PILOT LICENSE VALIDATIONS
Doris-Maria Heilmann
CEO 111Publishing, Online Seminars for Writers, Content Strategist
Every country has a national aviation authority, also known as a civil aviation authority. These agencies govern and regulate civil aviation. For example, the FAA is the authority in the U.S. Most importantly, each aviation authority oversees aircraft airworthiness, the licensing of pilots, and air traffic controllers. They also oversee flight dispatchers, and maintenance engineers, licensing of airports, and other aviation standards.?
The ultimate goal of these aviation authorities is aviation safety through regulation and oversight.?All pilots must meet the standards of their respective countries where they fly. Anyone thinking about becoming a pilot?should research the aviation authority in their home country. This is because requirements and standards vary among countries. A few flight training organizations in the U.S. offer pilot education and training for other jurisdictions, such as the U.S. school Epic Flight Academy in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, which offers also Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) licenses:
International Professional Pilot Program
This program is for international students from countries outside of the European Union such as Brazil, Colombia, India, Nigeria, Panama, Peru, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, and Vietnam who aspire to become professional pilots. Your flight training experience will lead to your PPL, IFR, and CPL ratings. As a result, you are prepared for employment with commercial airlines under all Civil Aviation Authorities (CAA).?
You will meet all minimum equivalent licensing requirements to be validated as a commercial pilot in your respective country - with the exception of countries in the European Union. Europe created 25 years ago their own European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) licensing which allows pilots from all their member states to work in every country of the European Union.?
Pilots from non-EU states who wish to be recruited and fly with a European airline must be holders of the EASA license. Licenses held in accordance with ICAO Annex 1 (e.g. FAA, CASA, Indian DGCA, Transport Canada, etc.) can be converted to EASA licenses. The first step to converting a non-European license is successfully passing the 14 subjects of the ATPL theory. The flight training phase of the conversion depends on the applicant's previous experience. Then a skill test with a certified EASA examiner must be passed. For the endorsement of a Type Rating on the EASA license,?the applicant should have at least 500 hours on type.
As a newly qualified pilot, you want to be as employable as possible by as many operators as possible to give you the opportunity to secure that first job as a pilot. Some airlines may base you in the UK, but you still require an EASA license to work for them – Ryanair, EasyJet, or WizzAir?for example. After ‘Brexit’ it is important for British pilots who want to fly for European airlines to obtain both, the CAA and the EASA license.?
But isn’t that a whole lot more work, time, and expense? The flight and theory training is exactly the same for EASA and UK CAA licenses. The student aiming to have an EASA and a UK CAA license would have to complete another set of ATPL exams and an extra IFR test (one flown in EU airspace, one flown in UK airspace). But if students can pass the exams in one week, there is no reason why they shouldn’t be able to do it again the following week.
CONVERT CAA LICENSES INTO EUROPEAN EASA LICENSES
On January 1st, 2021 the United Kingdom left the European Union. For aviation, the most notable impact was that the competent authority, the UK CAA, is no longer a part of the European Aviation Safety Agency, EASA. This means that future pilots are becoming either EASA or UK CAA-issued license holders. This directly impacts employment opportunities as certain airlines will only be able to recruit certain license authority holders - depending on their AOC/Aircraft. One example is Ryan Air, which is based in Ireland.
Due to Brexit, many British Aviation Schools now only offer British CAA licenses. The UK license would pilots solely allow to fly for UK airlines. However, there is a dozen or more flight training schools in the UK that are approved by both: EASA and the UK CAA for part or all of their training, for example, EuroFlightTraining in Hampshire, UK, or ACS Flight Training in Perth, Scotland.?In the South-Eastern UK, at FTAGlobal, where flight students can obtain their CPL/ATPL/IFR according to CAA, but also their EASA license. They just have to write two tests and fly 30 minutes over to France to obtain their CPL or ATPL written exam for a European license (EASA) and their check ride.
See a long list of British Flight Training Organizations that offer both, a CAA and an EASA license instruction in the Chapter ‘Resources' of the upcoming book Part 2 of DREAM JOB PILOT?
CONVERT FAA LICENSES INTO EUROPEAN EASA LICENSES
Florida Tech University in Melbourne, FL, has a conversion program that is designed to convert your FAA instrument and commercial ratings over to their EASA equivalents. It means that your skills as an aviator is marketable to a new part of the world. The EASA Flight Training program allows you to receive a European License in Florida.
After 8 months of training, you will have converted your FAA licenses to EASA, and have at least 100 hours of PIC and?200 hours of total time (required for EASA CPL). Moreover, completed one of the most comprehensive and in-depth ground training courses currently available - ATPL Theoretical Ground School.
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Florida Tech writes: "EASA mandates that instrument training must be conducted in EASA-regulated airspace. Fortunately, we do have 4 partner flight schools in Europe that help us deliver EASA instrument training. Not to worry, all of our partner flight schools have been vetted by our team to ensure that your training experience with our partners is of the same high quality you expect from FIT Aviation."
“Our training program is designed to give you an FAA Private Pilot license as well as an EASA Multi-engine Piston (MEP) Commercial Pilot License (CPL) with EASA Instrument Rating. You will also have completed EASA ATPL Theoretical Ground School to accumulate the level of knowledge required to be successful in completing a Type Rating immediately following this course.”
They are the first university program in the United States with an independently approved EASA Aviation Training Organization (ATO) certification. Not to mention their on-site ATPL testing center hosted by the Irish Aviation Authority, which will allow you to take all fourteen of your ATPL exams, no traveling necessary.
US or ICAO ATPL to EASA ATPL
If you are already an ATPL pilot and would like to get the EASA licenses and ratings, this is your option: In order for you to be eligible for the EASA Conversion Career Program you need to have a valid ICAO/FAA CPL and the following:
Students have to pass the EASA ATPL written exam in Europe and take the practical training including the exams for the Instrument Rating and CPL+MEP. During ATPL(A) ground training the applicant has to go through ground training covering:
The applicant has to demonstrate theoretical knowledge in form of 14 written tests with at least 75% correct answers. Students must pass all required written exams of the frozen ATPL(A) before taking any practical exams for the IR and CPL+MEP. The written exams of the frozen ATPL(A) already include the written exams for the IR and CPL+MEP.
The practical skill exams in the airplane with the examiner can be taken after successful completion of the written tests (EASA ATPL(A) written exam). The applicant must demonstrate the ability to:
CONVERT FAA (US) PPL, CPL, AND IFR TO CANADIAN LICENSES
FAA conversion courses are designed to prepare you for the FAA to Transport Canada conversion exams as efficiently and precisely as possible. The online ground school allows flexibility.??is a guided self-study program with the added benefit of communicating with your fellow students via forums online. Study when you want, where you want (any internet connection), and how you want.?
Their ground school prepares U.S. pilots for the written exam and background knowledge all pilots need to have, conducting online ground school since 1999.?Students have electronic access to an instructor via email and discussion forums. A true online ground school is not simply practicing questions online. Our system uses presentations (many with sound and video), videos of actual ground school and in-flight sessions, quizzes, textbooks, assignments, and discussions in the forum.
When you have completed this course you go to the approved exam center and write the exam.?
PilotTraining.ca supplies you with all the paperwork and recommendations.?
Rules and links to this topic can be found in Part 2 of DREAM JOB PILOT? in the chapter ‘Resources’.