Has anyone recently completed their ATPL in the U.S. either in Hawaii or with Jerry Trimble in Portland? Looking for the pros and cons at both locations.
Thanks
ATPL in the U.S.
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Desertflyer
- 1st Dan
- Posts: 215
- Joined: Jul 2006
ATPL in the U.S.
Basic Flying Rules: "Try to stay in the middle of the air. Do not go near the edges of it. The edges of the air can be recognized by the appearance of ground, buildings, sea, trees and interstellar space. It is much more difficult to fly there."
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DoorsOff321
- New Member
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Feb 2024
Re: ATPL in the U.S.
I too would like to know! I sent off an email a little while ago to Jerry Trimble but never got a response enquiring about ATPL… how straight forward would it be to convert it back to a casa ATPL??
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Desertflyer
- 1st Dan
- Posts: 215
- Joined: Jul 2006
Re: ATPL in the U.S.
I have just completed the FAA licence in Hawaii with Mauna Loa Helicopters who were friendly and helpful and pretty straight forward. I am now in the process of sitting the CHUF and ASOH exams. I had a chap PM me about the process so I've cut and pasted my reply below. Feel free to PM me as sometimes it is hard to find the correct website link and I can send them through.
There are a LOT of steps required to get the ball rolling and more expensive (but maybe not as painful as 7 CASA exams):
1. FAA letter of verification - iacra.faa.gov. You need a letter from CA$A to confirm your Aus licence which is sent to the FAA and checked by the flight school. You can do this through the CASA website or you log in I think. You need to enrol in the flight school of your choice and that is part of the process. Go to Flight Training Security Program and set up a login/account so they can verify the licence.
2. Transport Security Administration clearance - fingerprints are required and a background check to make sure you're not a terrorist. There used to be a fella in Brisbane that could do the fingerprinting but I think there is only one in Sydney now.
3. M1 training visa through the U.S. consulate in Sydney or Melb or Perth. The school provides an I-20 form after all the previous steps which is an application for an M1 training Visa for the U.S. You then have to go to the U.S. consulate for an interview to be approved. Another mate of mine ended having his interview cancelled and they just sent the visa as he was an Aus citizen and didn't need the interview. This step for me was an absolute pain. I am a NZ and Australian citizen with a NZ passport so I think this may have confused the system. After filling in the online form, I was required to attend the interview in Sydney so had to fly down, stay over night and attend the consulate for (literally) a 3 min interview with 2 questions. I was then granted the visa. It took a long time for my passport to be returned as they had stuffed up my reference number and left the last digit off so the system lost me. I ended up having to call and email a bunch of times for them to finally realise the error. You only get (from memory) 30 days to pick up or have your passport returned by courier before they file it somewhere and it can take another 90 days to recover the passport. Make sure you follow up on this if you don't get a confirmation email within a day or so that the passport is being sent. I paid for the secure courier (door to door) on the website before attending the interview.
4. Prepware to study the FAA knowledge test. I used Sheppard Air. You need to ring the number on the website and actually speak to someone who then sends an email with log in details after you provide payment over the phone. They give you all the actual questions and answers which in the U.S. has to be available under the freedom of information act. I sat and passed the exam in about 20 mins with 92% using their software. There was only 1 question that I didn't recognise. If anyone wants, I can email through the study sheet I came up with to remember a lot of the information.
5. FAA medical - do this in Aus to make sure you don't get over there and they fail you for some weird s#!t the U.S. doesn't like. And they do test you on some weird s#!t. There's a fella in Brisbane I can give anyone the details if needed. Don't know about any other states.
6. Arrive in the U.S. present the visa. You have to present to the school to start the training process within a certain time frame or it gets cancelled.
7. 5 hrs ground prep / 5 hrs aircraft prep in the R44 IFR trainer - a day VFR jobbie so everything is done under the hood and hand flown. I ended up doing about 6 hours as we were held over sea twice waiting for the ILS for 30 mins each time. Meh. bit of whale watching instead.
8. FAA checkride - About 2 hours but again we were held for about 15 mins waiting for an ILS slot. 4 approaches required - 2 non precision, 2 precision. Ground trap was only the R44 POH. I was expecting a grilling on FAA IFR regs but the examiner handbook only requires q's on the POH. Brush up and revise completing a manual W&B.
9. Back in Aus - make sure you have English proficiency on your licence. A mate nearly had the whole show come undone because CASA wouldn't recognise his level of English even though he was born in the U.K. and did his licence in 2 English speaking countries...
10. Do conversion CASA exams.
11. Do conversion CASA ATPL flight test.
Plan for the following in expenses (not exhaustive list):
Accommodation/food/transport - whatever for wherever you do it. For me it was really expensive in Hawaii.
CASA Foreign Verification Letter Fee - $50.00
ATP school - Course Enrolment - $413.18
FAA medical - $400.00
FTSP - threat security assessment $209.68
Fingerprinting - ?? (already had mine)
Sheppard Air Online Course - $137.76
Flights - whatever for wherever you do it
Visa $252.87
Flights to the consulate in Perth or Sydney plus accommodation - $500 depending
Flight Training Student Program - $304.00
Customs and immigration - $34.51
US Student I901 Fee - $570.87
ATPL CHUF exam - $94.85
ATP conversion exam - $124.53 - you need to email CASA and pay another fee (think its about $70) for them to contact the FAA and confirm you have an ATPL in the States. I was issued a 90 day temporary FAA licence and still waiting for the real deal to arrive in the mail. Standby.
Theory - Pilot Practice Exams or ATF - each ATP subject on Pilot Prac Exams is $57 for 3 months.
ATPL flight test - $$ whatever your circumstances are
This is what Mauna Loa Helicopters quoted me (in U.S. dollars) and apparently Jerry Trimble is very similar.
5 hrs ground @ 53/hr = $265 - I did about 2 hours
5 hrs R44 IFR @ 574/hr = $2870 - I did about 6 hours
ATP FAA knowledge test @ 175 = $175
FAA checkride @ $800 = $800 (plus aircraft time)
Subtotal = $4110
tax 4.7%= $193.17
Total = $4,303.17
There are a LOT of steps required to get the ball rolling and more expensive (but maybe not as painful as 7 CASA exams):
1. FAA letter of verification - iacra.faa.gov. You need a letter from CA$A to confirm your Aus licence which is sent to the FAA and checked by the flight school. You can do this through the CASA website or you log in I think. You need to enrol in the flight school of your choice and that is part of the process. Go to Flight Training Security Program and set up a login/account so they can verify the licence.
2. Transport Security Administration clearance - fingerprints are required and a background check to make sure you're not a terrorist. There used to be a fella in Brisbane that could do the fingerprinting but I think there is only one in Sydney now.
3. M1 training visa through the U.S. consulate in Sydney or Melb or Perth. The school provides an I-20 form after all the previous steps which is an application for an M1 training Visa for the U.S. You then have to go to the U.S. consulate for an interview to be approved. Another mate of mine ended having his interview cancelled and they just sent the visa as he was an Aus citizen and didn't need the interview. This step for me was an absolute pain. I am a NZ and Australian citizen with a NZ passport so I think this may have confused the system. After filling in the online form, I was required to attend the interview in Sydney so had to fly down, stay over night and attend the consulate for (literally) a 3 min interview with 2 questions. I was then granted the visa. It took a long time for my passport to be returned as they had stuffed up my reference number and left the last digit off so the system lost me. I ended up having to call and email a bunch of times for them to finally realise the error. You only get (from memory) 30 days to pick up or have your passport returned by courier before they file it somewhere and it can take another 90 days to recover the passport. Make sure you follow up on this if you don't get a confirmation email within a day or so that the passport is being sent. I paid for the secure courier (door to door) on the website before attending the interview.
4. Prepware to study the FAA knowledge test. I used Sheppard Air. You need to ring the number on the website and actually speak to someone who then sends an email with log in details after you provide payment over the phone. They give you all the actual questions and answers which in the U.S. has to be available under the freedom of information act. I sat and passed the exam in about 20 mins with 92% using their software. There was only 1 question that I didn't recognise. If anyone wants, I can email through the study sheet I came up with to remember a lot of the information.
5. FAA medical - do this in Aus to make sure you don't get over there and they fail you for some weird s#!t the U.S. doesn't like. And they do test you on some weird s#!t. There's a fella in Brisbane I can give anyone the details if needed. Don't know about any other states.
6. Arrive in the U.S. present the visa. You have to present to the school to start the training process within a certain time frame or it gets cancelled.
7. 5 hrs ground prep / 5 hrs aircraft prep in the R44 IFR trainer - a day VFR jobbie so everything is done under the hood and hand flown. I ended up doing about 6 hours as we were held over sea twice waiting for the ILS for 30 mins each time. Meh. bit of whale watching instead.
8. FAA checkride - About 2 hours but again we were held for about 15 mins waiting for an ILS slot. 4 approaches required - 2 non precision, 2 precision. Ground trap was only the R44 POH. I was expecting a grilling on FAA IFR regs but the examiner handbook only requires q's on the POH. Brush up and revise completing a manual W&B.
9. Back in Aus - make sure you have English proficiency on your licence. A mate nearly had the whole show come undone because CASA wouldn't recognise his level of English even though he was born in the U.K. and did his licence in 2 English speaking countries...
10. Do conversion CASA exams.
11. Do conversion CASA ATPL flight test.
Plan for the following in expenses (not exhaustive list):
Accommodation/food/transport - whatever for wherever you do it. For me it was really expensive in Hawaii.
CASA Foreign Verification Letter Fee - $50.00
ATP school - Course Enrolment - $413.18
FAA medical - $400.00
FTSP - threat security assessment $209.68
Fingerprinting - ?? (already had mine)
Sheppard Air Online Course - $137.76
Flights - whatever for wherever you do it
Visa $252.87
Flights to the consulate in Perth or Sydney plus accommodation - $500 depending
Flight Training Student Program - $304.00
Customs and immigration - $34.51
US Student I901 Fee - $570.87
ATPL CHUF exam - $94.85
ATP conversion exam - $124.53 - you need to email CASA and pay another fee (think its about $70) for them to contact the FAA and confirm you have an ATPL in the States. I was issued a 90 day temporary FAA licence and still waiting for the real deal to arrive in the mail. Standby.
Theory - Pilot Practice Exams or ATF - each ATP subject on Pilot Prac Exams is $57 for 3 months.
ATPL flight test - $$ whatever your circumstances are
This is what Mauna Loa Helicopters quoted me (in U.S. dollars) and apparently Jerry Trimble is very similar.
5 hrs ground @ 53/hr = $265 - I did about 2 hours
5 hrs R44 IFR @ 574/hr = $2870 - I did about 6 hours
ATP FAA knowledge test @ 175 = $175
FAA checkride @ $800 = $800 (plus aircraft time)
Subtotal = $4110
tax 4.7%= $193.17
Total = $4,303.17
Basic Flying Rules: "Try to stay in the middle of the air. Do not go near the edges of it. The edges of the air can be recognized by the appearance of ground, buildings, sea, trees and interstellar space. It is much more difficult to fly there."
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skypig
- 4th Dan
- Posts: 1724
- Joined: Nov 2005
Re: ATPL in the U.S.
Great info.
Thanks for posting.
Thanks for posting.
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DoorsOff321
- New Member
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Feb 2024
Re: ATPL in the U.S.
Desertflyer wrote:I have just completed the FAA licence in Hawaii with Mauna Loa Helicopters who were friendly and helpful and pretty straight forward. I am now in the process of sitting the CHUF and ASOH exams. I had a chap PM me about the process so I've cut and pasted my reply below. Feel free to PM me as sometimes it is hard to find the correct website link and I can send them through.
There are a LOT of steps required to get the ball rolling and more expensive (but maybe not as painful as 7 CASA exams):
1. FAA letter of verification - iacra.faa.gov. You need a letter from CA$A to confirm your Aus licence which is sent to the FAA and checked by the flight school. You can do this through the CASA website or you log in I think. You need to enrol in the flight school of your choice and that is part of the process. Go to Flight Training Security Program and set up a login/account so they can verify the licence.
2. Transport Security Administration clearance - fingerprints are required and a background check to make sure you're not a terrorist. There used to be a fella in Brisbane that could do the fingerprinting but I think there is only one in Sydney now.
3. M1 training visa through the U.S. consulate in Sydney or Melb or Perth. The school provides an I-20 form after all the previous steps which is an application for an M1 training Visa for the U.S. You then have to go to the U.S. consulate for an interview to be approved. Another mate of mine ended having his interview cancelled and they just sent the visa as he was an Aus citizen and didn't need the interview. This step for me was an absolute pain. I am a NZ and Australian citizen with a NZ passport so I think this may have confused the system. After filling in the online form, I was required to attend the interview in Sydney so had to fly down, stay over night and attend the consulate for (literally) a 3 min interview with 2 questions. I was then granted the visa. It took a long time for my passport to be returned as they had stuffed up my reference number and left the last digit off so the system lost me. I ended up having to call and email a bunch of times for them to finally realise the error. You only get (from memory) 30 days to pick up or have your passport returned by courier before they file it somewhere and it can take another 90 days to recover the passport. Make sure you follow up on this if you don't get a confirmation email within a day or so that the passport is being sent. I paid for the secure courier (door to door) on the website before attending the interview.
4. Prepware to study the FAA knowledge test. I used Sheppard Air. You need to ring the number on the website and actually speak to someone who then sends an email with log in details after you provide payment over the phone. They give you all the actual questions and answers which in the U.S. has to be available under the freedom of information act. I sat and passed the exam in about 20 mins with 92% using their software. There was only 1 question that I didn't recognise. If anyone wants, I can email through the study sheet I came up with to remember a lot of the information.
5. FAA medical - do this in Aus to make sure you don't get over there and they fail you for some weird s#!t the U.S. doesn't like. And they do test you on some weird s#!t. There's a fella in Brisbane I can give anyone the details if needed. Don't know about any other states.
6. Arrive in the U.S. present the visa. You have to present to the school to start the training process within a certain time frame or it gets cancelled.
7. 5 hrs ground prep / 5 hrs aircraft prep in the R44 IFR trainer - a day VFR jobbie so everything is done under the hood and hand flown. I ended up doing about 6 hours as we were held over sea twice waiting for the ILS for 30 mins each time. Meh. bit of whale watching instead.
8. FAA checkride - About 2 hours but again we were held for about 15 mins waiting for an ILS slot. 4 approaches required - 2 non precision, 2 precision. Ground trap was only the R44 POH. I was expecting a grilling on FAA IFR regs but the examiner handbook only requires q's on the POH. Brush up and revise completing a manual W&B.
9. Back in Aus - make sure you have English proficiency on your licence. A mate nearly had the whole show come undone because CASA wouldn't recognise his level of English even though he was born in the U.K. and did his licence in 2 English speaking countries...
10. Do conversion CASA exams.
11. Do conversion CASA ATPL flight test.
Plan for the following in expenses (not exhaustive list):
Accommodation/food/transport - whatever for wherever you do it. For me it was really expensive in Hawaii.
CASA Foreign Verification Letter Fee - $50.00
ATP school - Course Enrolment - $413.18
FAA medical - $400.00
FTSP - threat security assessment $209.68
Fingerprinting - ?? (already had mine)
Sheppard Air Online Course - $137.76
Flights - whatever for wherever you do it
Visa $252.87
Flights to the consulate in Perth or Sydney plus accommodation - $500 depending
Flight Training Student Program - $304.00
Customs and immigration - $34.51
US Student I901 Fee - $570.87
ATPL CHUF exam - $94.85
ATP conversion exam - $124.53 - you need to email CASA and pay another fee (think its about $70) for them to contact the FAA and confirm you have an ATPL in the States. I was issued a 90 day temporary FAA licence and still waiting for the real deal to arrive in the mail. Standby.
Theory - Pilot Practice Exams or ATF - each ATP subject on Pilot Prac Exams is $57 for 3 months.
ATPL flight test - $$ whatever your circumstances are
This is what Mauna Loa Helicopters quoted me (in U.S. dollars) and apparently Jerry Trimble is very similar.
5 hrs ground @ 53/hr = $265 - I did about 2 hours
5 hrs R44 IFR @ 574/hr = $2870 - I did about 6 hours
ATP FAA knowledge test @ 175 = $175
FAA checkride @ $800 = $800 (plus aircraft time)
Subtotal = $4110
tax 4.7%= $193.17
Total = $4,303.17
So Im confused did you first convert to a FAA licence then upgrade it to ATP? Then convert it back to a CASA licence?
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Desertflyer
- 1st Dan
- Posts: 215
- Joined: Jul 2006
Re: ATPL in the U.S.
Didn't convert anything to FAA.
CASA provides you with an ICAO licence recognition letter (that you pay for of course) the FAA then uses this letter as the basis of issuing an FAA ATP licence once you do the required training, pass the FAA written exam and pass the check ride. Once you have the FAA full licence in your hot little hand (not the temporary one - the real one takes up to 90 days, still waiting...) you can THEN sit the Human Factors exam and Conversion Exam in Australia. You have to email CASA so they can recognise your FAA licence before you sit the exams (more $$). Last step is to complete the Overseas Conversion ATP flight test in Australia with an examiner.
I thought I would get a PPL as soon as I rocked up at the school but this didn't happen. Just did the above and was issued an ATP after the check ride. It's all done through the FAA training portal and issued straight away (the temporary ATP I mean).
If I could attach a flow chart, I would.
CASA provides you with an ICAO licence recognition letter (that you pay for of course) the FAA then uses this letter as the basis of issuing an FAA ATP licence once you do the required training, pass the FAA written exam and pass the check ride. Once you have the FAA full licence in your hot little hand (not the temporary one - the real one takes up to 90 days, still waiting...) you can THEN sit the Human Factors exam and Conversion Exam in Australia. You have to email CASA so they can recognise your FAA licence before you sit the exams (more $$). Last step is to complete the Overseas Conversion ATP flight test in Australia with an examiner.
I thought I would get a PPL as soon as I rocked up at the school but this didn't happen. Just did the above and was issued an ATP after the check ride. It's all done through the FAA training portal and issued straight away (the temporary ATP I mean).
If I could attach a flow chart, I would.
Basic Flying Rules: "Try to stay in the middle of the air. Do not go near the edges of it. The edges of the air can be recognized by the appearance of ground, buildings, sea, trees and interstellar space. It is much more difficult to fly there."
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Dylan_haycraft
- New Member
- Posts: 4
- Joined: Apr 2019
Re: ATPL in the U.S.
Hey can you chuck me the guy who does the FAA medical in aus ?
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Desertflyer
- 1st Dan
- Posts: 215
- Joined: Jul 2006
Re: ATPL in the U.S.
The chap who did mine was:
Dr Tomas Chong
Pindara Specialist Suites
Level 2, Suite 2.07
Gold Coast, QLD, 4217
Nice chap too.
DF
Dr Tomas Chong
Pindara Specialist Suites
Level 2, Suite 2.07
Gold Coast, QLD, 4217
Nice chap too.
DF
Basic Flying Rules: "Try to stay in the middle of the air. Do not go near the edges of it. The edges of the air can be recognized by the appearance of ground, buildings, sea, trees and interstellar space. It is much more difficult to fly there."
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