Polite discussion about EASA, the CAA, the ANO and the delights of aviation regulation.
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#1865486
Just thought I'd add my current saga with CAA licensing here. I know other people are having lots of issues, but as of today I've now lost my IR privileges and it seems no-one at the CAA can give any answer or forecast of when they will sort it.

April 2021 - I had to get my licence reprinted to add ME FI privileges. I had to do this in a hurry as the portal had been unable to process the application as it wouldn't recognise COVID medical extension the previous year. My IR was lapsed due to IRE/aircraft availability so it went on the back.

22 June - I renew my IR by test. I apply on portal same day for IR renewal. Portal won't accept it as says 'my ATPL results expired'. Phone CAA and told to email in with screenshots.

9 Jul - CAA finally respond telling me to do it another way on portal. This doesn't work either.

12 Jul - CAA respond admitting it is a bug in system and they have sent to IT.

15 Jul - CAA ask for copy of my ATPL results(??)

26 Jul - after chasing multiple days on the phone, CAA say bug now fixed and I should apply through another option on portal. I do this same day and CAA take £108 same day.

12 Aug - CAA email saying I need to upload a copy of Course Completion Certificate. This has already been done on 26 Jul with application but I send them a copy again by email.

16/17 Aug - chasing by phone as my SRG1100 Temporary Certificate expired 16 Aug and I am now unable to exercise my IR. I am supposed to be examining this evening. CAA just tell me it is in licensing workflow and can give me no idea of when it will be looked at.

I asked about target timescales but was told 'clock was reset on 12 Aug' and fact that I started this on 22 June seems irrelevant. They can't tell me what the target timescales or 'clock time' is either.

Along with many of my colleagues I am just totally fed up with all this. Renewing a rating should be the simplest thing, but it just feels like every since interaction we have is an issue.
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By AndyR
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1865515
A good friend has now lost his right to instruct as his SRG1100 has expired (it was a 6 month one!!) and no licence has yet been issued. No amount of chasing has helped him.

I have a type rating about to become as useful as the proverbial chocolate teapot, as my temporary certificate is also about to expire and no licence issued with it on yet.

Something has gone very wrong at the Belgrano it has to be said.


Yet they take the ££ swiftly enough, whilst still causing financial losses to the very pilot who has paid them!
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By Stampe
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1865517
Matt an all too familiar story nowadays.My advice is escalate immediately to the top email
stephen.hillier@caa.co.uk
He needs to know just how disgraceful and incompetent the organisation he is in charge of is.
Generally the staff are unqualified for the work they do poorly managed and led.As an organisation they hold their customers in contempt.
Keep us posted on your progress this situation has to resolved for the good of all in U.K. aviation and the success of our industry!
Regards Stampe
Fly Safe Fly Considerate Fly Compliant.
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By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1865536
The difficulty we face is that there are now so many dysfunctional operations MPs poking them in the eye is useless as the skilled resources to address problems are simply absent.

If the volume of errors and failures is low, exception management and escalation can have an impact, if the organisation simply doesn't deliver on any of its obligations we're having a very different conversation and sorting that out can take years, meanwhile users of its services are suffering and effectively helpless :-(.
#1865572
riverrock wrote:Worth complaining via your MP as well? Probably wont get a result any quicker, but it will increase the general pressure.


Whilst this might not sort the bigger issue (general incompetence) it could well accelerate fixing your specific problem.
A very good friend of mine, and a long standing, long suffering, CAA specialist told me once that one thing CAA 'grown-ups' hate is 'questions in The House'.

I'd also send a carefully worded e-mail to the 'top-man' (at CAA) asking for his help. I did it a couple of years ago and got very speedy results (also a 'rating on my licence' issue with FCL).

Good luck.
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#1865614
The fix is simple. The CAA do not need to be involved in most of this stuff at all; all renewals and recurrencies can be done without their involvement. Like the FAA. That would free up their valuable time - for some further training, perhaps?
johnm, Aerials, MattL and 5 others liked this
#1867146
Update 25 Aug - licence arrived today after invoking the formal complaint procedure. I have requested refund of my fees in recompense for loss of licence privileges. Arrived in second class mail (87p) even though I had paid £15 for the courier service so that is getting added to the request for refund.
100poundburger, Flyin'Dutch', Stampe and 1 others liked this
User avatar
By Irv Lee
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1868502
Surely they are drowning under there own imposed paperwork. I just tested someone for an sep rating today (to add into an existing licence).
Paperwork needed nowadays for the simple addition of an sep rating into an existing caa fcl licence which contains MEP and i/r already:
- copy of the CAA permission to allow me to test the guy that I had to ask the caa for before I could test him. They issued it Tuesday, I have to send it back now to prove they approved. 2 pages.
- form 2199 examiner report to say he passed, 4 pages.
- form 1107, course completion certificate, needed by me from ato/dto before test, and I have to copy and send to caa. 1 page.
- form 1100 to caa to say I will let him fly sep for the next 8 weeks on a temporary basis whilst they drown in his paperwork. 1 page.
-form 1119 to apply for the sep rating. 7 pages, and i suspect it is plus a page of certified licence copy, making 8.
And I think I am supposed to fill in another form (page 3 of srg1157) and not send it in but file it for "x" years as a record of test content.
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By PeteBC
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1868607
I'm still waiting for my converted from JAR into Part FCL with a renewed rating for over 1.5 month. Admittedly I missed 1 page to send them, but this was not mentioned in the initial check through. I phoned yesterday and was told that they are now on 14 day turnaround times, not 10.

The dumbest thing about all this is that my application has been seen by an actual licence issuer and now they have everything they need - so why not reduce the queue by 1 and issue mine - it makes no sense that I go to the back of the queue as that actually swells the backlog. Do the low hanging fruit in order of receipt and skrink the queue.

When I asked why the phone line talks about 'booking a counter appointment' while the counter is still closed, the poor chap (who clearly was no stranger to this question) said that the powers that be had said it 'would take too long to put it back if they did that' - so they get lumped with the annoyance from 'customers'.

Rant over. Sorry.