Sri Lanka Civil Aviation Authority (SLCAA) has approved Capt Suranjan De Silva "Head of Training / Examiner" of AAA, Maldives
to conduct skill tests/GFTs at AAA Maldives, for Sri Lankan nationals who are desirous of converting their foreign licenses (FAA....etc) to SLCAA licenses.
The applicants will adopt the following procedure, recommended by CAASL.
- License Holder applies for the conversion initiating the process as applicable at PEL, CAASL.
- Follow through the process doing other applicable papers, Medical, ELPC, etc.
- Agree on the lacking areas of experience as per Sri Lankan system.
- Liaise with CAASL to get the flight Test done in Maldives in an Aircraft registered in Maldives by Examiner Capt. Suranjan De Silva, after completion of the balance portion of Flying Training required by Sri Lanka.
- Submit the Flight Test Report after completion of the Test.
Sri Lankan nationals arriving back home with foreign licenses (FAA ..etc), experience a considerable delays in the conversion process due to following reasons,
- Non availability of training aircraft with the FTOs.
- Often airspace restrictions being imposed by the military/Air force, due to VIP movements.
- Non availability of Nav aids at RMA and KTK is a major impediment to a training environment; hence the pupil pilots are required to proceed to KAT to carry out basic instrument approaches. Often it is a "no go" event due to international traffic movements. Some occasions after departing KTK, at Kaduwela, the flight is required to hold or terminated dur to international traffic and returned back to KTK, which is a wasted and a costly exercise having flown 40 to 50 mts of unwanted vfr time, and compelled to log same and accumulating / exceeding the total time (TT) requirements for a license/rating.
- X/C phase is another aspect, due to airspace restrictions, often being re-scheduled or cancelled. After being re scheduled, the Wx factor is another notable hindrance, which adversely affect the task during pm hours and often the flight plan is being cancelled.
- Taking into account the above factors a) to d), conversion process being extended and un-due delays being experienced. Hence, cadet pilot application "deadlines" with respect to national carrier may not be met in most of the cases.
- Applicants carrying out the skill test/GFT at AAA Maldives, will complete conversion procedure in 3-5 days and obtain their FCL, upon submission of the documentation to CAASL on arrival
