wonderful and all have automated fuel pumps. All (except Wellington) are amazingly welcoming. You will need to borrow your FBO’s fuel card though. I went to Queenstown, about as dramatic as you can imagine, but decided Milford Sound was just that bit too much for my little 152 and her limited range and performance. Something to do next time! I’ve never been to Oz, but I would go back to NZ in a heartbeat.

EGBW / KPRC, United Kingdom

I did the CASA validation in 2009 and wouldn’t call it straightforward. You really need to start this quite a while in advance. While things may have changed, in my case my AME in the UK was able to validate my papers, as he’s also a CASA AME. If yours is not, then find one to do that (nothing to do with a medical, btw, this is only to certify that you are who you say you are and that your papers are ok). After that it took something like two months, IIRC. The main issue was the ASIC. You can apply for it in advance but have to have entered Australia before they process it. @eddsPeter seems to have found a workaround, in my case this wasn’t possible (I asked), the rental outfit wouldn’t give me a plane w/o the physical card. No huge deal in our case, as we were doing a road trip first anyway. I found the same as @Fuji , i.e. that most rental outfits don’t even answer emails, I guess they get too many inquiries from people who never turn up. One bit of advice – rent in an area that has several rental places, so you can shop around and switch if you don’t like the place you chose – Australia is the home of sharp practice…… the Brisbane area for example is a good place.

As for the checkout, unless this has changed, Australia has a very, very weird way of presenting information, there are no charts like sectionals, only TAC and WAC with the info in a separate book (the ERSA). Takes a little while to get your head round….

One more info: check with the xAA that issued your license if they require anything from you before validating. The UK CAA for example make you sign an information release consent form and have you pay some money (surprise, surprise!). If you have a standalone (!!) FAA license, then validate that one, much easier.

Last Edited by 172driver at 03 Jul 17:16

As for the validation of your papers at home: your city council can do that. I had no problem to have the Australians accept this. Otherwise your right, it takes quite a while.

The ASIC can be issued by various organizations. I had mine from an airport I actually never flew to. The airport manager was the brother in law of the owner of the rental outfit or something like that… It was ready when we arrived.

The German LBA didn’t require anything to sign or pay, but that might be different now and anyway will be different with the Swiss BAzL or the French DGAC.

The ERSA didn’t appear that weird to me, it’s a bit like the German AIP VFR, maybe. Besides the ERSA there ther are local guides, like the “Western Australia Country Air Strip Guide”. I think there is one for each federal state.

Last Edited by terbang at 03 Jul 18:48
EDFM (Mannheim), Germany

I used my CAA lifetime a few years back – I guess that is still possible.

Earlier this year when I visited Tasmania I flew an hour dual with Eugene Reid from Freedom Flight and discussed the options of getting an Australian license based on my EASA PPL. Besides the CASA validation discussed above, another option is to get a Recreational Pilot Certificate from RA-Aus. Of course it is a lot more restrictive than a full PPL, but if you only want to do shorter flights with at most one pax it’s useable. The great benefit is that an RA-Aus instructor can give you a type-specific endorsement after a competence-based transition course. No formal minimum hours required. The larger recreational aircraft (like the Jabiru J160 I flew) fly similarly enough to common trainers that a few hours at most should be enough, even for a low-time PPL like me. And this gives you a lifetime standalone pilot certificate, that only needs a periodic flight review with an instructor. Also, no medical is required.

Last Edited by JnsV at 08 Jul 12:16
Hajdúszoboszló LHHO
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