Originally Posted by
horizon flyer
It is not a requirement to be in the EU to be part of EASA not all members are, so it will make no difference.
The difference is that as an EU Signatory Member, rather than an EU Member State, the UK automatically loses its voting rights.
At face value, the forfeit of voting rights may not seem to be that much of an issue. After all, we're all after the best, the most practical and the safest aviation standards, aren't we?
If only that were the case...
General Aviation is one the most disparate industries on the planet. Why do we have so many 'alphabetti-spaghetti' GA associations? Because we have so many conflicting interests. And that's only at national level.
Extrapolate this out to conflicting interests between nations and the web becomes well and truly tangled.
The UK has a maritime climate, hence the high value of the IMC rating for British pilots. Southern European GA pilots meantime like to fly when the weather suits, which it does 360 out of 365 days of the year, so it was a low priority on their wish-list.
Airspace classification is another web-entangled battleground, but that's a topic for another thread.
As I mentioned before, the UK is unlikely to be left out in the cold when it comes to consultation on future EASA diktats, as we hold a level of expertise that few other EASA members can equal. But without voting rights the challenge becomes that much harder and that much more 'diplomatic'.
Thank goodness that we have the likes of Europe Air Sports on our side, as the UK CAA are going to have to get used to the begging bowl approach from now on.