is this true? re: pilot license

cuterob

Is what is written below true..i read it on a pilot training website.. if you trained in America like you would with pilot training college in waterford would you have to pay these extra fees?


Lets start with the very basics ie the cost of converting your brand new CPL-MULTI,IR which you have just returned with from,lets say,Canada or the USA.

Whats that I hear you say ?... "Surely my USA or Canadian licence is the same as having an Irish one"... not so I'm afraid.

The Irish national carriers such as Ryanair,Aer Lingus,Aer Arran and indeed the British national carriers will only hire you to fly "home registered" aircraft if you have a JAA licence. "So what now" I hear you say... well,what now indeed?

Firstly you will be required to sit your Airline Transport Pilots Exams, a total of 14 exams in all,the time and cost being somewhere in the region of 4 to 6 months and approximately €4000 .When that is completed you will now be required to undertake a flying course on both single and multi-engined aircraft to prepare for your three upcoming skill tests... yes, you did hear me right THREE.

1. MULTI-ENGINE RATING
2. COMMERCIAL PILOTS LICENCE
3. MULTI INSTRUMENT RATING

In my experience an average student will require at least 25 hours flying,which will amount to, in the region of €15000. Already the costs have come to a "mere" €4000 +€15000 +flight test fees+hire of the aircraft for the flight tests... something in the region of €22000, that is of course presuming you pass everything first time and dont encounter any hitches.

I would imagine at this stage that the "low" cost of training abroad does not look so "low" now,unless of course you intend to live and work in Canada or USA for the rest of your life.

Cessna_Pilot

What's the big deal. Nothing new there at all. Everyone who gets into this game knows that things have to be converted etc.

donkey balls

I would imagine at this stage that the "low" cost of training abroad does not look so "low" now,unless of course you intend to live and work in Canada or USA for the rest of your life.

depends wether you do JAA or FAA my mate did his ppl atpl in the uk hour building&cpl in the USA and IR in the uk all for around 60,000 euro.

the school we trained in was jaa approved(which means we CAA licences) which are reconized through out europe

T-Square

cuterob wrote: »

Is what is written below true..i read it on a pilot training website.. if you trained in America like you would with pilot training college in waterford would you have to pay these extra fees?


Lets start with the very basics ie the cost of converting your brand new CPL-MULTI,IR which you have just returned with from,lets say,Canada or the USA.

Whats that I hear you say ?... "Surely my USA or Canadian licence is the same as having an Irish one"... not so I'm afraid.

The Irish national carriers such as Ryanair,Aer Lingus,Aer Arran and indeed the British national carriers will only hire you to fly "home registered" aircraft if you have a JAA licence. "So what now" I hear you say... well,what now indeed?

Firstly you will be required to sit your Airline Transport Pilots Exams, a total of 14 exams in all,the time and cost being somewhere in the region of 4 to 6 months and approximately €4000 .When that is completed you will now be required to undertake a flying course on both single and multi-engined aircraft to prepare for your three upcoming skill tests... yes, you did hear me right THREE.

1. MULTI-ENGINE RATING
2. COMMERCIAL PILOTS LICENCE
3. MULTI INSTRUMENT RATING

In my experience an average student will require at least 25 hours flying,which will amount to, in the region of €15000. Already the costs have come to a "mere" €4000 +€15000 +flight test fees+hire of the aircraft for the flight tests... something in the region of €22000, that is of course presuming you pass everything first time and dont encounter any hitches.

I would imagine at this stage that the "low" cost of training abroad does not look so "low" now,unless of course you intend to live and work in Canada or USA for the rest of your life.

22K doesn't sound so bad, when you think you'd have to pay that for tuition/books for a real qualification like engineer or accountancy.

Cessna_Pilot

T-Square wrote: »

22K doesn't sound so bad, when you think you'd have to pay that for tuition/books for a real qualification like engineer or accountancy.

A real qualification?

cuterob

well basically i'll cut the sh.it.. i copied and pasted what i put up from atlantic air.. who for a full training programme costs 60k.. and the other pilot training college who trains in waterford and florida costs about 100k.. but if u train with pilot training college in waterford and get your hours in florida will you have to come home to ireland and fork out another 20k+????

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Don't PTC train you for the JAA licence?

Even though you do most of your hours in the States its still a JAA licence you get in the end.

Oxford Aviation are the same I imagine and after training in Arizona you get a CAA JAA CPL-ME-IR.

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....in addition, after reading more of the above posts:

If its just an FAA licence then yes you convert.

I remember meeting a 40 year old American captain in the Mater. He had been flying for donkeys years and due to the slow down in the States moved to Ireland for work. Got a job with some outfit but he had to re-sit a lot of the ground theory exams because he needed a JAA licence to work here.

diverdriver

Obviously doing your research, cuterob but you seem to have got hold of the wrong end of the stick.

There are several routes to getting a JAA pilot's licence and ratings.

There are JAA integrated courses which are expensive and full time. Schools like Oxford, FTE and Cabair to name the British. Some of the Oxford training is in the USA and Cabair have training in Spain or the USA, mainly for the good weather. FTE is entirely based in Spain. These three all lead to a British JAA licence. There is another school based in Australia again leading to British licence.

An alternative is to go to a CAA approved school in the US which provides JAA modular training leading to a British licence. Ormond being one example. This is usually a lot cheaper.

We also have the likes of PTC who also offer a modular course(dressed up as if it was an integrated course) but also do a lot of training in the US because it's cheaper with better weather. They are not training you for an American licence but an Irish one. However they are wildly expensive.

Both Atlantic and the NFC offer modular courses and are a lot cheaper overall than PTC but nevertheless expensive like everything in Ireland and weather sensitive.

I read the piece by the CFI on the Atlantic website you've quoted. While largely true it is a piece of marketing. What he's referring to, is obviously the case of people who go to the States or South Africa or Canada and get local licences and ratings relatively inexpensively. On return you have to convert them to JAA. This is done with a minimum training of 15 hours, that's minimum, he suggests 25 hours in his experience. Plus the written exams. This would only apply to those who have non JAA licences. PTC as I pointed out train for an Irish JAA licence.

He also mentions the standard of flying from some pilots who trained in certain schools in Spain. They provide a Spanish JAA licence which is quite valid. But Atlantic like the NFC have come across CPLs even Instructors and found that a

few students who had returned from Spain only to find that the QUALITY of their training was such that I would not even sign them off for a PPL skill test.

I personally have come across pilots like that, scary they are. The worst thing is that they don't even know it themselves.

So what's the best option? You have to work it out for yourself. I'm afraid. The cheapest is not the best, sometimes the expensive version isn't that good either.