How things were (for youngsters)
[Sorry, longish
]
Looking back at my UK, pre-CAA, Board of Trade PPL I find the following loose leaf pages, bound with a standard Treasury 'shoelace' in a stout light brown (for PPL) cardboard cover
:
a. 'Licence' (TL.150) specifying 'Aeroplanes' by having 'Helicopters and Gyroplanes' overtyped. Wording on reverse confirms it is ICAO-compliant
[also overtyped is the wording allowing it to be used in lieu of a UK Passport, which British Subjects [
sic] could pay extra to have incorporated if they provided a photograph and proof of citizenship]
b. 'Ratings' (SAL Form 150/O):
- Group 'A' specifying 'SE' (not 'SEP') Max Total (not 't/o') Weight not >12,500lb
[note: SLMG/TMG implicitly included; no microlight 'Class' existed]
- 'B': ME (not MEP) not >12,500lb
- 'C': >12,500lb
.. with a BoT stamp and signature against only 'A'; printed note that only a BoT officer could make any entry or alteration
c. 'Aircraft Rating-Certificate of Experience
(Thirteen month period)' (SAL Form 150/E/1)
'I the undersigned, being a person authorised by the BoT, ..' [ie, a FE] ..certify .. personal flying logbook ..satisfied me .. within the 13 month period .. five hours pilot in command (..P1..) or co-pilot (..P2..)'
[note: no requirement for any time under instruction]
d. 'Aircraft Rating-Certificate of Test'(SAL Form 150/C)
'I the undersigned, being a person authorised by the BoT, ..' [ie, a FE] .. certify .. has passed as flying test .. P1 .. or ..P2 .. on the aircraft type or simulator specified ..'
[first entry and stamp made at BoT, presumably on receipt of FE's report of GFT]
Medical and FRTOL pages were of the same size and with same perforations, so they could also be bound in. FRTOLs were, of course, unnecessary, as many learnt non-radio in that era.
In my first ~30 years I was always renting annually in summer, so had (under FC rules, not ANO) to do club checkouts before embarking on my minimum 5h P1 (until JAR came in, and I joined a syndicate as it suddenly made the hourly rate in the second year more affordable, and then of course I flew much more anyway); and I often did little more than that each year. I once remarked to the CFI that 5h P1 without any FI oversight legally required seemed remarkably little. He (RAF WW2) agreed, but pointed out that I had not need a Driving Instructor or Examiner session since passing my test (providing I stuck to cars and light goods!); and anyway, most light aircraft flying was expensive enough that it was affordable to most only in a FC/FS environment. As for the rest: "the law cannot protect the rich idiot from himself".
I suppose that a significant change was the advent of microlights (weightshift; and then regulations designed for them also encompassing the lightest fixedwing) and kitplanes, which made some ownership and flying outside a FC/FS environment much more affordable. But I wonder whether that BoT regime was actually more dangerous to anyone except the pilot (and 1-3 passengers) rather than the wider public. I first met the 'compulsory FI time every 2 years' regime with BFRs in the US in the '80s. Canada (then; now ?) didn't have any analogous requirement.