I agree. I can see some guys spending all that money and end up coming back to the US because of the culture differences and expectations.

Hey guys and gals,

Have a job opportunity in Lisbon and I have read the JAR's and since i am not a lawyer could someone help me.

16000 TT
14000 PIC
B737; LR-60; SD-3 types

What do I need to do to convert my FAA to JAA.

Thanx,

Cargowannabe

Read my posts #8 and 9 on previous page and then call local authorities in Lisbon to see if they will let you validate your FAA ATP. You still need to get local medical and pass an JAR Air Law exam( I think its open book) before you can fly there. Your operator must train you per their company training manual and then you apply for validation which is based on your FAA ATP ( you must have a type rating on your ATP and a valid 1st class FAA medical the whole validation period). Once approved ( might take up to 4 to 6 weeks) you must take the 14 JAA ATPL written exams. Once they are all done you can get that JAA ATPL at your next sim check.

Make sure you talk to local authorities about the necessary steps and also make sure that your potential employer is OK with all this.

Major pain but cheaper than going to flight school

How long are the 14 JAA ATPL exams good for?

Good for 36 months from the date of completion of the 14 exams. If you have not done your conversion by then, guess what...

Hi Jim,

did you only use the Bristol gs for 3 months (and no other books or material) to prepare for the written exams, therefore only spending 75 euros to prepare for the written exams? Did I get that correctly?
If so, how many hours a day did you study (average), and how many days did it take you to be ready? Was that about 90 days?

Thank you.

You can study using only Bristol. This being said, there are lot of questions you might have no clue as to the answer they came up with unless you plunge in the books. You will face some topics also you may have never seen before. Everything is based on the RAF.

If you start the navigation subject, make sure to not use the E6-B or CR-3. You won't find the answers. They are so close together. It took me a long time to realize this. You will need to use the CRP-5 - the UK version if you wish.

The majority of the prep was the Bristol access. I borrowed the flight computer. The stupid things are about 80 euro over there! I bought a book on Met and some drawing tools as well. Other than that if I came across a subject area I didn't understand I googled it. Believe it or not there is always somebody out there that has the time, energy and ambition to write entire manuscripts on the tests. Good information if you want it.

Studying was intense. My wife was still in the States for the first 6 months so every spare moment was dedicated to the tests. Yes, it was about 90 days from the beginning of my studying to the final one of the 14 exams.

It can be done cheaply but you have to be persistent.

Jim

impressive Jim...

No, not really. I did nothing but fly my schedule and study/test on the days off. My wife and dog were still in the States so it was easy to get lost in the stuff. The impressive ones were the ones who's families had already come over and they still found time to get it done.

I was still too scared to take the Irish driving test. They had a 58 percent failure rate and I just couldn't bring myself to deal with it. Now I just have to do a written test for my new state.

Jim