Flying outside the U.S.

FlyingBliss · Post by **FlyingBliss** » Mon Apr 02, 2018 7:47 am

I’ve been reading that the Bahamas recognizes the U.S. Sport Pilot license, making it easy for us to flying to any of their 64 airports there, which is great. Does anyone here have experience getting special permission to fly into other countries, like Canada? My wife and I live in New Hampshire and would love to fly up to Nova Scotia during summer months. I’m just curious to find out how difficult that process might be, considering that a SP license comes with a limitation stating "Holder does not meet ICAO requirements."

ShawnM · Post by **ShawnM** » Mon Apr 02, 2018 8:38 am

Here's some details from Transport Canada for you to read up on, if you haven't already.

http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/s ... n-2946.htm

dstclair · Post by **dstclair** » Mon Apr 02, 2018 9:14 am

Don't want to rain on the parade, but the above link is for the LSA airplane -- not the pilot. Canada still requires a private pilot and above (no SP OR Basic Med yet).

Warmi · Post by **Warmi** » Mon Apr 02, 2018 9:19 am

I suspect BasicMed will follow rather quickly since there seem to be high adoption rates for it in the US.

I don't think Sport Pilots will ever get to fly to Canada - there are just not enough of these certs ( a few thousands ) to even bother with. My understanding is that majority of pilots utilizing SP privileges were PP with lapsed medicals and now with the new Basic Med being available, most of them will go that route.

BTW.
Given the new Basic Med rule, I think going for SP certificate is kind of pointless ( unless you have no chance of passing even Basic Med .) You can do the private at pretty much similar cost and go right for the Basic Med cert afterwards - no pain with FAA medicals and you get to fly your Light Sport without various silly limitations ...

3Dreaming · Post by **3Dreaming** » Mon Apr 02, 2018 9:43 am

Warmi wrote:I suspect BasicMed will follow rather quickly since there seem to be high adoption rates for it in the US.

I don't think Sport Pilots will ever get to fly to Canada - there are just not enough of these certs ( a few thousands ) to even bother with. My understanding is that majority of pilots utilizing SP privileges were PP with lapsed medicals and now with the new Basic Med being available, most of them will go that route.

BTW.
Given the new Basic Med rule, I think going for SP certificate is kind of pointless ( unless you have no chance of passing even Basic Med .) You can do the private at pretty much similar cost and go right for the Basic Med cert afterwards - no pain with FAA medicals and you get to fly your Light Sport without various silly limitations ...

With BasicMed you still need that baseline FAA medical to participate. Any former pilot or new pilots who have not held a valid medical during the period starting July 15, 2006 will have to pass a FAA medical before using BasicMed. Also certain medical events that happen while using BasicMed require a special issuance medical from the FAA. So unless you are already qualified to use BasicMed you will still have to deal with the FAA on medical issues.

Warmi · Post by **Warmi** » Mon Apr 02, 2018 10:32 am

My understanding is thought that even if you have one of these special conditions ( say a heart bypass surgery) , you just need one time SI approved and then you can proceed with standard basic med approvals ..

3Dreaming · Post by **3Dreaming** » Mon Apr 02, 2018 11:30 am

Warmi wrote:My understanding is thought that even if you have one of these special conditions ( say a heart bypass surgery) , you just need one time SI approved and then you can proceed with standard basic med approvals ..

Yep, but it is still a complete FAA medical. I took your first post to imply that you could just do BasicMed. I wanted it to be clear that you either had to have a valid medical within the prescribed time period or you would need to get a FAA medical to participate. Also if you have one of those events you would need to get medical to continue participation.

drseti · Post by **drseti** » Mon Apr 02, 2018 12:51 pm

Warmi wrote: Given the new Basic Med rule, I think going for SP certificate is kind of pointless ( unless you have no chance of passing even Basic Med .) You can do the private at pretty much similar cost and go right for the Basic Med cert afterwards - no pain with FAA medicals and you get to fly your Light Sport without various silly limitations ...

Two points here:

(1) To qualify for Basic Med, you must first have passed a 3rd Class FAA medical. For some, that may require a Special Issuance, which can be not only costly, but risky.

(2) With a properly designed curriculum, it may be quite a bit cheaper to get a Sport Pilot certificate enroute to the Private. My Private Pilot add-on course consists of only ten lessons and 14 hours total flying time (but can be significantly less if the student has satisfied some of the PP requirements while earning the SP certificate).

WDD · Post by **WDD** » Tue Apr 03, 2018 12:12 pm

Warmi wrote:My understanding is thought that even if you have one of these special conditions (say a heart bypass surgery) , you just need one time SI approved and then you can proceed with standard basic med approvals ..

My understanding is that you can't just get an SI on a 3rd class medical (which might require checking in with FAA medical doctor every other day - OK, I exaggerate just a little), but then ignore the additional FAA medical requirements and just move over to basic med.

AND of course if you are ever turned down, you've got a boat load of problems. Heart problems, kidney stones, cancer treatment, sneezing the wrong way; I'm just suspicious of the process for 3rd class medical.

BUT... back to the topic. Flying a good distance over water, such as to the Bahamas. Yeah, I know a lot of people do it, but kind of gives me pause for concern. Anyone else?

Warmi · Post by **Warmi** » Tue Apr 03, 2018 12:38 pm

drseti wrote:
Warmi wrote: Given the new Basic Med rule, I think going for SP certificate is kind of pointless ( unless you have no chance of passing even Basic Med .) You can do the private at pretty much similar cost and go right for the Basic Med cert afterwards - no pain with FAA medicals and you get to fly your Light Sport without various silly limitations ...
Two points here:

(1) To qualify for Basic Med, you must first have passed a 3rd Class FAA medical. For some, that may require a Special Issuance, which can be not only costly, but risky.

(2) With a properly designed curriculum, it may be quite a bit cheaper to get a Sport Pilot certificate enroute to the Private. My Private Pilot add-on course consists of only ten lessons and 14 hours total flying time (but can be significantly less if the student has satisfied some of the PP requirements while earning the SP certificate).

Yes, the medical angle is always tricky but in terms of PP vs SP ... there is just not that much really on top of SP to bother with restarting the whole process just for the PP. If you are not medically limited , I would say go for PP right away , or at least do your SP with the PP in mind ( longer cross-country solo etc ..)

Warmi · Post by **Warmi** » Tue Apr 03, 2018 12:39 pm

WDD wrote:....

BUT... back to the topic. Flying a good distance over water, such as to the Bahamas. Yeah, I know a lot of people do it, but kind of gives me pause for concern. Anyone else?

Flying over Lake Michigan on a hazy day just a few miles off-shore makes want to turn back .. let alone flying to Bahamas

drseti · Post by **drseti** » Tue Apr 03, 2018 12:42 pm

Warmi wrote: at least do your SP with the PP in mind ( longer cross-country solo etc ..)

Which is exactly what I recommend to my students, unless they're absolutely, positively certain they're never going to go for a PP.

3Dreaming · Post by **3Dreaming** » Tue Apr 03, 2018 1:01 pm

WDD wrote:
Warmi wrote:My understanding is thought that even if you have one of these special conditions (say a heart bypass surgery) , you just need one time SI approved and then you can proceed with standard basic med approvals ..
My understanding is that you can't just get an SI on a 3rd class medical (which might require checking in with FAA medical doctor every other day - OK, I exaggerate just a little), but then ignore the additional FAA medical requirements and just move over to basic med.

AND of course if you are ever turned down, you've got a boat load of problems. Heart problems, kidney stones, cancer treatment, sneezing the

Special issuance and the class of medical are two completely different things. The normal process is you go to the MAE and they issue you a medical on the spot. If you have a condition that keeps them from doing so then it gets forwarded to the FAA, and they do a special issuance. There are several things that would require a special issuance, but if you have to correct paperwork the AME can issue on the spot. It is worth the time and money if needed to talk with the AME before starting the process.

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