Seeking Guidance on Transitioning Military Flight Experience to FAA Certification
Dear Fellow Aviators,
I am a retired Pakistan Air Force pilot with 13 years of honorable service, during which I accumulated nearly 1,000 flight hours, including over 730 hours in multi-engine aircraft. I possess my official military pilot logbook and am eager to have my experience recognized by the FAA to facilitate obtaining a U.S. commercial pilot license.
Despite residing in Mesa, Arizona, and reaching out to the local Flight Standards District Office (FSDO) for the past 18 months, I have yet to receive a response. I am seeking advice on alternative avenues to have my military flight hours credited and to navigate the FAA certification process effectively.
Any insights or recommendations from those who have undergone a similar transition would be greatly appreciated.
My understanding is this is not an easy task. You’d be far better served to convert your military experience to civilian in Pakistan and then convert those licenses. You’ll also need to pass all the required FAA Knowledge exams and checkrides for each license and rating.
None of this however can be accomplished without the FAA. I’d continue to contact the local FSDO.
The FSDO is the best place to get this figured out. If I were you, I would walk up to the office and try to get face to face with someone. I’d imagine getting them converted to civilian ratings first would help streamline the process a bit more.
Hannah greetings
i walked there and waited for more than 2 hours. i met a guy there. all he did was to give me an email address(which i already knew )
so that did not worked for me sadly.
i went to multiple flight schools, i did not got any positive response, which i do not know why they are so difficult to approach.
i appreciate your response
The majority of FSDOs do not take walk-ins (it’s not a nail salon). I’m actually surprised anyone even spoke with you. He gave you the email address to make an appointment.
There’s simply no way you can do this without the FAA.
I agree with you, sir. As we are always learning, and being new to this country, I am continuously learning. I walked in there because, after sending many emails for months without a reply, I thought that might be a possibility.
Regards
I’m sorry to hear that. I should have clarified that seeing someone face to face requires making an appointment first. I had some paperwork issues getting my ATP and had to deal with the FSDO as well. It can be frustrating but start with an appointment and see if you can make some progress in that time.
The local flight school can’t help with any of the rating transferrals. They can help you though with setting up written exams and any flight instruction needs once you’re checking the boxes for FAA ratings.
Here’s the map for all the nearby FSDO offices and their contact info.
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