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Charlotte, NC 28205-5129
United States
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I am an Australian citizen who has permanent residency here in the US. I maintain an FAA PPL based on the currency of my Australian PPL. However, this means that I have to periodically return to Australia to undertake my medical and flight reviews and then undertake another flight review here in the US before I am legal again. I am considering downgrading to a Sport Pilot Licence with Basic Med. What additional do I have to do to obtain a US Sport Pilot Licence which I can ... more
I am an Australian citizen who has permanent residency here in the US. I maintain an FAA PPL based on the currency of my Australian PPL. However, this means that I have to periodically return to Australia to undertake my medical and flight reviews and then undertake another flight review here in the US before I am legal again. I am considering downgrading to a Sport Pilot Licence with Basic Med. What additional do I have to do to obtain a US Sport Pilot Licence which I can ... more
I am an ASEL, resident in the US, with a US PPL issued on the basis of my current Australian PPL/Medical as well as both current US and Australia Flight Reviews. I do not have a tailwheel endorsement attached to my Australian Licence. In order to fly tailwheel in the US, would I have to return to Australia to acquire the training and endorsement on my Australian Licence or can I do it here in the US and legally fly a tailwheel aircraft?
Advice appreciated.
Advice appreciated.
Alan Marsden
May '20
Many thanks for the clarification, Ronald. Your response is much appreciated.
Kindest regards
Kindest regards
I am an ASEL, resident in the US, with a US PPL issued on the basis of my current Australian PPL/Medical as well as both current US and Australia Flight Reviews. I do not have a tailwheel endorsement attached to my Australian Licence. In order to fly tailwheel in the US, would I have to return to Australia to acquire the training and endorsement on my Australian Licence or can I do it here in the US and legally fly a tailwheel aircraft?
Advice appreciated.
Advice appreciated.
We absolutely love reading stories from pilots who recently completed their flight review after a long hiatus from flying. Just last week we heard from a pilot who attended a Rusty Pilots seminar in December 2016 - he was proud to report that he received his Flight Review endorsement on April 22, 2017 - after more than 10 years away from the cockpit! Are there any other pilots out there who have recently completed their flight review after a long break?
Alan Marsden
Feb '18
The desire to fly has always been with me. My early ambition was to join and fly with the RAF but my father had different ideas and thought that a job as a Radio & Electronics Officer in the Merchant Navy was where I should be. In those days you did what your father told you to do! Between 1965 and 1968, as I sat in the classroom of my college in Grimsby, Lincolshire, grappling with learning morse code to 25wpm and the ins and outs of maritime communications and radar equipment, I struggled to concentrate as, out of the window, I witnessed the daily parade of Lightnings, Canberras and Meteors on approach into RAF Binbrook, just a short distance away.
So, in 1968, it was off to sea for me, usually for 4 to 6 months at a time. Three years later, whilst on leave at home, I just happen to see an ad on the back of a retreating bus announcing “Learn to Fly at the East Midlands School of Flying”. Why not? I thought, so set off to investigate. My first logbook entry is October 16, 1971, C150, G-AVGV, East Midlands Airport (EGNX), 15 minutes, "Intro & famil". I soloed at the bottom of page 1, after 7hrs 20mins and my final FHT for the PPL was on March 23, 1972 with 45 hrs and 25mins to my name. In 1981, I left the sea and emigrated with my wife and toddlers from the UK to Australia, got an Australian PPL and continued flying there. I was fortunate enough to work for a company whose CEO owned and operated a V35 Bonanza which I occasionally used for field sales trips across New South Wales. In 1985, we suffered a runway excursion whilst landing at a small, gravel country strip. The damage was pretty substantial and the incident shook my confidence. So much so, in fact, that I could always find an excuse not to “get back on the horse”. I had a little under 200 hours total time. And more diversions appeared, to justify not getting back into the left-hand seat. Kids activities, career commitments, new interests… But the deep-down yearning to be back in the air just wouldn’t go away and continued to eat away at me.
Fast-forward to 2017, remarried, 2 grandkids, now living in Florida and my son is an FO flying 737’s with Virgin Australia and flies his own rebuilt Decathlon. My new wife, knowing just what flying meant to me (bless her) says “I want you to get your pilot’s licence back”. So, on a trip back to Australia in 2017, I first front up for a Class II medical which, apart from now having more medications to cope with, I pass without incident. I then call into the local flying club and climb back into the left-hand seat once more. It all comes flooding back – just like riding a bike. You might be a bit rusty and clumsy at first but you never forget it. And the rush of flying is still there, as strong as ever. Five and half hours of dual instruction and I have a shiny new BFR stamped in my logbook, dated July 11th, 2017, almost 32 years to the day since the unplanned “excursion” in the Bonanza. Returning to the USA, I submitted to have an Airmen Private Pilot Certificate issued based on my Australia Licence which I received, duly followed by the necessary flight review at a local school here at Page Field (KFMY). So now I am all legal and current once more.
I first flew when I was 22 years old but gave it away, rightly or wrongly, at age 36. Now, at age 68, I am back in the air and about to take delivery of my own 1977 Grumman Lynx and looking forward to rediscovering the joy and exhilaration of flying again. At times it seemed unlikely that I would ever reach this point, but if the goal is worthwhile then it doesn’t matter how long or arduous the road is to get there.
So, in 1968, it was off to sea for me, usually for 4 to 6 months at a time. Three years later, whilst on leave at home, I just happen to see an ad on the back of a retreating bus announcing “Learn to Fly at the East Midlands School of Flying”. Why not? I thought, so set off to investigate. My first logbook entry is October 16, 1971, C150, G-AVGV, East Midlands Airport (EGNX), 15 minutes, "Intro & famil". I soloed at the bottom of page 1, after 7hrs 20mins and my final FHT for the PPL was on March 23, 1972 with 45 hrs and 25mins to my name. In 1981, I left the sea and emigrated with my wife and toddlers from the UK to Australia, got an Australian PPL and continued flying there. I was fortunate enough to work for a company whose CEO owned and operated a V35 Bonanza which I occasionally used for field sales trips across New South Wales. In 1985, we suffered a runway excursion whilst landing at a small, gravel country strip. The damage was pretty substantial and the incident shook my confidence. So much so, in fact, that I could always find an excuse not to “get back on the horse”. I had a little under 200 hours total time. And more diversions appeared, to justify not getting back into the left-hand seat. Kids activities, career commitments, new interests… But the deep-down yearning to be back in the air just wouldn’t go away and continued to eat away at me.
Fast-forward to 2017, remarried, 2 grandkids, now living in Florida and my son is an FO flying 737’s with Virgin Australia and flies his own rebuilt Decathlon. My new wife, knowing just what flying meant to me (bless her) says “I want you to get your pilot’s licence back”. So, on a trip back to Australia in 2017, I first front up for a Class II medical which, apart from now having more medications to cope with, I pass without incident. I then call into the local flying club and climb back into the left-hand seat once more. It all comes flooding back – just like riding a bike. You might be a bit rusty and clumsy at first but you never forget it. And the rush of flying is still there, as strong as ever. Five and half hours of dual instruction and I have a shiny new BFR stamped in my logbook, dated July 11th, 2017, almost 32 years to the day since the unplanned “excursion” in the Bonanza. Returning to the USA, I submitted to have an Airmen Private Pilot Certificate issued based on my Australia Licence which I received, duly followed by the necessary flight review at a local school here at Page Field (KFMY). So now I am all legal and current once more.
I first flew when I was 22 years old but gave it away, rightly or wrongly, at age 36. Now, at age 68, I am back in the air and about to take delivery of my own 1977 Grumman Lynx and looking forward to rediscovering the joy and exhilaration of flying again. At times it seemed unlikely that I would ever reach this point, but if the goal is worthwhile then it doesn’t matter how long or arduous the road is to get there.