172driver wrote:
One more thought about self-serve fuel. It’s an issue I have run into before moving to the US – like at gas stations here, if you pay with your credit card, the machine will ask you the ZIP code (post code) of your billing address.
I have encountered the “enter your zip code” at auto gas pumps, but never at the aviation self serve pumps. It has always been to enter my N number, but even then it does not seem to be required or validated.
So the decision is made:
I am going to Cleveland this autumn for three months!
Next to the professional part of my stay I would try to obtain the FAA IR.
In short I think I have to do these steps:
- Apply for visa, as a student I normally get F visa, which would also be good to be able to start flying training.
- Get TSA approval
- Get piggyback (PART 61.75) licence (documentation here and pick-up at FSDO)
- Select flying school/aircraft/instructor —> “probably T&G flying club”
- Flight review for FAA PPL
- Start theory/flight FAA IR training.
- Theory/flight IR exam
- FAA PART 61.75 licence with ‘US TEST PASSED anotation’
- Go back to Europe and hope I have gained enough IR time to convert to EASA CB-IR
Am I missing anything?
If people (Mark_1?) have any advice (tips and tricks?) on the specific steps I would be glad to hear them!
Am I correct that there are no ‘classroom hours’ required for the FAA IR theory exam? So I could start studying here so that I can do the theory exam ASAP when I arrive? Any tips on books/question databases?
Medres07 wrote:
Am I correct that there are no ‘classroom hours’ required for the FAA IR theory exam? So I could start studying here so that I can do the theory exam ASAP when I arrive? Any tips on books/question databases?
Unless something has changed since I did this, there is no grounds school required. I did self-study and followed up with a 3-day class at the end of which I passed the exam with flying colours. In my case I found the grounds school interesting because it was held by an instructor with a lot of SEP/IR experience who had stories to illustrate points. I am sure I picked up some things that did help me pass.
In order to be able to get full credit for a foreign ICAO IR towards the EASA (CB-)IR, you need 50 hrs PIC under IFR. So during the three months you will spend in the US you will need to get the IR training, take the practical test and fly another 50 hours. That’s 90 hours of flying in 3 months.
Damn, I overlooked that it was PIC IFR time so the training hours do not count…
90hours is impossible timewise and too expensive..
So no real advantages of doing ‘just’ the FAA IR (without additional PIC IFR time) then?
Can you log IFR time in UK Class G, on the UK IMC Rating? 
The 50hrs doesn’t need to be on Eurocontrol flights.
The FAA IR is worth having anyway. It is valid for life, can be regained anytime with an IPC (you will also need an FAA medical unless on a 61.75) and same goes for the FAA PPL. One day you will be glad you had these bits of paper.
And you can fly an N-reg plane.
But the FAA IR is not a good route if you just want the EASA IR and fly an EASA-reg plane, only ever.
Living in Belgium so no UK IMC rating possible..
It will certainly improve my future possibilities and general flying safety… but being realistic 95% of my future flying will be EASA territory/planes…
What about other licences/ratings (CPL, ME, ..) or endorsements (complex/hi-perfo, tailwheel, seaplane,…). To what extent can you transfer those to EASA-terms?
If you can rent an N-Reg in europe you can keep flying here and then get your conversion when you reach the 50hours.
Also, isn’t most of instruction in the US logged as PIC? I’d be slighly surprised if you could count these for the conversion but might be worth looking at. I’m sure tons of people here will know the answer immediately
Certainly start studying as soon as possible. The FAA publish some pretty good manuals on-line which are a good start. Get a hard copy of the AIM if you can, stuffed with post-its to quickly find the right page. Your examiner will be impressed when you have it with you at test time (you’re free to refer to it to answer his questions).
You can also subscribe to one of the question bank practice test sites (Gleim, Dauntless etc). If you are getting regular high scores, you should be ready for the test. The practice tests will refer you to the source material to revise when you get a question wrong.
You will need an instructor recommendation before you can sit the test paper. There are lots of venues, most likely at or near to your school.
Your DPE examiner will have access to a list of subjects where you gave a wrong answer in the test and will quiz you on some of those subjects. So aim for 100% and you will get an easier ride on check-ride day.
I can’t remember for sure, but you may have to nominate the school/instructor when you apply for clearance, maybe get that established soon.
My FAA PPL/IR route is documented here and most of that is still current – especially the basic ideas. I did the PPL (and later the CPL) fully in the UK before the visiting examiners got killed off by the guy who holds the exclusive rights here. I also did the IR written exam.
A lot of people followed the same route. Basically it was the favoured route for cash-rich and time-poor people, which is probably a fair description of the crowd that ended up flying a Cirrus and similar. Those who had a bit more time, fewer or no family issues, and especially less money, were always much better off going to the USA because over there the whole process is very straight and well organised.
One big advantage of the ICAO IR to CB IR conversion is that you skip the seven EASA IR exams! Most “older” IR candidates would have given any money to avoid those. They are full of crap.
You mentioned earlier that: ""I’ll also add that to train for an IR or other rating, you must be on an appropriate visa. If you’re on a J visa, you won’t be authorised for anything outside your visa programme.""
I was in contact with the University and I will be needing a J-1 visa. Does that mean that FAA IR training is impossible?
In Peter’s article the following was stated: ""There may be a way to do flight training under a J-1 visa (instead of the M-1 visa) which can be obtained without an I-20 (which you need for the M-1) but I didn’t continue the very slow correspondence with the US Embassy for long enough to find out""
Also I found this: ""However, it appears that a course which falls undr 18hours per week (which will obviously be true for this flight training course I intend to take) should be Visa exempt""
Which statement is (most)true? Could I just ‘try’ under the J-1 visa?
