Consequences of E-conditions
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Consequences of E-conditions
For those who don't know, E-conditions is a new CAA / RAeS proposal to permit minimal oversight experimental flying in the UK on aircraft under 2000kg.
There's various stuff here...
FLYER Airportal - General Aviation News
(Links to the CAA documents at the bottom of the page).
As somebody with a pretty broad background in development and testing of light aeroplanes, I see all sorts of exciting opportunities.
But, I'd like to point out here one aspect that's been barely commented upon. The proposal is to permit a suitably qualified person to sign off and manage experimental flying without active CAA oversight - they just have to maintain records to their own satisfaction and notify the CAA that they're doing something.
The default for this qualified person is that they should be a Chartered Engineer who is a member or fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.
In other words, if this gets through - and this looks highly likely - CEng will become a formal licence to practice. That's quite different to the historical position where CEng was really just a statement of education and experience, and to some extent a route into engagement with the rest of the profession - it's never actually been a licence to practice in the way that, say, a CAA licence is.
I'm certainly in favour of this, but I really wonder if the rest of the community has thought properly about the wider implications of this. All that stuff in the CEng interviews (and in recent years, actually in degree courses) about professionalism, the engineer in society, and professional ethics that historically was regarded as something of an anachronism is going to start really mattering.
I think it's great, but it's going to be a shock to the system as well.
G
There's various stuff here...
FLYER Airportal - General Aviation News
(Links to the CAA documents at the bottom of the page).
As somebody with a pretty broad background in development and testing of light aeroplanes, I see all sorts of exciting opportunities.
But, I'd like to point out here one aspect that's been barely commented upon. The proposal is to permit a suitably qualified person to sign off and manage experimental flying without active CAA oversight - they just have to maintain records to their own satisfaction and notify the CAA that they're doing something.
The default for this qualified person is that they should be a Chartered Engineer who is a member or fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.
In other words, if this gets through - and this looks highly likely - CEng will become a formal licence to practice. That's quite different to the historical position where CEng was really just a statement of education and experience, and to some extent a route into engagement with the rest of the profession - it's never actually been a licence to practice in the way that, say, a CAA licence is.
I'm certainly in favour of this, but I really wonder if the rest of the community has thought properly about the wider implications of this. All that stuff in the CEng interviews (and in recent years, actually in degree courses) about professionalism, the engineer in society, and professional ethics that historically was regarded as something of an anachronism is going to start really mattering.
I think it's great, but it's going to be a shock to the system as well.
G
