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EASA/UK approved ATOs outside Europe, and acceptance of EASA/UK training done outside Europe

Are there EASA approved ATOs, with the CB IR on their approval, in the USA?

The old JAA/EASA IR could not be done in the USA. Only the EASA PPL or CPL.

There were sporadic reports that the old IR could be done partly in the USA but I never tracked these down.

As with all flight training, if you can live at the school (metaphorically speaking) then you will progress very fast. I did my original FAA IR in Arizona in 2 weeks, flying 2x a day which was as much as I could mentally manage. In the UK, living at home and working, it would have taken 6 months. And if you do the training far from home that is exactly what happens: you progress very fast.

This is partly out of date now (pre-CB IR) but not that much has changed in the practicalities so it is worth a quick read. The favourites then (2011) were a particular school in Spain (which is no longer favourite because they are now British run so they make you waste a lot of time on the NDB stuff) and one in Greece (which may well be OK costs-wise because they operate diesels (DA40/DA42).

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Are there EASA approved ATOs, with the CB IR on their approval, in the USA?

My initial though is No because those schools who seek approval in the USA will need a steady flow of customers to justify the cost and the CBM IR will not guarantee that. Unless they are UK schools with an overseas base, their approval now comes directly from EASA and despite what anyone may say about UK approval costs, EASA charge even more.

I think the important word in the original question is part !

I would think that it is just a matter of signing up for an IR course at any school in the US and train for the FAA IR. Those hours would presumably count towards the hours needed for a CBIR, right? In such case you “only” need to do the last 10 hours at a European school before the test. Those 10 hours would presumably be spent doing NDB stuff.

EGTR

The next thing to check is whether anything in the EASA FCL CB IR stuff require the instructor to have EASA papers?

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

10 years ago there was a Scandinavian FTO in San Diego Montgomery field. That is where I renewed my, what was then called, A-SEL rating when I lived in the SF Bay Area. They trained their students towards JAR-FCL AND FAA licenses.

If you hurry up in getting your FAA IR, and you accumulate 50 hrs of IFR time as PIC on N-tail aircraft (you should not have too much of a problem finding one at LFPN) by April 8th 2016, you will be able to convert to EASA IR relatively easily.

I did my FAA IR in 30 days at a part 141 school (American Flyers) in Hayward, CA. It is possible to do it a lot faster. Part 141 schools do the flight tests themselves, so scheduling the test is not a problem.

LFPT, LFPN

10 years ago there was a Scandinavian FTO in San Diego Montgomery field. That is where I renewed my, what was then called, A-SEL rating when I lived in the SF Bay Area. They trained their students towards JAR-FCL AND FAA licenses.

Now one airport east at KSEE SAA Contact Info, as is American Aviation AAA Link

Both apparently provide EASA approved training – I have no idea about the details.

Thank-you Achim, Peter, Tumbleweed, mmgreve, Aviathor and Silvaire for your explanations.
I now feel I was very candid: the thing which works for certain is to do a fresh FAA PPL + IR (or go for FAA CPL+IR), part in Paris, part in US, or all in US. For that, Peter, I fully understand your point: far from home, full time and immersive means a quick rating.
With EASA’s new CB-IR, converting it shouldn’t require a big effort. Total cost shouldn’t be too high, with the added benefit of holding FAA + EASA licenses (although the benefit isn’t very clear for me).

Still I sent enquiries for an EASA CB-IR training to the 2 schools recommended by Aviathor and Silvaire above. I’ll let you know the outcome.

LFLY, France

This may be the wrong context but for longer than I’ve been flying it has been possible to do stuff in the USA. There were 6 schools in Florida and one is S California, all JAA approved.

I imagine they all still exist and have carried over their approvals to EASA-time.

None could do any of the IR, however.

I would caution people to not underestimate the difficulty of doing an ab initio IR. It is bloody hard. I have ~1800hrs, a lot of it IFR, and would never want to go through it all again. The FAA IR was harder in sheer workload terms (partial panel for almost the entire checkride) than the JAA IR, but both are hard in different ways. Nobody is going to do the CB IR in the 10hrs at an FTO unless they have focussed training for much of the previous 30 or so. By focussed I mean focussed to comply with the test requirements.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

I imagine they all still exist and have carried over their approvals to EASA-time.

They do. I did my EASA PPL at American Aviation at KSEE.

Hungriger Wolf (EDHF), Germany

@Nestor, you do not need to do the full FAA PPL. It would be sufficient to get the FAA PPL based on your EASA PPL (FAR 61.75), then take the IR TK exam, then do the flight training.

If you have limited time to do your IR, I would definitely recommend you choose a FAR Part 141 school. You should have studied the IR TK before starting your training (ASA “Instrument Flying” or Jeppesen “Commercial Instrument Handbook”). In that case you will pass the TK exam (at the school) with flying colors after a 3 day ground course. You will then move on to simulator training before starting the actual flying.

One issue about doing your training in the US is that you will need a visa, and a TSA approval.

Once you are back in France with your IR, I recommend you get some familiarization training with the European IR system, including at least one flight either with a CFII or someone who is familiar with the EU system. You will be limited to flying on N-reg until you have 50 hrs PIC IFR and convert to EASA before April 8th 2016 (unless the deadline is yet again postponed)

LFPT, LFPN
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