5
$\begingroup$

So I'd like to know from somebody what's the process of converting a non-ICAO license. In particular, I'm trying to understand how a Taiwanese PPL can be converted to FAA PPL (I personally know people that have done it).

Taiwan is not a member of ICAO due to it not being recognised as a country due to China. So does that mean that a Taiwanese license is considered as a Chinese one and maybe that's why the FAA does the conversion?

I'd also be interested to hear about anyone who has tried to convert to EASA. I've never heard of anyone doing that.

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
2
  • $\begingroup$ Welcome to aviation.SE. It is a bit unclear what you desire. do you want to converto to FAA? to EASA? or you do not want to convert, but you want to know how to do it and why? $\endgroup$
    – Federico
    Jun 27, 2016 at 10:52
  • $\begingroup$ I want to know if it could be converted to any other license. I guess i have seen people convert to FAA but not EASA. This confuses me because Taiwan is not ICAO due to it not even being considered a country by ICAO and UN. $\endgroup$
    – mizzu
    Jun 27, 2016 at 13:10

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1
$\begingroup$

I can't tell you anything about the EASA regulations, but there seems to be no way to convert a non-ICAO license directly to an FAA one. 14 CFR 61.75 says (my emphasis):

(a) General. A person who holds a foreign pilot license at the private pilot level or higher that was issued by a contracting State to the Convention on International Civil Aviation may apply for and be issued a U.S. private pilot certificate with the appropriate ratings if the foreign pilot license meets the requirements of this section.

As you said, Taiwan is not a signatory to that convention, so the FAA can't issue a license under 61.75. (61.153 allows converting a foreign ATP license to an FAA one, but it also requires that the license come from a contracting state.) I couldn't find any special regulations or exemptions for Taiwan on the FAA's site.

You said that you know people who have "converted" a Taiwanese PPL to an FAA PPL, but do you know exactly what they did? My guess is that they applied for a regular FAA license, and used their flying time in Taiwan to count towards it.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
5
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks for the answer. He did the regular procedure of going to an FSDO and converting. So it seems that its possible to convert his PPL. The thing is taiwan was one of the founding members but was kicked out in 70s by china who claim that taiwan is the same as china. So the way i can understand it is that they would consider taiwan CAA as part of china CAA (this is the only reasonable explanation) . Being that China proclaim it to be one country, so maybe FAA accept it as a China license. Does anybody have any FAA contact that could confirm? $\endgroup$
    – mizzu
    Jun 27, 2016 at 13:05
  • $\begingroup$ @mizzu Hmm, maybe there is in fact some exception for Taiwan, even if it isn't documented anywhere. That would let the US convert licenses 'quietly' without annoying China, but that's pure speculation. $\endgroup$
    – Pondlife
    Jun 27, 2016 at 13:11
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Actually I think I just found the answer in this document: users.ox.ac.uk/~sann2029/… $\endgroup$
    – mizzu
    Jun 27, 2016 at 13:50
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ It says that taiwan therefore is considered to be part of china as well as the airspace in the eyes of the ICAO. Therefore if understood correctly it should be the same as getting a Hong Kong License (HKCAD) which although has a separate caa from china is still considered as part of china icao membership. $\endgroup$
    – mizzu
    Jun 27, 2016 at 13:50
  • $\begingroup$ @mizzu, write your finding as an answer (not a comment as you did), please. That way you can get reputation for it and can eventually accept it if you are confident of the results of your own research. $\endgroup$
    – Jan Hudec
    Jun 28, 2016 at 12:02

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .