On 30/04/2012 14:01, Papa3 wrote:
On Monday, April 30, 2012 2:14:17 AM UTC-4, POPS wrote:
Question for the Europeans -or others- that know the facts, only
the facts ma'am....:

What happens when a US pilot shows up to fly in Europe, like
Germany Austria and Switzerland for any number of months? Perhaps
joining a club to help facilitate things. Any preparation to be
done here in the US beforehand? Medical required over there?
Language barriers based on required reading/testing?.....

What lays ahead. I hope it's not a insanely massive paperwork
chase like other stuff I've ground through over there. Thanks




-- POPS

When I did this in the UK a couple of years back, all I had to do was
to have a medical form equivalent to a commercial driver's license
certification from a doctor. The piloting part was actually quite
easy to get done.

P3

That's because there is no requirement for a licence to fly gliders in
the UK & the minimum medical requirements are based on driving
standards. Sadly, EASA rules have just come into force although most
countries will have a transition period of up to 3 years before the
rules must apply.

Your best bet will be to contact a club where you intend to fly & ask
them what will be required for them to rent you a glider or fly from
their airfield.

EASA rules can be downloaded from he
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/925530/EASA%20FCL.pdf
you need to start from (pdf) page 173, Annexe III, section A, para 5 &
read on to licence conversion, section B, para 2. Basically, airlaw &
human factors tests, flight test, ICAO class 2 medical, ICAO level 4
language proficiency & meet the currency requirements. Oh, and have 100
hours flight time.

Bear in mind that licence validation is a 1 year, 1 time only thing.
Once you do it it will be valid across all of EASA-land, but it only
lasts for a year & you can only do it once. Since the requirements for
licence validation are the same as for licence conversion you might as
well get an EASA licence based on your FAA one.

Here in BGA-land we're using the full 3 year transition period so the
new rules don't have to apply until April 2015. We expect the BGA to be
EASA's & the CAA's point man when it comes to applying the rules so
hopefully the costs & bureaucratic burden can be minimised; other
countries may not be so fortunate.

I've no practical experience of the new EASA rules, everything I think I
know comes from reading the paperwork & internet rumours.

Lots of luck,
Ed.