Departure Gets Delayed

Dear Followers, as I mentioned on my last post we were supposed to leave on the 2Nd of September but due to some paperwork delays from the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) one of my friends' Visa has been put on hold until that document comes through. So, since we have to wait for his Visa, a delay on the departure date will be required! Till when? Still don't know, but we are expecting to depart no later than next week's end. As soon as I have new details on the departure date I will let you know. For now, since I'm ready to go, I'll seat and wait, wait, wait...

USA Goes Forth

This morning I woke up to the sound of the mailman ringing the doorbell to deliver me my USA Visa. It most obviously the day started out in the best possible way. After my interview in the United States Embassy last Wednesday I was given a Visa issuance clearance and only two days after I have it my hands. What does that really mean? As simple as this, I now have clearance to go to the United States with my teammates and start building my flight time!

By the way, did I mention I am not going alone? I almost forgot, I am going with 3 friends of mine which are also low hour unemployed pilots, meet the Team:

- Costa, Duarte

Age 24

Nickname Dudomix

Likes Mechanics

Dislikes Running

Flight Hours 180:00 h

- Lameiro, Nuno

Age 24

Nickname Zica

Likes Agriculture

Dislikes Cucumber

Flight Hours 200:05 h

- Sales, João (Myself)

Age 23

Nickname Saletti

Likes Squash

Dislikes Waiting

Flight Hours 232:15 h

- Vieira, Luís

Age 32

Nickname Billy

Likes Kitesurfing

Dislikes Liver

Flight Hours 204:00 h

The four of us are going to Daytona Beach, Florida, where we have found a place to build flight time in order to enter the aviation business by earning the required experience to start working. We will be flying a Cessna 172SP fully equipped to fly IFR (Instrument Flight Rules). Since all the paperwork is done we have now scheduled our departure to Tuesday, the 2Nd of September. We will be buying the tickets soon! Countdown starts today...

USA Visa

Now the time has come to take care of the Visa to the United States of America. After receiving my FAA acceptance letter and getting the paperwork in place I've been taking care of all the required forms, papers and documents that are required for a non immigrant to request a Visa to enter the United States. After lots of forms with many questions regarding your past,present and future as well as family, educational and economical background I've now scheduled an interview at the United States Embassy in Lisbon for tomorrow. Let's hope for the best!... I will let you know how it was later on!

Hour Building, a Way to Increase Your Flight Time...

Hour building programmes are a common thing for low hour pilots who want to increase their flying hours quickly, while paying for it. This is mostly found in the United States, where general aviation is far more developed and cheaper than the European light aviation. Since a pilot needs something from 300 to 500 flying hours to land his first job in aviation and jump the barrier of "Paying to Fly" to the side of "Getting Payed to Fly" but the ATPL Courses include only 150 to 200 hours of flying one must get the remaining hours by flying on his own.

Naturally this is my case, I am missing a couple of hours to start looking for a job in the aviation business and since I've been unemployed for almost 8 months I feel the timing is right to start doing something about it.

So, the questions are, how many hours shall I do? Where shall I do them? and In which aircraft? I've been studying the situation and hopefully will come with a solution in the following days! Then, I will let you know!

Meanwhile, I've sent a letter to the FAA to convert my European CPL(A) licence into an American PPL(A) licence so I can fly in the USA. The answer as already came through a letter allowing me to go to the USA for an interview in Orlando to deal with the paperwork! Sweet!...