This is incredible. No doubt you guys on your high horse right now are in jobs? How the heck did this thread go from being a genuine plea and call for action to becoming a dig at Brexiteer pilots? Brexiteers or not, there are colleagues out there with families to feed due to a complete **** up by the Boris Gang that couldn't, but should've secured equal rights for UK pilots.
Here's a response from my MP:
Dear ,
Thank you for getting in touch. This is an issue that _ is well aware of and we have been liaising with he Shadow Aviation Minister, Mike Kane’s team on this for some time.
As they understand it, CAA-EASA hadn't been allowed to negotiate an agreement until the Brexit deal was signed off, which was Christmas Eve, so the view is, that this should be ironed out “eventually.” That being said this is still a very frustrating situation for many aspiring pilots such as yourself. Can I ask if you are a member of BALPA? I understand that they have been very helpful in resolving similar issues across the country.
We have tabled two Written Parliamentary Questions, to the DfT, which you can read here:
Question: What assessment his Department has made of the impact of Brexit on a) the number of CAA qualified commercial pilots and b) the turnover of CAA qualified commercial pilots?
Answer: ”Between September
2018 and December
2020 some UK commercial pilots decided to transfer their licence to another EU Member State before the UK left the EU. Now that the UK is able to issue commercial pilot licences independently of the EU, we expect that many of these commercial pilots will now apply to hold a UK licence in addition to their transferred EU licence.”
Question: How many UK commercial pilots have had to requalify for a CAA license since the ATPL ceased to be recognised?
Answer: ”No pilots have had to requalify. To secure privileges after the UK has left the EU, some UK commercial pilots transferred their licence to an EU Member State.The EU Withdrawal Act ensures that transferred licences are recognised in the UK until the end of
2022. A new process now allows those who transferred the license to another Member State to obtain a UK license without having to requalify. Around 440 pilots have applied so far.”
Sam’s colleague Mike Kane, also tabled a WPQ which you can read here:
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2021-03-25/175873
Please be assured that we will continue to follow this closely.
Yours sincerely,
__
Parliamentary Assistant
Office of __