Flying Clog
Really? That old thing again? No, the EU did not try to shaft the UK, that was the UK government all by itself. It is very simple: The EU is a rule based organization with its own fixed and written Treaty (constitution), something the UK is inherently unfamiliar with. According to that treaty once a country leaves, all treaties cease to apply for them at that date, except if anything else is negotiated. And the UK simply did not want to stay in EASA, although that option was of course there. Same as Erasmus+, the single market and so on. It was simply a purely political choice done by the UK, not the EU. In fact, the EU in many areas bends over backwards to accommodate those caught between the lines, like pilots for example with an extremely non-standard and very very easy way to get an EASA license which is not available to any other third country, and without any base in either the TCA nor any treaties, which might open those licenses up to legal review of their status.