Canada/US license reciprocity?

I'm writing a story in which a man with a Canadian pilots licence is in
the U.S. and needs to rent and fly a light plane within the U.S. What is
the situation with respect to reciprocity, i.e., the U.S. authorities
recognizing a Canadian licence? Or, vice versa?

John Lowry
Flight Physics

T o d d P a t t i s t wrote:
The Canadian pilot can fly a U.S. registered plane only if
he gets a U.S. pilot certificate. He can get a U.S.
certificate based on his Canadian certificate by asking for
it at the local FSDO (Flight Standards District Office) of
the FAA.

As I understand it, he can get the private pilot U.S. cert based on his
Canadian cert but he must get a real FAA medical certificate from an
AME. Is this true?

-Robert

"Robert M. Gary" writes:

[...] As I understand it, he can get the private pilot U.S. cert
based on his Canadian cert but he must get a real FAA medical
certificate from an AME. Is this true?

No. The US license is conditional also on a valid foreign medical
certificate.

- FChE

"T o d d P a t t i s t" wrote in message
...
"John T Lowry" wrote:

The Canadian pilot can fly a U.S. registered plane only if
he gets a U.S. pilot certificate. He can get a U.S.
certificate based on his Canadian certificate by asking for
it at the local FSDO (Flight Standards District Office) of
the FAA.

A further note: he will probably need an appointment these days. A FSDO is
just an office building, most of them have been heavily fortified, even
though no one with any sense seriously believes a terrorist would have any
interest in a FSDO. (An irritated pilot is another matter.) Once he has the
appointment he just asks for the new certificate, fills out some paperwork
(form 1099), and leaves with a temporary certificate. A permanent
certificate will be mailed to his home. There is no fee. Any FSDO will be
glad to give you additional details if you need them. The FAA sometimes puts
on a tough face, but in my experience they are a gregarious lot. Most of
them took the job because they like to hang out with pilots and talk about
flying.

If the Canadian plans on taking lessons in the United States (say he wants
an advanced rating) he will also need to be cleared by Homeland Security,
but the procedures for that are not quite nailed down at this time. It is
easiest if he has a passport with him, but an embossed birth certificate and
photo ID will do. The flight school will handle the paperwork.

"Frank Ch. Eigler" wrote in message
...

"Robert M. Gary" writes:

[...] As I understand it, he can get the private pilot U.S. cert
based on his Canadian cert but he must get a real FAA medical
certificate from an AME. Is this true?

No. The US license is conditional also on a valid foreign medical
certificate.

What he has to do is listed clearly here. Before 9/11 you could just turn up
at an FSDO hand over you foreign licence and get a temporary airman's
certificate in about 20 minutes.

Now the FAA seeks to verify from the original licensing authority that the
foreign licence is real.

http://registry.faa.gov/airmen.asp#verify

This process can take 4 weeks and required that an appointment is also made
to visit the FSDO.

A little less friendly but understandable.

If you want to add a rating to your foreign licence based certificate, you
need to go through the verification process again if the original validation
is out of time or you want to the rating checkride in another FSDO area.

In this case,you need to find out which FSDO a DPE "works" for and have that
as the location of application. When you do the paperwork with the DPE he
takes the validation letter as proof of you foreign certificate and hence
the validity of your US certificate and the test can proceed.

Somewhere all the relevant bits of paperwork get sorted and your new card
gets issued with the new rating on.

It takes longer for foreign pilots to get processed by Ok, again
understandable.

As to medicals, if the foreign licence is only valid if there is an
appropriate medical certificate with it, then as long as there is such a
certificate then no FAA medical certificate can make it valid.

As an example, there are no class 3 medical certificates in the UK any more.
Private pilots, get a class 2. Therefore if the Class 2 expires the a FAA
class 3 cannot make it valid. There has been some debate as to whether a FAA
class 2 would make it valid in the US but a FAA class 2 would not be
acceptable for my JAR PPL as strictly only a JAR medical certificate can
make the JAR PPL valid.

Its a bit complicated but there is some logic.

Now just to make it a bit more confusing, when I added an instrument rating
to my foreign based certificate I was asked to present a FAA class 3 medical
certificate. (I had it anyway as a result of getting a student certificate
some time previously). It is not exactly a demanding standard, walk in open
wallet, pay the money, walk out and if you are not breathing too hard, you
are fit.

Thanks to all my respondents! I'll get "Wesley" checked out.

John.

"C J Campbell" wrote in message
...

"T o d d P a t t i s t" wrote in
message
...
"John T Lowry" wrote:

The Canadian pilot can fly a U.S. registered plane only if
he gets a U.S. pilot certificate. He can get a U.S.
certificate based on his Canadian certificate by asking for
it at the local FSDO (Flight Standards District Office) of
the FAA.

A further note: he will probably need an appointment these days. A
FSDO is
just an office building, most of them have been heavily fortified,
even
though no one with any sense seriously believes a terrorist would have
any
interest in a FSDO. (An irritated pilot is another matter.) Once he
has the
appointment he just asks for the new certificate, fills out some
paperwork
(form 1099), and leaves with a temporary certificate. A permanent
certificate will be mailed to his home. There is no fee. Any FSDO will
be
glad to give you additional details if you need them. The FAA
sometimes puts
on a tough face, but in my experience they are a gregarious lot. Most
of
them took the job because they like to hang out with pilots and talk
about
flying.

If the Canadian plans on taking lessons in the United States (say he
wants
an advanced rating) he will also need to be cleared by Homeland
Security,
but the procedures for that are not quite nailed down at this time. It
is
easiest if he has a passport with him, but an embossed birth
certificate and
photo ID will do. The flight school will handle the paperwork.