FAA ATP conversion to JAA
 

hey all,

I was wondering if anyone here has converted their FAA ATP to JAA ATP?

Is there much involved? Can it be done in the US?

Any guidance would be welcome,

regards

If you are airline CA the conversion process is fairly easy.

If not you need to do the ground school for the 14 written exams. Do a CPL, can be done in the USA, the IR must be done in the EU.

Most schools allow you to do a distance learining course for the 14 exams.

Why do you want to convert? If you can't legally work in the EU it won't really help you unless you want to get on with a MidEast carrier or Cathay Pacific.

I got half way through on a distance leanring course. I learned a lot. It makes the US ATP look like a joke.


NAC: EASA ATPL Ground School

Bizpilot,

Thanks for the info. I am retired from airline flying full time and would like to pick up some part time work especially ferry flying if possible. I figure a lot of aircraft delivery flights don't require EU work visa?

"Cathay Pacific". CX dont require a JAA license. I spent 5 years with Dragonair (part of CX) and they accept most licenses and do a quick conversion to CAD ATP.

JAA is now EASA. An EASA conversion can be done in the US, and if you are converting an ATP, then it is easier than converting a CPL.

So the three things you need are:
Initial Class 1 medical
14 Written Exams
Complete an ATP flight test

If you already have the ATP, you still need to complete the 14 written exams but you do not have to be enrolled in a school. You can self certify. However, you will need to get over to Europe and have an initial Class 1 medical done at an Aeromedical Center (AMC). You cannot get an initial Class 1 from an AME, only renewals can be done through them.

Next, you need to complete the 14 ATPL exams. Each country handles them a bit differently, but the UK has some testing centers outside of the UK, including one in Florida. UK exams are held once a month. I know also that in Spain, exams can be done whenever you please however you must travel to Madrid to take the exams (and you don't want a Spanish license, trust me). Since you already hold an ICAO ATPL, you do not need to enroll in a course (this will save you between $1500 and $3000 for a distance learning course). If you feel competent, just get a set of used Bristol or Oxford books and sign up for an online question bank through the likes of Bristol or ATPLonline (the EASA database has about 15,000 questions for all 14 exams). If you sign up with any provider, any part of it is optional as you are already an ATPL holder.

Next, you can only convert to an EASA ATPL if you have at least 500 hours of time on multicrew aircraft. To get an EASA ATPL, you will need to do a flight test observed by an EASA examiner, so your best bet would be to do a flight test on an aircraft in which you are typed and to do it in Europe. Otherwise, you will have to pay business class fare and 5 star accommodations for an examiner to fly out to your location.

If you decide to do this, I would recommend Bristol Groundschool for distance learning, regardless of which country you decide to do your exams. I would not recommend NAC, as I have been there myself in person and found them to be not great compared to what you could get. Besides, they would only be able to help you out with the ATPL theory which you aren't even required to do. You only have to do the exams as current ATP holder.

By the way, licensing bodies fees vary wildly from country to country. Customer service also varies wildly from country to country. New EASA regulations allow you to get a medical in one country, do your exams in another, and your flight test in another and you can choose the country that issues your license but not ever country is on board yet with the new licensing rules. Choose your country wisely.

Zondaracer,

Thankyou very much for your input. I really appreciate you taking the time. As you may have guessed I know zero about licensing in Europe.

"you will need to do a flight test observed by an EASA examiner"

Can this be done in a simulator? My main aim is to get EASA license with my Airbus ratings on it so I am hoping a 330 sim check would be the flight test?

And is it a UK ATPL that I would be applying for which is then accepted as a EASA license?

Sorry to sound so .. . . .dumbass!

Don't worry, there are no stupid questions concerning the EASA conversion. EASA and FAA are so different, that I was surprised many many times during my conversion, and I get such shocked reactions from my friends when I tell them the differences.

Anyhow, to answer your questions... yes, the flight test can be done in a simulator. I have a friend who is an Aeroflot A320 Captain and he just did his conversion on a simulator at Oxford Aviation in the UK. If I were you, I would contact CAE, Oxford, and Flugschule Berlin (the last one will probably get you a pretty good price and they use someone else's sims up in Amsterdam or else they use someone's else's in Berlin).

The new EASA regulations state that your license will be issued in the country which holds your aviation medical records. This does not mean that your initial class 1 must be done in that country. For example, I have a friend who did his initial class 1 in the UK, and he did his ATPL exams in the UK, but he had his medical records transferred to Denmark and did his flight test for his CPL in Denmark, and was issued a license by Denmark. Another friend did his initial class 1 in Norway, did his exams in the UK, and had his medical transferred to the UK and was issued a license by the UK after he did his flight test in the UK. Regardless of the country, you will be issued an EASA license a national authority.

Have a look at Denmark, they recently proposed eliminating all fees for licensing and general aviation by putting a surcharge on commercial air carriers. The licensing fees in the UK are quite ridiculous if you ask me. (14 exams at approx 70GBP each). Having said that, I have found the customer service at the UK CAA to be ok (at least much better than the Spanish AESA)

I did this-and I cannot stress how important the country you do it in is.

Some will give you credit for PIC(P1) time on larger a/c. That credit is applied towards the tests you take. If you want to fly
In the country I did ,they made me take a MCC (multi crew concept) class in a generic sim.Total waste of time but the national rules here are a tad different than the JAA rules were. And no credit for flight time except that I did not have to go to the classroom,I just self studied and went into the test.

Now JAA is EASA and god only knows what this will mean.

Again,talk to a EASA member state Aviation Authority. The UK may be different than Italy,Greece,France etc.Find which one is better for your needs.The concept is standardization,but in practice its much more variable.

When you talk to them,make sure they know you are after an EASA ticket and not a National one.

Thanks guys for the input. I really appreciate it.

If I obtained an EASA/JAA ATPL, can I then transfer my type ratings across from my FA license or Hong kong license or would I need to do a full type rating like you do here in the US?

thanks again

You can transfer type ratings to your EASA license by completing a sim evaluation with an examiner if you have 500 hours on type.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but regarding picking the correct country to issue your ATPL, is that still the case now that EASA is around? I know that was clearly the case (I've only dealt with the Swedish authorities who have been quite easy, while I've heard horror stories about Spain), but I thought the whole point with EASA was to streamline and have everything the same way across all countries. Just like the intention was with JAA, which clearly failed.

In all honesty I do highly doubt EASA will succeed with this, just like the EU itself.