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First time flying in USA (and going to the USA to do the FAA IR)

@tmo
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drschwahn /at/ fliegen-usa /dot/ de

Last Edited by Snoopy at 27 Mar 23:19
always learning
LO__, Austria

At my US base a large proportion of the students are foreigners, and I’m sure many of the Europeans are interested in EASA licences. However, the Asians seem to be slowly becoming dominant by numbers and they’d have no interest. The overall numbers are high regardless of origin, and that’s good because it supports airport funding from which others like me benefit.

Not within the US.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Peter wrote:

The US must have been losing out to Europe for airline pilot training.

You gotta be joking. Nobody here gives a flying f*ck about EU training. Rightly or wrongly.

Only an appropriate US-certificated flight instructor may give the endorsements required by 14 CFR 61.31 for tailwheel, complex, and high performance airplanes.

The additional training required for these operations may be given by a foreign instructor, under the provision of section 61.41, but only a US-certificated flight instructor (or other person specifically authorised by the administrator) may give an endorsement after finding the candidate proficient. For example paragraph 61.31(i)(1) for tailwheels states “… no person may act as pilot in command of a tailwheel airplane unless that person has … received an endorsement from an authorized instructor who found the person proficient in the operation of a tailwheel airplane.” See also paragraph 61.41(b).

London, United Kingdom

172driver wrote:

http://euram.at/flight/

Thanks, I am aware of this option; there are also options with Aero Poznań – they are a Cirrus shop, but can be persuaded to do training in one’s own aircraft, CB-IR validations based on experience, and so on. FWIW they sounded very professional on the phone and have a “yes, we can” attitude. The reason for my (possibly overly obsessive-compulsive) digging into the subject is I really want to combine “business” (of getting an IR) with pleasure (experience flying in the US) and if I can do that while burning the same pile of cash, yay.

Plus, maybe, a little bit, “you don’t tell me it cannot be done” towards my local naysayers… And, if I pave a reasonable way, perhaps others (from that local crowd) will follow… Airfield of dreams, eh?

Qalupalik, thank you, again, for pointing out my lack of idea of what I’m even reading. I truly appreciate it. So, basically, if I have a PPL(A) with a SEP(L) I can use it to train for an IR, tailwheel, HPA, complex, with a non-FAA instructor; I just need a FAA one to sign me off. Same for the theoretical and practical exams in case of the IR. The world is starting to make sense now!

tmo
EPKP - Kraków, Poland

If adopted this change would benefit candidates receiving relevant training from multiple freelance US instructors in Europe.

Interesting developments.

The US must have been losing out to Europe for airline pilot training. For many years, EASA officials have been touring the world (most of which is the “3rd World”) and selling them EASA FCL and component certification. I was at one seminar, Greece, where one EASA official was off to Venezuela, right after his speech. How successful they actually are I don’t know but this is obviously in competition with the FAA which has always enjoyed a de facto worldwide monopoly in these areas (Europe is a very small place geographically).

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

On 18 May 2018 the TSA, directed by executive orders on regulatory reform, reopened the comment period on the interim final rule—69 FR 56324 of 20 Sep 2004 (Federal Register link, govinfo link) —which established the Alien Flight Student Program. See 83 FR 23238 of 18 May 2018 (Federal Register link, govinfo link). Comments were sought on, among others, the following issue (supplementary information, section III, para 2):

Impact of modifying STA [security threat assessment] requirements for alien flight training
candidates from an event-based requirement to a time-based requirement.
Currently, TSA requires individuals to be vetted before each training
event. This requires payment of fees for each training event to
complete the STA process. With the expansion of recurrent vetting
programs, it may be possible to allow for a time-based STA requirement
(such as once every three years) rather than an STA for each training
event.

The TSA docket (2004-19147) for these rules, where comment responses may be found, is available at https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=TSA-2004-19147

See for example the comprehensive recommendations from GAMA’s Aviation Security Advisory Committee (comment ID TSA-2004-19147-0417, link). Currently TSA approvals are tied to the nominated flight training provider. One of ASAC’s recommendations to TSA is that the approval be tied to the flight training candidate instead. If adopted this change would benefit candidates receiving relevant training from multiple freelance US instructors in Europe.

Last Edited by Qalupalik at 26 Mar 11:56
London, United Kingdom

The exception at 14 CFR 61.39(e) applies to pilot certificates (licences) rather than ratings.

The meaning applied to “authorized instructor” by 14 CFR 61.1(b) enables section 61.41.

Authorized instructor means …[a] person authorized by the Administrator to provide … flight training under part 61 … of this chapter when conducting … flight training in accordance with that authority.”

Any reference to an “authorized instructor” in respect of an instrument flight training requirement made in part 61 is a reference to a Part-FCL IRI to the extent permitted in section 61.41. An IRI certificate conforms to ICAO Annex 1 section 2.8 (standards on flight instructor ratings). The scope of the authority conferred by section 61.41 is flight training and I would construe the limitation in paragraph (b) accordingly. That is, I do not read section 61.41 as authorising a non-US flight instructor to give the endorsement required by 61.35(a)(1), 61.49(a)(2), or 61.65(a)(4) etc for an aeronautical knowledge test. Perhaps your examiner will come up with a different interpretation.

The Canadian IR experience requirements are essentially the same however only 5 hours of instrument time needs to be received from a flight instructor rating holder. The remainder may be received from a sufficiently experienced CPL/ATPL holder as described in paragraph (9) of standard 425.21 (link) of the Canadian Aviation Regulations.

London, United Kingdom

@tmo, check this out: http://euram.at/flight/

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