Polite discussion about EASA, the CAA, the ANO and the delights of aviation regulation.
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By Bathman
#1809556
And one such answer to that would be a pragmatic CPL exam. One paper. Just an signature from an instructor saying your ready to sit the exam. And the exam can be sat at a local flying school or DVLA exam centre.
By Edward Bellamy
#1809562
Because the current system allows you to work on your own weak points rather than fannying around with some one size fits all skills test.


@Rob P forgive me I don't know what experience you have of the FAA system, but in my experience the BFR is not (if done correctly) a one size fits all skills test. Yes, an instructor can decline to sign off a BFR, but it is not the same as doing a skill test with an examiner which has very specific pass/fail criteria. People have commented during the Covid exemptions that they find the ground discussion associated with the rating extension process helpful, the BFR is intended to include that sort of thing.

The main argument, to me, is one of simplicity - a BFR in any aircraft you are rated on keeps the general suite of aircraft ratings on the licence valid (at GA level at least, gets more complicated with type ratings etc). So no separate MEP tests etc. No counting hours etc. IR does have a separate system of rolling validity.

Anyway we wouldn't have to copy the FAA content of the BFR if the UK did not want to, just that the counting of hours falls away.
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By skydriller
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1809629
wrt FAA BFR or EASA 1hr instructor flight/12hrs etc.. Is there any evidence that these have made the skies safer? I seem to remember that pre-JAR there was no such check on a pilot.

Dont get me wrong, I dont object to the flight or the minimum hours, but it does always seem to me (possibly because of my work combined with the fact I used to have a licence from a country different to that I live in) that getting the flight and sign-off was always a bit of a faf and a rush-around...

Regards, SD..
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By skydriller
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1809630
5. For new PPL students: once you pass the skill test the examiner gives you a temporary licence so you can go flying without having to wait for the CAA paperwork application etc.
(Or did that one already get fixed???)
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By Paul_Sengupta
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1809639
johnm wrote:The magic words Mayday Mayday Mayday or Pan Pan Pan pan pan pan are very important in those conditions


Declare an emergency for a perfectly normal flight? That sounds like a reasonable thing to do... :?

Adding to the list, if you've met the requirements for revalidation by experience, don't draw a line at a date to get the signature after which training and a test is required. It's pure bureaucracy and has nothing to do with whether actual flying requirements have been met.

While we're at it, get rid of the 12 hours in the second year of two business. That's just weird bonkers stuff.

As for CPLs and instructing, I've said for a while that *any* ICAO CPL should be valid to meet the requirements of ICAO in having CPL knowledge. That's a quick win. In the longer term we could have a basic CPL along the lines of the FAA CPL but with UK "PPL+" knowledge rather than US "PPL+". Call it the BCPL.

One thing I'd add to Irv's list is to have a sensible route to go from foreign PPLs, valid or expired, to UK PPLs. There should also be a sensible way of going from a foreign instructor rating to UK.
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By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1809669
@Paul_Sengupta I was responding the to the comment about struggling in low visibility and needing 10km to get into a safe class D environment SVFR as raised by Irv.
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By Irv Lee
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1809678
johnm wrote:@Paul_Sengupta I was responding the to the comment about struggling in low visibility and needing 10km to get into a safe class D environment SVFR as raised by Irv.

'as was raised and condemned by Irv', please!
The idea of a pan or mayday would probably force many PPLs to carry on regardless instead, GASCo did some computer simulations with volunteers a few years ago, and I remember a few London Info FISOs asking me in a coffee break of some meeting why pilots who, on learning how poor the weather is at destination on their way back from Le T, carry on anyway!
By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1809682
I accept the condemned to a degree, but it is all too easy to get caught out and assistance is available when needed and folk shouldn't hesitate to use it. A close friend of mine would still be alive if he'd called mayday and climbed and let ATC sort out the consequences, as it was he continued as instructed into solid IMC and CFIT while awaiting IFR clearance.
#1809709
skydriller wrote:wrt FAA BFR or EASA 1hr instructor flight/12hrs etc.. Is there any evidence that these have made the skies safer? I seem to remember that pre-JAR there was no such check on a pilot.


I mean to an extent this will always be the problem, this is no particular evidence one way or another, because there are too many factors of cause and effect in GA to separate them with any real certainty.

There was a study (not a very good one IMO) a while back that concluded that the introduction of JAR, which of course brought in the 12 hours etc requirement (replacing the 5-13 one) and other things like annual tests for MEPs (I think that that was a JAR thing?) had no effect on GA safety.

Look across to FAA land and the accident rate is generally the same as the UK, if slightly better. Look across Europe and there is wild variety.

Which is why I think simplicity rather than safety is the main argument for reforming FCL regulations.
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By Paul_Sengupta
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1809725
Edward Bellamy wrote:Which is why I think simplicity rather than safety is the main argument for reforming FCL regulations.


You have to be careful with simplicity. When people complained that the number of BT tariffs for phone lines were numerous and confusing and demanded things be simplified, BT just removed all the cheapest options, reducing the number of options and thus the confusion. In a similar way, the plethora of UK exemptions and licences have been brought in to keep people flying (with no degradation in safety) in spite of what EASA has imposed in terms of restrictions.
By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1809813
Paul_Sengupta wrote:
Edward Bellamy wrote:Which is why I think simplicity rather than safety is the main argument for reforming FCL regulations.


You have to be careful with simplicity. When people complained that the number of BT tariffs for phone lines were numerous and confusing and demanded things be simplified, BT just removed all the cheapest options, reducing the number of options and thus the confusion. In a similar way, the plethora of UK exemptions and licences have been brought in to keep people flying (with no degradation in safety) in spite of what EASA has imposed in terms of restrictions.


Those exemptions are of course sub ICAO so the flyers are confined to the UK. EASA actually created the LAPL which is also sub ICAO but a good enough compromise to provide for pilots to fly in over 30 countries.
By Skybolt1
#1816342
Abolish the one-hour flight with an instructor concept, and revert to the previous currency by flying hours achieved (only). I am not required to have a one-hour drive with a driving instructor every two years and we managed quite well before the BFR. Sensible pilots will in any event seek a dual check, or in many cases check-outs will be required by groups or clubs for currency. I'm sure instructors love it, but I do not enjoy it one bit. Failing that, scrap the arbitrary one-hour requirement and just make it 'a meaningful flight'.
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By Rob P
#1816396
Skybolt1 wrote:I'm sure instructors love it, but I do not enjoy it one bit.


Well that's your fault surely? You choose the nature and content of the flight, so choose something you do enjoy.

From my observation of UK driving, an instructor hour on the road would be no bad thing.

Rob P
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By Bathman
#1816404
Skybolt1 wrote:Abolish the one-hour flight with an instructor concept, and revert to the previous currency by flying hours achieved (only).


No, No, No

With the CAA mandate to make UK GA the best in the world that won’t do. There is a wealth of options

1.As you say back to the old UK certificate of experience/test
2.Adapt the EASA system
3.Adopt the FAA system
4.Come up with something new and completely random*

*this would give far better opportunities.

Just think. Working parties staffed by people with zero GA experience. AOPA making out they are involved the process when actually they have no mates or influence in any shape or form.

After some 6 months of “work”the largely ex RAF navigators, although there is one ex royal navy helicopter expert on the committee, come up with something almost as unworkable as LAPL currency.

Unfortunately this doesn’t work for TMG’s so 6 additional ‘sticking plaster’ measures are applied to the orginal concept. With the end result that something that didn’t really work in the first place is now almost impossible to understand and 40%** of pilots are actually flying illegally

5 years later following industry pressure (up to this point all previous input was ignored) decide on a review and employ “contractors”(basically the same ex RAF and CAA staff who now offer their services to industry as the regulation is now so complicated that the only way to get stuff approved is to pay the person who previously wrote the regulation) and following this consultation we come up with something else equally ineffective.

Of course all costs incurred for this fiasco are met though charges on the industry which continues to falter and spiral ever downwards.

Now people might think that this is all a bit far fetched but to me that's what it has looked like for the last 20 plus years.

Or we could just except that the FAA system works and adopt it.

** Based on the number of LAPL ratings pages I have seen that are signed
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