Hi All,
does anyone know if there is a technical crew/rear crew licence or qualification that can be worked towards? Pilots and examiners have theirs, so it would be nice to have a standard to qualify at. I see the occasional advertisement for tech crew staying ‘Qualified Aircrew Officer’, but have no idea what the qualification is. Thanks.
Technical Crew Members (HEMS/NVIS/HHO and presumably SAR) don’t gain any licence or certificate issued by the CAA. This is one of those areas for which the training & checking is provided and certified directly by industry operators. AOCs who provide these services are generally authorised under their Operations Manual Part D (Training) to provide the necessary training courses to people who meet the eligibility criteria, and will issue their own ‘certificate’ upon completion.
There are a common set of requirements for an ‘Initial TCM course’ (not role specific), as well as role specific requirements (see SPA.HEMS, SPA.NVIS and SPA.HHO). The UK Air Ops regulation doesn’t cover SAR as in the UK it’s a state activity under a national approval but the requirements of CAP999 are very closely aligned.
Whilst it can be permitted to accept approved training delivered by previous operators, not all operators will necessarily want to do so, particularly if the training was not subsequently consolidated with a significant period of live operations therefore any ‘self funded’ course of training may be of limited value.
If you are struggling with SAR selection you could consider alternative TCM roles. A limited number occasionally come up within UK HEMS, but it may be less ‘sexy’ than SAR as there is no dangling people on a rope. Alternatively you could try as an HHO TCM for the wind farms?