Obtaining your Private Pilot License in Singapore during the COVID-19 period
With COVID-19 stretching towards the end of 2020 and with most countries still having restrictions for non-essential travel, it is time to revisit my previous post which talks about obtaining a Private Pilot License in Singapore (https://medium.com/@shenyizhe_57929/journey-to-get-a-private-pilot-license-in-singapore-malaysia-b7e5b5735b2e)
Previously, I spoke about 3 options you can take:
- Taking a restricted CAAS PPL in Singapore (and eventually converting it to a full fledge PPL after you finish your cross-country)
- Going to USA to get a FAA PPL
- Going to Malaysia to get a CAAM PPL
With the border closed with Malaysia and USA for the past few months, it may appear that option 2 & 3 seems to be very much closed for most of the people in Singapore who is keen to obtain a private pilot license during this time as they are unable to fly to USA or cross the border to Malaysia to get the necessary check-rides or written exams.
Thus, the only option now open are to take the CAAS route and when the border reopens again, you will still have the option to do a piggy-back with a FAA license and also do the cross-country component to take the restriction off. I even heard from fellow aviators that the piggyback license which originally require you to physically visit FSDO office in USA to get it endorsed has now been temporary changed to a virtual WHATSAPP call for the validation to take place.
Happy flying!
