Why cant there be one licence for all the countries that have there act togather like Canada, US, UK, Austrailia, NZ and such Aviation wise. We all fly into each others airspace does that mean a Canadian pilot is inferiour to a pilot from the UK. There should be an ICAO licence once certain requirements are met with a stadardized test for all countries. Not that I want to take another test and heap on more red tape to cut through. like an International ATPL thats good in all with no conversions neccasary.
Regarding the JAA the rules / abilities are somewhat changing on a daily basis. Although nothing has been firmly put in writing as of yet.
The lastest news being, that you can now write the JAA exams in the US. The required flight training can also now be completed in the US, however the flight tests have to be accomplished in a JAA state, so you'd probably want to do a couple fam flights in the area, just to get the feel.
The major thing which hasn't really changed is the price. Even with all the US cheapness added in, it will probably still run you around $20g USD.
There are quite a few odd exceptions to these rules floating around. Most notably the 1000+ on two crew type. If you have 1000+ on an aircraft which is certified 2 crew (no DHC6's etc) then you can do a type check on that particular type, in place of the GFT (commercial) and the multi IFR. You still have to write all the tests however. Maybe it's 500+, not 1000+ I can't remember.
Also, there are still a couple of other loopholes around. Heard some guy a while ago get his OECS ATPL converted to a french one, and then wrote a few tests and convert to a JAA. I don't know all the details, sounded kinda hokey to me, but he seemed pretty happy.
Regarding the transferability of licenses, someone had mentioned earlier something about "what if americans could fly here??".... that statement is very misplaced. Licensing is not what stops a pilot from moving to another country to work, IMMIGRATION is. A US pilot cannot just come to fly in Canada whether he had a Canadian license, unless he was legally allowed to be here.
I don't believe many US pilots want to come to Canada to work anyways, but thats another can of worms. The license conversion is no problem, maybe 5 days, and $2000 should cover US to Can ATPL.
The main reason the JAA won't allow easy conversions had really nothing to do with the 'our pilots are better than yours' mentality. ( well except maybe in England ). It's completely financial. The flightschools do not want to lose all their business. If the conversions were easy, EVERYONE would train in the US, and come back and convert. The authorities are very closely tied in with the larger companies and the schools, so they set rules to prevent this from happenning.
There has been talk of easy conversions for as long as I can remember. Don't count on it happenning in our lifetimes.
I guess like Canada, you have to have the medical before you can do the exams? Am I right in assuming you actually have to go to the UK, or other JAA country to do the medical, even if you are writing them through the US?
Has anyone looked into Canadian (US) ATP to a commercial licence? IS it easier and is there any jobs available for that level. May give you a chance to earn income and work towards the higher.
In regards to the previous question, is the UK commercial worth anything? It's my impression that most starting professional pilots do their exams and get the frozen ATPL. Is there much you can do in the UK or Europe without the ATPL or frozen ATPL?
