Photo credit: George McCord. Licensed under Creative Commons.
Personal Experience - Peter Wheeler Flying in Europe
In association with his employer at the time (CTC Aviation Training), Peter Wheeler set out to convert his NZ A-Cat for UK/JAA flying in 2005. His first piece of advice is “prepare to have no qualifications recognised by the JAA.” They recognise logbook hours but training and testing is mandatory prior to license conversion. Peter describes his experience below.
Doing the PPL first, I had to do a couple of theory exams and sit the JAA flight test (both easy). I escaped having to do a practical R/T exam because it didn't occur to me that I'd have to do one and the CAA forgot to ask for evidence... CPL/IR/ATPL exams require fulfilment of a mandatory training program, and the IR a mandatory flight training program which has to be in Europe. That said, it is quite fun stooging around UK airspace; the aircraft types in the UK are similar to NZ and IR profiles are similar, although it is refreshing to have to deal with weather and icing "for real". The first ILS I've ever done in IMC to minimums, was on the UK IRT.
Everyone on the radio understood me just fine, but understanding the Welsh controllers required patience and humour on both sides! CPL conversion is best done in NZ these days and does require training as the profile is quite different to the local CPL. Instructor training is similar to NZ and examiner training was great fun with very senior industry figures.
Culturally, UK pilots were welcoming and professional in their dealings with me the foreigner, and for those who enjoy a challenge the airspace is highly entertaining with bug-smashers, jets & turboprops all around even in uncontrolled airspace. The pilot is responsible for the conduct of the flight much more so than NZ (e.g. "own nav" and ded. reckoning for short periods is routine for light aircraft IFR, while 10km vis is not worthy of comment for VFR navigation), but it is a pleasure dealing with ATC who offered a professional service to all aircraft regardless of size. People say that UK airspace and radio work is difficult, but I found it no worse than Auckland or Wellington on a busy day, which is not so bad. ATC is competent and flexible to a degree not seen in regional NZ, so there are no excuses for not getting what you want!
Both in the air and on the ground the biggest cultural challenge for me was getting used to the idea that each individual is fully responsible for his / her own mistakes - in NZ there is more of a sense of "the system is at least partly at fault" whenever an inexperienced person stuffs up. The sense of being on guard to avoid mistakes is quite tiring for a foreigner. The sense of achievement is also correspondingly greater at the end of a successful period of duty in the UK, and my own capabilities are now much greater as a result of the experience. Highly recommended!
