BASA, EASA, RCAA, Process-A - Romania

So you want to fly in Europe kid? Congratulations! It’s a beautiful continent, and while those Americans may have the Wright brothers, the Lindberghs and the SR-71 we’ve got Louis Bleriot and Henry Coanda and literally anything with the name Caprioni attached (like the CA 60 and Stipa). Ahhh, nothing like flying over fertile fields before landing in one (a field that is) and enjoying a liter of delicious libation served by a beautiful Fraulein or Mademoiselle or Senorita or …

Where were we? Oh! You have an American (FAA) pilots license. Well, I’ve got some questions for you, like why you do turns along a road? You’re not in a car. But let me tell you how you get an EASA license. It’s really quite simple; I’m sure you know that for a European to fly in the US they just send in a form to the FAA and then hop on zoom or meet with an examiner for a few minutes? Well, it’s almost exactly the same coming to Europe. All you have to do is:

First, identify the local Civil Aviation Authority for the country where you will fly most and/or be based. No, no, EASA is like the FAA for the EU, but they don’t issue licenses, each country has their own CAA. Once you figure that out, you’ll have to reach out to them. Don’t worry, the international language of aviation is English, so you can be sure that the CAA will occasionally speak it while mostly hiding forms and resources in the local language.

Of course, you’ll need a medical. No BasicMed or 3rd class here, it’s a 2nd class with an EKG to make sure that you’re not some tub-o-lard, McDonald’s eating ‘Merican (Sacre bleu! Cavolo!).

Then you’ll need to take written tests. We all know that over in the hinterlands of the Americas saying “Mayday” is considered as sacrilegious as wearing cowboy boots to black tie is in Europe. So we’ll test you on Distresfa and Alertfa, Mayday and PANPAN, and special VFR requirements. No, no, you cannot just take those tests at a flight school, you’re not a student now, are you? Go ahead and spend a few more weeks scheduling to take them at the local CAA. And you are living in the capital, right? Naturally you’ll have to go to the CAA office in person to take them.

Now you can take some flying lessons to get familiar with the local procedures and schedule an examiner. You don’t just call them of course, you need permission from the CAA to take the test. Submit a form. They’ll let you know that you cannot possibly take the practical test because you didn’t complete an approved flying course in country. After quoting chapter and verse at them for a few weeks (can I get a “clear prop!”), they might relent and schedule you for a practical test.

Now your practical test really shouldn’t be a problem. After all, you’re not in a car, so no S-turns along a road and certainly no lazy-8s. Just don’t break the gear taking off and landing from the farm field where you’re doing your test, because you almost certainly didn’t find a paved airport to do it at.

With all that done, you submit all your documents to the CAA (successful passage of a practical test does NOT give you a temporary license in Europe, why ever would it?). In a few weeks, they’ll get back to you with a license. You did finish all the other parts, right?

You don’t have a radio license? Why wouldn’t you? Even though it’s not at all clear it’s even legally required, of course no one mentioned it, that’s a function of the communications regulator, not the CAA. Go send them a letter and wait for an official response. Not to worry though, there’s at least one place in the country that offers the course for this a couple times a year. Probably you’ll get lucky and they’re offering it soon. Go take the week long course, pass the test and congratulations, now you have a radio license (and no, of course the radio regulator won’t accept your FCC license – they just hand those out, you know).

With that done, the CAA will certainly issue your certificate. Although, I must ask, do you speak English? Yes, I know you’re an American, but as our former British cousins would aver, that makes your English even more suspect. Yes, yes, your license says “English Language Proficient” right there on it, but it doesn’t have a number does it? Well, ICAO clearly states that English Proficiency comes in multiple levels, and no printed level is like no proficiency at all.

Yes, I know the head of language compliance at the CAA wrote you a letter stating you didn’t need ELP (and the TIP-L clearly states you automatically get level 4), but you cannot honestly expect Europeans to have our CAAs modify their systems to actually issue a license without you having done an ELP.

Oh, my no, you cannot just go to a private company and have them certify your ELP like a European student pilot could. Why, you might be one of those people who says “All y’all”. You’ll have to hie off to the CAA office in person to take it. Of course, it will take the CAA several weeks to grade your English exam (yes, the one that was entirely a spoken exam), we wouldn’t want to accidentally miss something.

Now do be careful here, the CAA will send you your English exam results, but they cannot upload them to their own system; fortunately, neither can you. Be sure to reach out to their support department a few times to have those results uploaded.

With those quick and simple bureaucratic procedures out of the way, the CAA will issue your license in 30 days (or maybe even a few less). They’ll let you know that it’s been approved and that it will only take them another week or two to print it – it’s very fancy, printed with an actual laser printer on a piece of real paper, so you can’t expect it to be done quickly. Do remember to reach out to them to find out when it’s done, because they certainly cannot be expected to tell you.

Before you go back to the CAA office in person, do be sure to use your powers of divination to read the sign on the licensing office door that spells out the couple of hours a week when they’re actually open for pickups. Why on earth would you expect it to be more than Monday from 9-12 and Wednesday from 13-16?

My congratulations! With that mere nothing of a conversion process out of the way you have Day VFR privileges. Did you know that since you’re already an FAA pilot you can convert your night rating and instrument rating too (even your multi-engine)? Why nothing could be simpler, let me tell you…

(That is to say, the RCAA finally gave me a PPL.)