FAA to EASA conversion
 

Hi all.

My apologies if this topic is covered in another area. Any recommendations for FAA to EASA conversion. I work overseas as Captain. Any help or suggestions are appreciated.

Yes use the search function

I can only comment on Ireland.

You will have to sit for the 14 written exams. You will have 18 months from the time you sit for the first exam to complete all 14. Bristol or Oxford Aviation offer distance learning programs. It was all self study.

Back in the day, some 12 years ago it was about 110 euro for each exam. I don’t remember the cost of the study materials. No matter as I’m sure the cost has gone up. Also, not all 14 exams were not offered during each sitting.

I took all of my paperwork, exam results, validation, certificate from Oxford, LPC, and medical to the IAA. A couple of days later, got a call from the IAA to collect my license.

Both training organizations can counsel you the best course to take based on the country validation is applicable. They can tell you locations and dates of sittings too. Good luck... well worth the effort as it opens more opportunities world wide.

Message to Mods
 

Perhaps this thread is more applicable in the “Foreign” forum. Pilots overseas, working on validations, are seeking information on how to obtain a license in the country they are flying.

Many look at the “Flight Schools and Training” mainly for new entrants to the industry.

Thanks... captjns

I did the conversion in the UK. You will also have to sit all 14 exams, and max three sittings. All exams are offered in the same sitting but it is a lot of testing. I have seen people do it before. Since you hold an ATPL in another country, you can self certify for the exams. You will also have to do a flight test, which can be done in the sim on the type that you are currently flying if you have 500 hours on type. Sittings for exams are typically held once a month, and they have different locations. The medical exam has to be done at Gatwick for the initial, but they accept initial class 1 medical exams from other EASA countries with some paperwork and a fee.

I used Bristol Ground School for self study, but supplemented it with a question bank.

I finished the conversion process about 18 months ago and everything others have said is accurate.

A few other points you should be aware of:

The initial medical exam must be done at the official CAA medical centre(s). Subsequent medicals can be done through private AMEs similar to the FAA. The country in which you do the initial medical exam will be the country which issues your ATPL. The 14 exams can be done in any country, but they must be all done in one country. In other words you cannot do 7 in the U.K. and 7 in Ireland. But you can officially transfer the results from one country, to the country which holds you medical records. I did the exams through the U.K. but medical and license issue through Denmark.

Officially any EASA approved examiner can do your ATPL skills test, but if they are certified through a different country than the one that will issue your license, there must be a pre-approval of the examiner. The pre-approval usually only takes a few days, and it is really just a matter of the examiner registering on the other nations CAA site to view any differences in requirements and get a copy of the paperwork. Now be aware that "officially" does not mean it will always be smooth. The southern European countries, Spain in particular, are notoriously difficult to work with and getting approval for a TRE from another country can be at times impossible.

The last big thing you need to be aware of is that although it may not always be listed, many CAAs require a radiotelephony license as well. And no, the FCC license will not work. This often requires a separate radio theory exam on top of the 14 ATPL exams. The U.K. is one of the countries which have this requirement. Ireland does not have the radio license requirement.

The U.K. has the most experience and best defined process for for the conversion, however they can be a bit more on the expensive side. Ireland has a very good reputation for being easy to work with. I have heard the Icelandic CAA is also very easy to work with. Denmark is also easy, but expensive. Again, the southern European countries can be cheap, but notoriously difficult.

Oh, and if you go through Germany, be aware that German privacy laws prohibit the sharing of medical information. What that means is if you have a German license and need to change your state of license issue to another country, it will be difficult. Any EASA license can operate any EASA registry, so in most cases it will not matter. But there are a few airlines which require you to change your license over to their country to make the LPC paperwork easier. EasyJet is one such airline.

Feel free to ask if you have more questions.

Germany to UK CAA is currently not possible for pilots that had their license in germany for quite some time. For new licenses it should work in theory. Reason is that the CAA requires a complete medical history of the last five years, which the LBA can't provide as it doesn't have the data. Providing the history yourself is not accepted by the CAA. Rules have changed though and most if not all of the medical data is now transfered to the LBA (german CAA) with newer medicals as far as i know.

However, the german CAA scored second to last one on a test of how well they follow EASA rules done by EASA, just before Greece. Not a good CAA to work with.

Anyway, Easyjet is just in the process of hiring about 330 german license holders without the requirement to change them to UK ones, and will employ all mainland europe pilots (except switzerland of course) in an european AOC anyway as the UK one will not fall under EASA regulations anymore post-BREXIT.

I have heard Poland is the cheapest/easiest place to do it. True?

The theory exams are quite cheap in Poland. I had looked into doing it through there but if my memory is correct (which it may not be), the Polish authorities required you to work through an ATO regardless of experience level. I had been working with a Polish ATO, but before I got too far into the process, the ATO I was working with decided they were no longer going to assist with conversions.

Says who exactly?