Unlicensed Pilots.

[Flintstone]

Dammit. I wondered why there'd been all that sniggering these past six weeks.

[Gertie]

But it does have a bearing on the argument that pilots who have a cavalier attitude to one area of flying are likely to treat other aspects in a similar way - someone who thinks they are above the paperwork that the rest of us have to put up with, may also think they are above HASSELL checks.

As evidenced by what the police find when they do ANPR checks and stop people for not having insurance - they find a remarkable number of other crimes at the same time.

[Gertie]

I'm sure cyclists would love to have to pay road tax

Most do. Most cyclists are people who have chosen not to use the car for that trip (or their parents have chosen not to give the kids a lift and make them cycle!).

[Flyin'Dutch']

Paperwork and rules may not make for safe flight in itself, however I know few competent safe pilots who find it difficult to comply with them.

And from reading accident reports it seems that those who have disregard for man made rules often try to attempt to defy the laws of ohysics and common sense...

[golfcharlie]

Gentlemen, this interesting debate clearly describes the root problem: over-complex rules, regulations and laws are bad. Some of us are unwittingly driven to illegality becuase the old set of nearly black and white have been jumbled into various shades of grey. You can wake up one day to find that you have inadvertenly been flying unlicensed for weeks, or even months. Happened to me. So I put it right at once. No ill intention: just regulation that is hard to understand and constantly shifting.
Look at the pilot licensing fiasco. If I recall correctly, there have been at least four major changes (we'll forget the minor ones) in PPL paperwork regulations and requirements since I started flying. As far as I perceive, none of these changes did anything to make me a safer pilot. They all made flying more expensive, and harder for newcomers to gain the life-preserving airmanship skills that derive from time spent in the air.
I know our airspace is now more complex. But staring at an LED Gizmo is no substitute for the innate sense of caution derived from P1 time.
The result of all this regulation is, I think, perverse. Aye, there's the rub.

On the licensing side I have the good fortune to have an Annex II Permit aircraft & a UK Lifetime licence wrapped in cheap brown plastic (and an FAA PPL, if they don't ban them ).

[Old Pilot]

I've got one of those old brown plastic UK lifetime licenses from 1980.

Never changed my address since 1989.(And changed house/moved country several times since then.)

I comply with medicals and checks but is it still valid?

[flybymike]

If it isn't then neither is mine.

[rodan]

I'm sure cyclists would love to have to pay road tax

Most do. Most cyclists are people who have chosen not to use the car for that trip (or their parents have chosen not to give the kids a lift and make them cycle!).

There is no such thing as 'road tax', roads are paid for from general and local taxation. What there is, is Vehicle Excise Duty, based on engine size and emissions. If cyclists had to pay VED it would be free, the same as for low-emission cars.

[peter272]

The bikes don't give out emissions but some of the cyclists certainly do.....!

[Crash one]

I'm sure cyclists would love to have to pay road tax

Most do. Most cyclists are people who have chosen not to use the car for that trip (or their parents have chosen not to give the kids a lift and make them cycle!).

There is no such thing as 'road tax', roads are paid for from general and local taxation. What there is, is Vehicle Excise Duty, based on engine size and emissions. If cyclists had to pay VED it would be free, the same as for low-emission cars.

In days of yore it was called the Road Fund Licence & was meant to do just that.

[rodan]

In days of yore it was called the Road Fund Licence & was meant to do just that.

From 1920 until 1937, it was indeed a hypothecated road tax. But it hasn't been ever since then.

[peter272]

Here's a new one

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... crash.html

[Flintstone]

That went well then.