16 March 2021
I owe Grant Shapps an apology. No, I’m not joking, I mean it. In the past I’ve gently mocked his goal of making the UK the best place in the world for General Aviation – and I’ve explained why I think it’s never going to happen. No single event nor sermon has caused this personal Damascus, but I’ve come to see the Best Place In The World For General Aviation (BPITWFGA) in the same light as the promise of eternal life, 72 virgins or reincarnation (delete or add as appropriate). The important things, the things that matter to most of us most of the time, are the daily or weekly rituals that mark out that never ending path to the impossible destination which is the BPITWFGA. I’ll continue to point out DfT or CAA plans and policies when I think they move the pointer in the wrong direction, but from now on I’m fully behind the BPITWFGA goals, and I’d like to lend a hand by making a suggestion…
Our flight crew licensing system is messed up. It’s probably more messed up than any other aspect of aviation regulation that I can think of.
“Be brave enough to scrap the mess that we have, and bold enough to create something simple and easy to understand”
We still have (a few) people with what was once called a PPL(D) for microlights. We have the NPPL which can be an NPPL for microlights, for Simple Single Engine Aircraft (SSEA), or for Self-Launching Motor Gliders (SLMG). It cannot be an NPPL for Touring Motor Gliders (TMGs), for that you will need a Light Aircraft Pilot Licence (LAPL).
If your LAPL was issued by the CAA and you haven’t changed your State of Licence Issue (SOLI) it is no longer any good outside of the UK, but if you have a LAPL issued by a current EASA State it is good for flight in EASA land.
Then we have the ‘old’ UK PPL often referred to as the ‘poo-brown’ PPL and sometimes called the National Licence, not to be confused with the NPPL. This licence was issued for life, a long, long time ago when people were encouraged to get themselves a JAR-PPL on the basis of the CAA PPL so that they could pay some money every five years for nothing.
You cannot use your lifetime national PPL to fly Part 21 aircraft, even if you learned to fly and may have thousands of hours on those very aircraft. Except now you can. Sort of. At least for a while. There are restrictions, and promises of addressing this anomaly.
Then there’s the EASA PPL. This is an ICAO compliant licence, so if you have one of those issued by the UK you are good for flying G reg anywhere in the world (more or less). It is because it is ICAO compliant that it is valid outside of the UK, and even though it has EASA on the paperwork it is no longer an EASA licence, as we’re no longer members.
A licence is of little value unless it is accompanied by the appropriate medical certificate. In the UK we have the Pilot Medical Declaration. This was brilliantly simple. It is now less simple and while the aircraft you can fly always depended on the level of your medical declaration, it now also depends on the licence you have when you make the declaration too.
There is of course the LAPL medical which can be sorted with your GP or your AME. A UK LAPL medical (or licence) is no longer valid outside of the UK.
Of course there remains the Class 2 medical for which you need your AME and that, when paired with the correct ICAO compliant licence, gives you the right to fly anywhere in a G reg aircraft. If you are over 50, and your medical lasts for 12 months, you can fly for the next 12 months with LAPL privileges only (and UK only) without any further steps.
I haven’t even strayed into the rotary, sailplane or balloon world… but clearly explaining the rules of cricket to an amoeba-like creature from Mars is easier than this mess.
The DfT and CAA have a perfect opportunity to right this wrong, to be brave and visionary, and to create a General Aviation licensing system that actually is the envy of the world. Give us a system that doesn’t take savants like Irv Lee, Jon Cooke and Nick Wilcock to understand it.
Yes, we need ICAO compliant licences and medicals. Be brave enough to scrap the mess we have and bold enough to create something simple and easy to understand. Something that removes once and for all everything that stops people flying aircraft with licences that have worked for years, and something that encourages people to get extra training. While you’re there, dump the jumbled mess of revalidation and renewal requirements and replace it with something simple.
This is a golden opportunity to create something that is actually world beating.
So, come on Grant, come on CAA, let’s get this done.
