All the CAA changes are a bit of a minefield and I therefore want to get people’s views on which course of action is best for someone who is UK based, flying an N Reg plane who only holds an FAA PPL and IR. I do not hold any other PPL.
Please let me know which option below would be best:
Option A: CAA CBIR: Take 2 exams plus the RT test and do both a PPL checkride and the IR checkride to get the CBIR
Option B: Similar to the above but do an EASA IR (my understanding is that this will only be valid until end of 2022 but that might get extended. Views please)
One of the issues is that both above need revalidation every 12 months so can people advise on convenience and cost of revalidation if you are in the UK
Option C: Do nothing and hope for a CAA derogation (like in the good old days in Europe)
Many thanks
Cirrus_Man:
Roughly how many more IFR flying years do you think you have?
For someone like myself who is getting on in years, but has held an FAA IR for 26 years, the horrendous cost/trouble of ‘conversion’ for possibly only 3 more years of IFR flying in the UK (just from my base to the nearest FIR boundary) makes the equation different to that of a ‘bright young thing’ with many years ahead of them.
I feel I have a good 15 to 20 years of flying left but my understanding is that even VFR flying in the UK on a FAA PPL will be illegal after year end.
Many previous threads e.g. this search
For the PPL there is the 100hr route (some exams, medical, plus a checkride).
For the IR, there is the CB IR ICAO IR to UK IR conversion (50hrs IFR as PIC = no exams)
As for the probability, nobody knows. Discussed extensively here over the years. The EASA attack on N-regs was incorporated into the ANO on 31/12/2020. All I can say is that the politics which led to the derogations since 2011 remain unchanged.
And if this is enforced, many many N-reg pilots will throw in the towel and just sell up. Most are not “young” and won’t bother with all the FTO-related crap (even the CB IR conversion will be hassle and a few k or more, because the FTO will usually find you need “additional training”).
Practically speaking however, the IMCR is ok for much UK flying (except long runs e.g. Shoreham-Oban which are horrible VFR, with that Manchester low level route which the CAA guy in charge of CAS busts must absolutely love, and for winter flying where you are collecting ice at 2300ft) and once you cross the airspace boundary then your FAA papers alone are good. If you are Shoreham based and flying to the mainland then this applies especially (just need a UK PPL+medical for most stuff).
Sinc you are a UK resident I would recommend a UK PPL as a minimum and use your FAA licence elsewhere.
An EASA licence especially an IR would be much harder to maintain longer term – you can’t sit or renew an EASA IR outside EASA airspace, and the EASA licence recognition might not be extended beyond 2022 especially for N Reg
Whether you choose an IRR (fairly easy for an FAA IR I would expect) or full UK IR will depend on your mission profile, location and expected remaining years of piloting (as above). I don’t agree ATOs would unnecessarily add instruction that’s not required but they would want to ensure you are at skill test standard.
It would be the same if you were to sit the driving test – I’m sure I’d need a few lessons to align me with current test standards. I will leave others to judge whether this change is required for safety vs political purposes.
DavidC wrote:
you can’t sit or renew an EASA IR outside EASA airspace
EASA IR proficiency checks are routinely done in the US.
What happened to the FAA IR → IMCR direct conversion, for FAA IR holders with a recent IPC?
The CAA did not recognise the 6/6 FAA IR rolling currency for this purpose.
Obviously you would first need to get the UK PPL and medical. And the NQ for the IR, unless you want a day-only IR.
EASA IR proficiency checks are routinely done in the US.
I didn’t know that. So presumably can also be done in the UK.
Pretty sure that Initial IR skill test must be flown in EASA land though – the commercial flight schools appear to have shifted their IR training from UK abroad for EASA students
Qalupalik wrote:
EASA IR proficiency checks are routinely done in the US.
@qalupalik, “are routinely done” or “were routinely done”?
I think IPC can only be done in EASA airspace these days, there was some noise about this.
The thing is, almost nobody is going to go to the US to do an initial UK IR – unless they are over there already for some reason.
This thread is also relevant. It also highlights the political difficulties of forcing this through: you p1ss off a lot of well connected individuals. The derogations (10 years of them) took place due to political difficulties; they were not done because somebody wanted to be nice to N-reg pilots 
For someone with no UK papers at all, I recommend starting the UK PPL ASAP. If you have 100 (or 150 – I can’t remember) hours TT then it is quick, otherwise you have to do more. I don’t know what credit there is for low time ICAO PPLs but in this case anybody owning an N-reg will have the required hours. Otherwise it may be a fresh PPL, and now is the time to start and crack on with it, before Oct/Nov/Dec arrives and the wx becomes unflyable much of the time.
I am surprised somebody living in the UK and flying an N-reg never held a UK PPL, but it is obviously possible. Keeping one current is trivial. Keeping the UK medical current may not be depending on detail… I know of individual scenarios there which obviously won’t be posted anywhere.
