French pilot in the US this summer

Where would you recommend a flight

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Maximilien

Filing Flight Plan
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Maximilien
Good morning all,

I am a French pilot visiting the US from August, 3rd to August 25th.
I am planning a road trip via LA, San Diego, San Francisco and Vegas.
I am then looking for good opportunities to fly in the US.
Would you have any idea of where to fly, with who?
I won't be able to fly on my own as my licence is an EASA one...
I would be pleased to have some advice from you

Best regards

Max
 
I would be quite surprised if the USA was fully operational by that time; I'd wait a couple of months and start my planning then.
 
I agree with you. However I have already booked my flight to LA, my RV and hardly evereything so I can only hope that things will change since then
 
Maximilien said:
I won't be able to fly on my own as my licence is an EASA one...
Click to expand...
Bonjour Max,

Converting a foreign license into a US certificate isn't as easy as it once was, but it is still possible as far as I know.
With enough lead time, you can probably make that work if you like - and then you can rent a plane and fly yourself.

I'd look for flight schools in California and contact them about instruction and to guide you through the medical and certification process. You'll want some flight training for sure; airspace, radio communications etc. are sufficiently different from Europe, and everything will be much easier if you've seen it a few times with an instructor.

I agree with @Kenny Phillips that pushing your trip back a little bit will likely increase the odds of everything working out alright.

- Martin
 
Pushing would be the smartest option I know. But my gf's work imposes us to be back by september...
Concerning the FAA licence I know it is complicated. I am used to fly in the us but i am not considering converting as my licence is a multi engine one...
I think I would orient myself toward a tourist option and fly Grand Canyon with a tour company but I think it would have been better with a private pilot with who I can speak before
 
LA airspace is a nightmare if you're not intimately familiar with it. On the other hand, with fewer flights, might not be bad. Las Vegas - take an air tour, if they're still running them when you get here. Might make more sense to rent a car in Vegas and drive to Grand Canyon and nearby areas to sightsee.
 
Any advice given here is totally dependent on when we get back to semi-normal activities. Most states in the U.S. currently have "stay-at-home" policies in place to mitigate spread of COVID-19, and when those policies are likely to be eased is based on how quickly the contagion can be brought under control.

With that understood, I vote for the San Francisco bay area. Within an hour or two in a C172 or PA28 there's some of the most beautiful coastline in the world between Monterey and the "Lost Coast" of Humboldt and Mendocino Counties, the Napa and Sonoma Counties wine country, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite National Park, the Sacramento River Delta, and a host of other world class attractions. If you sail, you can charter a sailboat for some sailing on San Francisco Bay.

With your RV you could visit many of these places on day trips.
 
Oh Kenny, I hope you are wrong, there won't be much left of the economy by the end of August.
 
Part 61.75 issuance of a ‘based-on’ FAA Pilot Certificate is mostly a paperwork exercise:

http://fsims.faa.gov/wdocs/8900.1/v05 airman cert/chapter 02/05_002_014rev1.pdf

For a short trip that’s primarily driving around I’d agree that flying with an instructor or somebody else makes more sense. Your itinerary is a well trodden route for Europeans and there are many places where you could make flights - almost any airport in the major cities on your route.

I hope you are able to make the trip. My wife and I have several groups of Europeans inbound this summer and we hope the same for them. Our outbound trip is to Corse via Munich and Italy in June and it’s looking rather doubtful despite reservations made etc.

In response to your poll, I’d suggest that San Diego (not an option) would be good, and so would San Francisco.
 
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If you’d like to fly a multi engine plane, with an instructor, contact the Sling Pilot Academy at Torrance, California.
 
thank you very much for your advice
I'll try to find a way to fly the PCR I think
 
Update....be aware that you might be subject to a 14 day quarantine! Which will ruin your trip.
 
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