HELP! License reciprocity - Burkina Faso license in the US?

[lizupclose]

I am an American currently residing in Ouagadougou (wah-ga-doo-goo), Burkina Faso in West Africa (my husband is a diplomat here). There is a fairly active local aeroclub here and I've always wanted to learn to fly, so I thought I'd take some of my copious free time and take lessons (I only work part time due to the shortage of jobs for expatriates here).

I would eventually like to use the license I get here in the United States, after our tour in Burkina is over, but there is virtually no FAA presence here. The instructor I have found through the local aeroclub flies on a French ATPL and has a Canadian license (his FAA license is expired as he no longer needs it here).

My concern is that if I take ground school and practical lessons from him, my airtime will not be recognized in the US since I will not have been taught by an FAA-certified instructor. I am prepared to go out of the country (to Belgium or Germany, for instance) in order to complete the practical and written tests with FAA-certified testers, but is it possible to do so with a logbook full of hours taught by a non-FAA-certified instructor?

Alternatively, I see that there seems to be some degree of reciprocity for private licenses between Burkina Faso and the United States (FAR 61.75), but I'm curious to know if that really WORKS post-911. I am, at least, an American citizen.

Any advice or suggestions you have would be most welcome! I do not want to get into a cockpit until I have this ironed out.

Thanks, Liz Bernard (from the place with the extremely funny name)

[BravoRomeo]

Funny... when you are finally able to say it!!

I´m not sure if I got the point of what your plan is (sorry, but I´m Spanish and my English is all the precarious it can be). I see two possible interpretations of it and I may have an answer for one of them:

If The idea is getting your complete JAR license with that instructor, then yes, your flight time will be recognized anywhere. Something like that was what I did. I got my Spanish JAR PPL here and went with it to Canada. The plan was getting a validation there, and the only two things they required me to do was showing my actual license and medical. It means that they accepted that I had enough flight time to give me that validation and that they didn´t care where I flew it. In case of getting a complete Canadian license, they´d have asked me to write the tests and have the checkride, but again, no need to fly all the needed hours there. (A couple of friends got their Canadian comercial licenses starting from their South African´s, and they wasn´t asked to do it either).

But, if the idea is getting all your trainning in the JAA enviroment and then write and "fly" the tests... I´m not that sure. I´d bet they ask you to drive your trainning according to their own rules, what would mean FAA instructors and N- registered airplanes. Not sure anyway, just that, betting.

In case the original plan was the second one, you could always think about re-planning it and make it according to the first I guess. Don´t you?

I hope it helps in any way... more than confusing you!

José

[lizupclose]

Thanks for your response, José.

I've always thought that "Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso," spoken with the right accent and with the proper rythym sounds like some sort of African greeting like, "Salutations. Nice hair."

I've gotten a number of replies (from this thread and emails I've sent to others) that indicate that it shouldn't be a big deal to get the FAA to grant me a PPL based on the one I can get here in Burkina, without further testing. My next question is this: what happens to the FAA license I receive in the USA when my Burkina license expires? Due to the way the US Diplomatic Corps works, it would be extremely unlikely that I would ever return to Burkina Faso after our two year tour is over, so my Burkina license will expire at some point. Can I then just retest in the US to extend my FAA license?

It sounds like it shouldn't be too hard to do that given what you've said about flight hours being recognized everywhere...but I hate doing things twice and want to get all of my ducks in a row before I start taking instruction.

Thanks!!!!

[BravoRomeo]

Salutations. Nice hair.

I´m not sure about this, so this response is more about telling you this fact than anything else.

Anyway, validations based on foreign licenses expire once the base is expired, that´s true. The "I´m not sure" part comes now: I GUESS that if you want to have a FAA license, a... say "complete" license, you´ll need to pass the writen and flight tests again. Not saying that you´ll need to get again your 45 flight hours as soon as you already have them, this is sure again, but the tests.

The unknown part for me about this question is if they will require you to fly some hours in a FAA school before you get it. In Europe you are asked to take a 5 flight hours course before attainning a "complete" JAA PPL when you already have a foreign one. In the USA...?

Be sure that you have many people here that can ask it "from inside"

Salutations. Nice Hair

[lizupclose]

Yep, it all sounds valid to me...

Does anyone else know how to extend one's foreign-based FAA PPL after the original foreign license expires?

[Denny of Oakland]

Liz,

I used to live in the Ivory Coast back in 1974 when I worked at the embassy in Abidjan, so I was glad you posted on this forum. I may be able to answer your question, but will need to do some reasearch at the office. I just happen to work for the FAA in Oakland, California. I am sure you can obtain your certificates, but I want to read up on the latest changes since 911 to provide you with the correct information.

Since this is Thanksgiving weekend I will be out of the office until Monday the Nov. 28th. Some of your questions can be answered on the FAA web site in Oklahama City at www.faa.gov The web site is rather big but if you take your time and look under certification you will find lots of information.

Denny