An Aussie holidaying in the US. Can I fly?

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moy71

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Hello all. I am planning to have a 2-3week holiday in California this year which I am very much looking forward to.

I currently hold a recreational licence here in Sydney Australia. Basically that allows me to fly VFR flights on single-engine planes with MTOW of 544kg. It is my understanding that this category is called "LSA" over there.

Anyway, my question is this: I'd like to be able to get an opportunity to fly there. Is it possible with the licence I hold? Perhaps someone can point me in the right direction ...

Many thanks
 
moy71 said:
I currently hold a recreational licence here in Sydney Australia. Basically that allows me to fly VFR flights on single-engine planes with MTOW of 544kg. It is my understanding that this category is called "LSA" over there.

Anyway, my question is this: I'd like to be able to get an opportunity to fly there. Is it possible with the licence I hold? Perhaps someone can point me in the right direction ...
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There are two reasons you might not be able to:

1) Ifhe license bears the legend "HOLDER DOES NOT MEET ICAO REQUIREMENTS" or words to that effect. The US sport pilot license, which grants similar privileges to what you describe, bears such a legend. This means that the license does not have sufficient requirements for issuance to meet ICAO standards, and so other countries are not obligated to accept it.

2) If the Australian aviation regulations contain a prohibition similar to that in US FAR 61.315(c)(8): "(c) You may not act as pilot in command of a light sport aircraft...(8) Outside the United States, unless you have prior authorization from the country in which you seek to operate." If this is the case, you'd have to get permission from the FAA, and I have no idea what their policy is on granting such permission.

Your certificate limits would apply to you in the US, as well. This means you could only act as PIC of an aircraft with a MTOW of 544 kg (1200 pounds). Since most US light sport aircraft have a MTOW of 600 kg, you might have a harder time finding one available for rent that meet your requirements. OTOH, if the FAA would have to grant you permission to use your license in the first place, they might be able to relax that limit.

All of this applies to flying as PIC. If you're up with an instructor, then you don't need anything but money. :)
 
moy71 said:
Hello all. I am planning to have a 2-3week holiday in California this year which I am very much looking forward to.
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I forgot to ask: Which part of California are you going to? If you're going to be around or north of the San Francisco Bay area, I'll recommend Bob Archibald at Dragonfly Aviation at Santa Rosa (KSTS). He's a good guy, and has a couple of nice Zodiacs for rent. He did my Zodiac checkout a year or so ago.
 
Hey, Moy, hope you aren't being impacted by the wildfires in Australia. Enjoy flying around the U.S.
 
smigaldi said:
You can always fly here as long as you have a US CFI on board to act as PIC.
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Not necessarily a CFI, Scott. He can have any licensed pilot aboard acting as pilot-in-command.

I won't be in California anytime soon, but maybe someone on the board is willing to take him up.

And no, the TSA rules apply to flight training, but not sightseeing rides. I can assure you they don't verify passports etc for the million or so people who take sightseeing rides by airplane and helicopter at the Grand Canyon every year.

Jon
 
4CornerFlyer said:
<SNIP>

And no, the TSA rules apply to flight training, but not sightseeing rides. I can assure you they don't verify passports etc for the million or so people who take sightseeing rides by airplane and helicopter at the Grand Canyon every year.

Jon
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Not yet. Give them time.
 
4CornerFlyer said:
Not necessarily a CFI, Scott. He can have any licensed pilot aboard acting as pilot-in-command.
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That's technically true but from a practical perspective I think it's moot. Moy71 would likely want/need to rent an airplane and without a CFI from the FBO on board it's unlikely there would be any way to have insurance coverage and/or comply with the rental contract.
 
He would need an US FAA issued certificate based on his Auzzie rating to fly a US N-numbered registered aircraft.

But it has already been covered by other posts that "recreational" or "sport pilot" ratings are not to ICAO standards to the US FAA would NOT ISSUE the US certificate.

Don't ask for "training" because of the TSA rules. Simply find a suitable FBO that has been offered in previous posts and let them know you are a qualified pilot but need a seeing-eye-pilot to fly in the US and get up to speed on US rules. CFI or Commercial Pilot required from the FBO.
 
BillTIZ said:
But it has already been covered by other posts that "recreational" or "sport pilot" ratings are not to ICAO standards to the US FAA would NOT ISSUE the US certificate.
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Well, the US sport and recreational pilot ratings aren't to the ICAO standard. I don't know that the Aussie rating the original poster is asking about is, but it's worth checking on.

In any event, any FBO would likely want to do a checkout before renting, anyway, so you're going to be going up with an instructor no matter what you do.
 
I regret to tell you that you will not be able to rent a plane here in the US, other than an unlicensed ultralight operating under Part 103 of the FAA rules. Since the Australian Recreational license is issued by Recreational Aviation Australia, Inc., not by CASA (the Aussie FAA), it has no validity in the USA or acceptance by the FAA. That doesn't mean you can't get a "sightseeing" ride from a US flight school or FBO which has the appropriate Letter of Authorization under 14 CFR 91.147, but it does mean you can't take "training" in the USA without going through the TSA Alien Flight Student approval process, since you'd be considered an ab initio trainee for a US pilot certificate.:sad:
 
Ron Levy said:
That doesn't mean you can't get a "sightseeing" ride from a US flight school or FBO which has the appropriate Letter of Authorization under 14 CFR 91.147, but it does mean you can't take "training" in the USA without going through the TSA Alien Flight Student approval process, since you'd be considered an ab initio trainee for a US pilot certificate.:sad:
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JOOC exactly what hoops would someone like the OP have to jump through to become a legal "student pilot"? Could any or all of it be done from another country before arriving here?
 
lancefisher said:
JOOC exactly what hoops would someone like the OP have to jump through to become a legal "student pilot"? Could any or all of it be done from another country before arriving here?
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Look at http://www.aopa.org/tsa_rule/ for a good guide on the subject, and note the fees associated, including both the $130 fee to TSA and whatever fee is charged by the outfit that does the fingerprinting.
 
Given that glider training is exempt from the TSA screening requirements, it may be that the best option for Moy is to take a demo glider ride or two and expand his avaition related horizons at the same time.
 
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