CAA exams are a total ripp-off

[skyman68]

CAA is a total ripp-off.
they run 14 exams, stack with 60 guys, 4 weeks exam (pilot, engineer,...)
they make at least 500'000 US$ every month and this is for ONE center.6 millions every year,24 millions for the 4 centers. 3 in the UK and one in the US.

they just have to pay 2 ladies per center, and a machine to correct and a basic old pentium2 and a printer to prepare the exams.

they make SO MUCH MONEY, that anyone thinking to privatize the system, will be shot by professional killers.so if you post anything here , think twice!

how I know that? a guy working at gatwick told me it!

[Keygrip]

Thanks for the accurate report.

Their are 4 centers in the UK and 2 in the USA.

Good homework.

[scroggs]

Isn't it nice to read an intelligent, well thought out post full of interesting new information?

What a shame this isn't one of those posts!

Scroggs

[skyman68]

4 centers and 2 in the USA, I AM SO SORRY!!!

PLEASE DONT BEAT ME!!!:\

[expedite_climb]

If you dont want to do the CAA exams you dont have to.

Either

a) Dont fly commercially over here
b) Emigrate

[5150]

Can't see the point of this thread.

Tell us something we don't know!

I take it you're going to martyr yourself out of a career just so you don't line the CAA's pockets....?

Now that would be an interesting thread........

[Alex Whittingham]

This will upset you, then. The exam fees are going up to £55 a paper from 01 April 04.

[monkeyboy]

Ah, but Alex, you see the CAA have a sense of humour, really.

Going up to £55 per exam? It's an April Fool's Joke - of course!

I mean, surely they couldn't justify charging THAT much, could they? ;)

[Tinstaafl]

But you get a very nice, multi course & cheap subsidised lunch for that price. :E




It helps the enjoyment if you can pretend it wasn't subsidised by you... :*

[High Wing Drifter]

I think it is entirely reasonable. After all somebody has to subsidise the cafe and keep those Porsches parked in the executive bay. Not to mention the hoards of staff needed to process my rating in four weeks, many of whome seemed to be surfing the web...incidently.

Regarding ratings, why is it that I wait four weeks for the thing but when I turn up for the exams thay can produce it on the spot after telling me they are still processing the ratings for the previous month?

[Rotorstator]

Here, here, on separate note of CAA bashing

Called the CAA the other day from overseas and sat there fat dumb and happy on the FCL answerphone for 20 mins under the pretence that someone would eventually answer me , only to be told all staff are busy and to ring back later and promptly cut off. Wonder how many times I will have to do that during the day before I actually get through. Funny, the same thing happened last september as well and yes I think I remember that they were experiencing 'an unusually high volume of calls then as well'

Still haven't got through

.
:hmm: Call me an old cynic and all that

[buzzc152]

Alex re increased exam fees : does that mean fees are increased for all exams sat from april onwards or all exams booked from april onwards.

I'm going to be sitting mod 2 in may but booking in march.... what's it going to cost me ?

Ps, I thought the CAA was a non-profit organisation ??

pps, why can't planes be run on elestic bands, I hate a/c electrical systems !

[High Wing Drifter]

I thought the CAA was a non-profit organisation
Maybe somebody can correct me, but I thought that the Government (God bless their little cotton socks) wanted the CAA to show a profit.

[WX Man]

Tinstaafl: the caff is no longer subsidised for anyone with a visitor's pass. So I went in there and sat down for an hour or so, revising for the Comms papers (read on...) with a cup of free coffee from one of the machines.

On the subject of which, why the :mad: did I have to sit the comms papers in the first place? My previous job: talking to pilots on 126.725 and 128.925 for the Maastricht Delta Sector!!!!!

Still, I passed the first 7 first time, thereby depriving the CAA of relieving me of another £52 per exam. Serves the ******s right. I think I shall write them a very sternly worded letter after I have passed the next 7.

[RowleyUK]

Maybe they should set a variable costing system ie, How large each exam is!!

Com's = £5

Gen Nav, Flight Planning, Systems = £55

:=

[Tinstaafl]

I saw the price difference between visitor & staff last time I was there. Looking at what's on offer I still think it's subsidised - just not as much as the staff rate. @rseholes. :mad:

[Northern Highflyer]

Buzz

I think it is for exams booked from April onwards. I sit my first exams in April and have paid £52 per exam. Unless they come back for the difference. :hmm:

I have also wondered why we have to do comms again, having done it all once for the PPL. I assume there is nothing different about it. They obviously realise that I am absolutely loaded and don't have anything better to do with my money (yeah right) ;) and another thing, why do they split it into two half hour exams for VFR and IFR at £52 each ? Wouldn't a one hour exam do the same job ?
Is that too much like common sense or is there just not enough profit in it ?

[skyman68]

Please, would you give me the adress of the unemployment' office in Gatwick. I try to get my money back from the CAA.

;) :E ;)

[carb]

Is there a good reason that anyone knows of why the scheme of charges, both Private and Professional, have mostly gone up by around 10%? :* Have they been frozen for the past few years, perhaps?

Would be nice if somewhere on the CAA website they explained just why they need to slap such an increases on these charges to individuals.

Useful data at least, to compare the cost of admin by the CAA with the cost of admin in the private sector.

[chris]

You all want to know why they can charge so much for exams (and flight testss and license issue for that matter!). It is because they can! Who else in the uk is going to let you loose in the air? No one! They have one of those niche markets that no other operator can get into. I think they are just trying to raise the hoops for s%&*s and giggles to see how high we can jump. A bit like the olympics just more expensive and not as funny for us. Its funny though, I was being mocked by my cpl instructor today because my Antipodean CAA issued me with a piece of laminated paper (license) when over here you get a big 'novel' of a license. They thought it was hilarious and might as well been drummed up by any old hack on the family pc. I pointed out that it cost only $50 for the issue not £340 , the flight examiner verified your hours and the license was back in your hands within a few days.

You want to know why the CAA can raise prices. Because they can, its wrong and everyone cant understand what our money goes towards but thats not the CAA's problem!

[WX Man]

Well, of course we can rest safe in the knowledge that the good people who work on the Examinations committees do a worthwhile job representing our best interests at JAA level, keeping subject material up to date and relevant.

[Tinstaafl]

Do they still believe weather radar detects cloud, and not rain?

[152wiseguy]

On a slightly different tack, you could argue that what with the JAA and all, the prices should come down. Surely as you get the same licence from all member states you can shop around and do your training wherever you get the best deal. Incidently, here in Finland the CAA dont charge anything for ground exams and only charge a modest fee for the flight tests. A bit of competition for the UK CAA perhaps :E

[tonker]

The best way to get through to FCL straight away.

1.Phone medical department

2.Claim to be a total arse and humbly ask to be put through to FCL which you ineptly tried ringing in the first place.

3.FCL see the number on their phone as an internal and pick up call straight away thinking i am a pretty nurse(this i give them credit for)

4.Accuse phone system of being an arse and inept for connecting you through the medical department but as they are on the phone i'll ask a few questions anyway.

As much as the above could be construde as a low, filthy trick it does work every time(so i'm told by a friend of a friend and all that). Anyway when in Rome

Good luck with the exams and hope you enjoy the flying ahead of you. Regards Tonker

[kpx1124]

tonker:

I've tried your suggested technique for getting through to FCL, however, the friendly nurse I spoke to said she couldn't redirect my call, I'd have to go back to the automated switchboard!

Hope others have better luck than me...

[ziva]

Hey guys don't be too upset.. I started the UK licence then gave up... and went for the JAA in switzerland... cheeper.... 600FrCH for the all exams if you trying them in one shot or 600Frch for 2 tries.... so that's up to you .... good luck anyway there is NO FUN what so ever!!

:8

[reynoldsno1]

I was being mocked by my cpl instructor today because my Antipodean CAA issued me with a piece of laminated paper (license) when over here you get a big 'novel' of a license
It's a pommy thing - even their driving licences, which are conveniently and sensibly wallet-sized, are then accompanied by a huge peice of paper that they insist you must also carry with you, presumably in a suitcase that matches your wallet...

[EESDL]

Had to laugth out loud when I discovered the cost of renewing my licence.
If you thought that was funny, you should have seen the tears of laughter that rolled when I discovered that the new licence would be valid for half the time....................
Please, someone tell me why this is so...so I can then furnish my MP with all the details.
I understand that the CAA run a very neat monopoly/cartel but they has ceased to even be clever with their price hikes.....Must have gone to the Gordon Brown school of finance.

Remember
Careless torque costs wives

[ravenx]

just you wait until you start handing over you hard earned for flight tests then - was £607 now £637, and then they have the nerve to charge £437 for partial retests and £190 to add the damn ratings to your licence.

Currently the CPL exam fee in Canada is something like £75, and the one in Spain is about £100.

CAA - little tinkers eh!

[Sky Goose]

I have converted an FAA CPL/IR to a JAA fATPL.

Just a quck run down of the fees.:{

Class 1 Medical (fromFAA class 1) £210

ATPL Writtens £720 (Holy Smokes!!)
2x Re writes £70

CPL Flight Test £608
ME/IR Flight Test £608
Partial Re-test IR £420 (15 minutes in the air !)

Licence Issue SEP & MEP/SP/IR £280 (WHAT!!!)

Copy of exam results ATPL writtens £21 (3 photocopies !! bloody cheek !!!)

Grand Total: £2937.- (how is this justifiable?, it beggers belief !)

[High Wing Drifter]

How much does the examiner get?

[Chuffer Chadley]

How much does the examiner get?

I don't have any up to date figures, but a little while ago, they got a tenner if they passed a candidate, and twenty quid for a fail. A partial was worth fifty.

:ok:

[timzsta]

Much having a go at the CAA here. I have a good story to tell of the FCL department. Had a query about an exam booking I had no confirmation for in December. Was unable to get through on switchboard so I got online and looked on the CAA website and found an e-mail address. Sent e-mail. Thirty minutes later I got a phone call with the answer.

A few weeks earlier I had been at Gatwick to do some ATPL exams and had just finished my night rating. So rather then pay money for Royal Mail to deliver my paperwork to the FCL department I delivered it personally. This wasn't a problem and the gentlemen on the front desk suggested I might want to wait around for five minutes as a BA concorde Captain would be arriving shortly.

Everyone knows that the CAA charge a lot for exam fees and license issue. Yes it is unpopular and yes it is expensive. No amount of whinging or complaining will change it. It is just a fact of life of becoming a Commercial Pilot in the UK. If you don't like it do something else.

[Sky Goose]

timzsta

Its generally a good idea to complain about a service that is too expensive or sub standard, otherwise things probably wont change for the better.

Paying £600 odd for an examiner for two hours is expensive, and I dont think we should be paying so much.

For me its too late since Ive paid all my fees.

I also think that it gives people a bad impression of the CAA, when you tell them the kinds of fees you have to pay.

It makes them look like they are a monopoply taking advantage of their market, instead of an orinization looking after its members.

It discourages general aviation and generaly makes people feel like there being ripped off.

cheers