Originally Posted by
KeyPilot
There was a time when UK standards were the reference for much of the world. They still are to a degree - long-withdrawn BCARs/CAPs/... are still used by some countries!
Years ago I needed to convert my FAA ATP to a CAA-style ATPL to operate some widebody aircraft registered in another country. Turns out the simplest way to do that was to convert the FAA ATP to the license of a third country which in turn was recognized by the CAA-style country.
The first conversion was a rubber stamp open book test with air law questions about unlit balloons after civil twilight below 18,000 feet and expired parachute inspection protocols. The second conversion written test had a bunch of wacko technical stuff about the mixer stage of the superheterodyne receiver and the purpose of the supercharger on a Merlin engine. I had to do some sim session with an emphasis on useful things like non-standard NDB holding. The examiner listed my many failure points on the sim ride but then magnanimously signed off my new CAA-style license. The license looked like a passport with a picture, a little string hanging out, numerous stamps, signatures and expiration dates.
As I've often observed here, some cultures seem to thrive on endless complexity but we Americans usually try to keep it simple when it comes to aviation.
Originally Posted by
Big Pistons Forever
If the UK CAA were smart they would just adopt the entire FAA flight crew licensing system. US pilots have a lower overall incident accident rate as compared to EASA licensed pilots so the safety case is all ready made.
Yep, the wheel has already been invented. Several times I suppose.
