FAA license to CAA equivalent

[macsperf]

Might be the wrong place to ask but.......

Looking for some direction and or advice. I'm currently in China flying "N" registered helicopters under my FAA licenses. The new helicopters that are coming into the country are under and being operated with Canadian "C" registrations. The Chinese Aviation Authorities are requiring me to get a Canadian Licenes to continue to fly.

How can one go about getting the Canadian License? While in China?

Any insight, advice and direction would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[Colonel Sanders]

I'm going to guess that you have at least an
FAA COMM certificate, and you want at least
a TCA CPL.

There is a "shortcut" between the FAA and
the TCA called the IPL. Let me know when
you suffer TLA overload.

Anyways, here's the URL (sorry) on the TCA
website about how you can use the IPL:

http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/s ... on-480.htm

http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/o ... 01-478.htm

Basically, you need to get a Canuck medical
(probably category one), do a short "differences"
written exam on air law, and do a verification.

Oh yeah, you also need to have a passport
photo taken and apply for a licence "booklet".

That will get you a TCA CPL.

Whoops. You're rotary wing. I had assumed the IPL
applied to rotary wing PPL/CPL/ATPL same as fixed
wing, but it appears that is not the case.

I have helped a guy with an FAA fixed and rotary wing
ATP get his TC PPL (fixed and rotary wing) simply by
doing a medical and writing the PSTAR, but I suspect
a PPL is not good enough for what you are doing.

It would allow you to act as PIC of the C-reg helicopters
(eg "non-revenue" reposition flights) but not for hire.

I suspect that if you want a rotary wing TC CPL you're
going to have to grind it out through CAR 421.31

http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/r ... htm#421_31

- age 18
- cat 1 medical
- knowledge: you are exempt from ground school
requirement (see CAR 421.31(9)) but you must do
the written test
- experience: I hope you have the required dual
- skill: you must do a flight test

This doesn't look fast or cheap, sorry.

[macsperf]

Thanks Col, I am a FAA COMM Rotary Wing 6000hr, Instrument Rated and an Instructor Pilot. Just started this gig in China last December, initially was working out pretty well until they recently started bringing in new helicopters under the "C" reg. Put a crimp in the operation (for all, engineers as well) Not sure what's going to happen. I'll try to wade through the CAR's and see if the ROI is there for me or I pull the plug here in China.

[Colonel Sanders]

Is a Canuck PPL "good enough"? You
can legally act as PIC, at least.

If so, you can get one pretty easily and
cheaply - I have helped a rotary wing
FAA ATP do exactly that. He ended up
with a rotary wing Cdn PPL and a fixed-wing
Cdn PPL (based on his fixed-wing FAA COMM)

Gotta do a Canuck medical, get a TC file number.
Write the PSTAR (easy and fast)
passport photo
fill out application for licence
fill out application for booklet
write check for $55 (we call them "cheques" - funny, huh?)

Takes a while, but won't cost you hardly anything.

[thorongil]

I am reading this thread because I am also considering getting a Canadian license issued based on my FAA one.

Is it possible to download the CARs somewhere? I found and downloaded Canadian AIM but could not find the CARs so far.

Same question regarding the study guides - I see them at http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/s ... s-2284.htm but don't see them in downloadable form - which would be great for studying off line.

Also - as an interesting point - the AC states:

*********************
6.0 CONVERSION – FAA TO TCCA
6.1 Initial steps - FAA pilot certificate to TCCA pilot licence
(1) The initial step in the conversion process is that the applicant will be required to obtain a
Canadian Medical Certificate, either Category 1 or Category 3 appropriate to the licence to be
requested. The Medical Certificate can be requested as follows:
(a) The applicant may submit either the original or certified copies of FAA medical
examination reports directly to the Civil Aviation Medicine Branch of Transport Canada,
Headquarters in Ottawa for processing and assessment (see 4.1 (2) for the full address);
or
(b) Applicants may complete aviation medical examinations with a delegated Canadian Civil
Aviation Medical Examiner.
**********************

So it seems to me that if one has a FAA medical certificate one could use it to obtain a Canadian medical certificate directly (without taking a Canadian physical exam) - although I am not sure what are the 'FAA medical examination reports' that are listed.

[Colonel Sanders]

Is it possible to download the CARs somewhere?

No. They are available online. I suppose if
you had a fancy piece of software that you
fed a URL to, and it attempted to recursively
copy the web pages and all web pages underneath
it on your hard disk, that might work.

Or not, because of all the thousands of links.

It changes all the time anyways. So really,
to read the CARs, you need online access.

edit -- try this: http://www.httrack.com

edit #2 - I downloaded it, installed it, and am
apparently in the process of downloading the
entire TC website. Maybe the entire government
of Canada website. Not sure yet. When my
mirror is complete, I will create a .rar and
dropbox a URL.

I need Weird Al Yankovic to write me a song -
a parody of "I wanna be sedated" by the Ramones.
I want it to be called "I wanna be bitcapped". I
pay for 10mbits, and do you think I ever see it?

edit #3 - here it is:
http://www.avcanada.ca/forums2/viewtopi ... 54&t=88531