Originally Posted by
NEDude
Welcome to the other side of the pond! I just finished my EASA conversion this past summer. Bristol Ground School and their digital learning program is a good option. I used that combined with a question bank to prepare for the ATPL theory exams. It worked very well.
If you have at least 500 hours in one of those airplanes (737, RJ), then you can be exempt from a formal training course and self certify for the ATPL theory exams. But I would still recommend at least buying a home study course as the questions and theory can be quite difficult. Just memorising the questions and answers is not going to cut it, and you would have to memorise around 15,000 questions.
A few other things to be aware of-
The UK has defined the conversion process very well and I would recommend doing at least the ATPL theory exams through the UK. The UK has an exam center in Orlando, not far from Universal Studios/International Drive, so you do not have to fly to Europe to do the exams.
Your initial EASA medical exam will have to be done in Europe, and your license will be issued through the country which holds your medical records. This country does not have to be the same country where you do the theory exams. For example you could do the 14 theory exams in the UK (all 14 have do be done in one country, no doing 7 in one country and 7 in a second), then get your medical done in Ireland. Your skills test can be done with any EASA examiner and in EASA country, but the actual license application will be sent to the country which holds your records.
Some countries are very easy to deal with, and others are much harder. Ireland has a very good reputation as being easy to work with and being quick to issue licenses. Spain, Portugal and Italy all have a reputation for being very slow and difficult. On occasion some of the southern European countries will not accept skills tests from outside their country. Generally speaking the UK, Ireland and Iceland have good reputations. Sweden and Denmark do as well, but their fees can be expensive.
If you choose to have your license issued in Germany, German privacy laws prevent releasing your medical records to other countries. Officially any EASA license can operate any EASA registered aircraft, so a pilot with an Irish ATPL can operate a French registered aircraft, so most of the time state of license issue is not a problem. But a few airlines have some restrictions on state of license issue. For example easyJet requires you to have a UK EASA ATPL, and SAS requires your license to be Danish, Swedish or Norwegian. If you have a German EASA ATPL, it be difficult to change the state of license issue due to their medical privacy laws.
Many nations require a radiotelephony license as well, and getting information about it can be difficult. That license is often left out when researching the conversion process. I did the theory exams, medical and skills test, only to find out after all of it that my CAA required the radiotelephony license on top of it all. I do know Ireland does not require the separate radio license, and because of that they may be they way to go.
Lastly, if you are going to live and work in Europe, be careful about having your license issued in the country in which you reside. It is not uncommon for tax authorities to get access to the national CAA pilot database an single out pilots for extra tax scrutiny. For an extra layer of safety, if possible, have your license issued in a different country.
Hope that helps. Feel free to send me a PM if you desire more information.
Right on the money NEDude. I concur with everything you wrote. I wish I had seen a summary of the EASA conversion nightmare as thorough and precise as this when I began my journey almost 4 years ago.
I used Naples Air Center, which is a British flight school (actually now a subsidiary of Andrews Field) to start the process and broke up the exams in Orlando to three sittings vice two as was recommended because, on my first trip, I was smoked by my 7th exam in three days. A fellow American I met during the exams recommend the Bristol test prep and I used a one year subscription to supplement the NAC program.
I had an FAA ATP with B300 type, but not having a big jet type, the U.K. CAA required me to go through a training provider to execute some abbreviated flight courses. I had over 3000 hours when I began and am over 5000 now, basically all military and civil service after college with no 121 or 135 time.
I used Naples Air Center to work on my Commercial conversion and logged about 15 hours (minimum 7 training + about a 2 hours skills test) doing a VFR Single Engine Piston Commercial course; I had to do this over three trips and 6 months so there were refresher flights. I then logged 7 hours (6 minimum training + check ride) doing a VFR Multi Engine Piston Exam. The most difficult part was fitting the training into my career and family life, along with the school finding an acceptable and fair examiner.
I am now working on my Multi Engine Instrument Rating, which consisted of a DA42 VFR checkout, an IFR evaluation, and one training flight in the approved training organization. The U.K. CAA is working well with the German School and I am just waiting on my skills test to be approved. Should be done in under 8 hours and I am skipping the Single Engine Instrument Rating as I have no professional need for it; but wow, is flying in Europe expensive.
The CAA did not give me credit for a night rating, so I am also having to fly 5 hours single engine piston at night to get that squared away.
The U.K. requires a radio telephony course, which is one day of training and then a second morning for a skills test, the VFR and IFR comms written gives you credit for the RT VHF and HF written exam. I did this twice, once in Orlando with an examiner that turned out to have an expired examiners certificate, invalidating the training, and once in Cardiff Wales with a terrific trainer and examiner.
Feel free to ask me if I am looking forward to maintaining and continuing to pay for my ratings every year once I have them all.
Good Luck, and happy flying.