Question for jdcavo: I am about to send my application to approved to test for my 1600ton inland mate. I was wondering if you have to have your radar certification in order to be approved to test. I have my necessary seatime, drug screening, 3 letters of recommendation, current physical, advanced firefighting, and current first aid/cpr. Do I have to have my radar certification before I’m approved to test?
Have you checked the NMC checklist for Mate 1600 Inland? http://www.uscg.mil/nmc/credentials/checklists/pdfs/MCP-FM-NMC5-48%20Mate%20500-1600%20GL-I.pdf?list1=%2Fnmc%2Fcredentials%2Fchecklists%2Fpdfs%2FMCP-FM-NMC5-48+Mate+500-1600+GL-I.pdf&B1=GO!
What lakes do you sail on?
I work on western rivers but eligible for inland. I have looked at uscg website checklists and it only mentions the things I listed that I have. I was wondering if radar certification was something I needed before I test or something I can take after I pass test. I would like to test sooner than the next class that’s available is why I’m asking.
[QUOTE=bowsntows;87349]Question for jdcavo: I am about to send my application to approved to test for my 1600ton inland mate. I was wondering if you have to have your radar certification in order to be approved to test. I have my necessary seatime, drug screening, 3 letters of recommendation, current physical, advanced firefighting, and current first aid/cpr. Do I have to have my radar certification before I’m approved to test?[/QUOTE]
You don’t need a radar observer course to qualify for an inland license, but you will need it to work on any vessel over 300 GRT that has radar, including inland. Also, you need to have “Radar Observer” on your MMC (license), you can’t just get the license without it and carry a course certificate. The change a few years ago only removed the radar expiration date from the license, it did not remove the endorsement itself. So you would need to have the Radar Observer endorsement on the MMC, and have “readily available” training certificates to show it’sd up to date.
So if you get the license now without the radar observer endorsement, you won’t be qualified to work on a vessel with radar over 300 GRT until you take a course, apply to NMC and have the endorsement added.
You can get approved to test without radar, and take a course before the license is issued and still get the endorsement. Once you pass the test, the license will be issued and if you haven’t taken the course by then, you need to re-apply to get it added.
Radar observer is required for inear coastal or oceans licenses for greater than 200 GRT [46 CFR 11.401(g)]. For renewals or raise in grade, an expired endorsement is OK, you don;t need to be current. [46 CFR 11.480(i)]
Thanks for the reply jdcavo