Flying in Ireland/Europe with a US PPL

firefly08

I am an Irish citizen living in the US. I'm thinking about getting a private pilot's license in the US. What I'm trying to find out is, what are my options regarding renting a plane and flying when I'm back in Ireland? I've tried looking at the IAA and EASA websites to try and figure this out, but I can't get straight answers.

I come back home for a few weeks every year, and I had assumed that once I have my FAA license over here (US) I'd be able to rent an airplane while I'm in Ireland on holidays and go flying. But from reading up on this now I'm not sure. It's hard to find any straight info, but the gist of seems to be that you can't fly in Europe without a European license. I've read that you can "convert" a non European license, but I'm not sure if that means I would have to give up the US license - not something I'd want to do while I still live in the US. Can anyone shed any light on this for me? Can I either use the US license in Europe, or get a European license in addition to the US one, without having to do all the training again from scratch? Thanks!

arubex

I spoke with a Cirrus SR22 pilot once, asking him why he kept it on the N-reg despite being based in the UK. His answer was that way he could keep his FAA license because the 'operator' of the aircraft was a trust based in Delaware, not Europe.

I don't know if that's a definitive answer ( I'm not a pilot ). But a web search suggests you could also fly a Manx-registered aircraft on the FAA license...

phonypony

This is yet another area of the EASA regulations that even most of the authorities seem to be unclear about and disagree on. Best to check with the IAA directly- they're usually good at getting back to you- but a lot of countries have extended annually the ability for a US-based private pilot to fly EASA aircraft day vfr within their airspace on their registered aircraft on an FAA cert. I also think a class 2 FAA medical may have been required in the past by the IAA rather than the class 3.

martinsvi

generally you can't fly EASA aircraft on an FAA license. You can look around if someone's renting a N reg aircraft or you can request IAA to issue a permit/validate you FAA license temporarily. According to EASA regulations, this temporal validation/permit cannot last longer than a year, so realistically you would need to renew it every time you come here

as ever, there are a few exceptions - for exaple UK's CAA allowed FAA pilots to fly G reg planes up until last year I think. They keep pushing the cut-off date, maybe you still can, I'm not sure. Another option is non-easa aircraft - such as kit aircraft or microlights. I echo the suggestion to contact IAA, as these non-easa aircraft are controlled entirely by local authorities so it's up to IAA to decide

you can have 2 licences at the same time, you can get an EASA license when you have your FAA license and 100 hours on it + passing Air Law, Human performances written exams and doing skills test. You will also probably need to do your Class 2 medical in Ireland as well

firefly08

I contacted the IAA a few days ago, and got a response this morning. Here's the scoop:
* you can fly Irish registered aircraft on a US license until 8th April 2017 under current legislation, subject to certain restrictions (VFR, daytime, 1st or 2nd class FAA medical cert required etc.)
* the current situation is that after the above date, this will be overridden and you will have to either get a temporary validation, or conversion to EASA. Despite the name, "conversion" does not mean giving up the US license - you get to have both. The requirements are basically the same for either the validation or the conversion: see pages 210-211 here.
* however, it's likely that there will be another 12 month extension pushing this change out to 8th April 2018. They said that if an extension is made available, Ireland will apply for it, so that sounds promising.
Long term it sounds like a conversion will be the way to go since the temporary validation is not really any easier to do. Thanks for the help everyone.

martinsvi

thanks for sharing the response, I never realized IAA had the same exemption as CAA, you learn something new every day!

civdef

There's supposed to be some bilateral agreement in the works between EASA and FAA in relation to the PPL conversion process, still not signed yet though.

https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/avs/offices/afs/afs800/media/pilot_licensing_summary.pdf