The UK is a country where the Aviation Authority seems to have lost control.
Increasingly, Pilots based in the country fly on licenses from various other parts of the world meaning that the CAA is unable to directly enforce any licensing action or ensure safety standards.
These and other local pilots are flying aircraft registered in far flung parts of the world meaning that the CAA has no control over the airworthiness and equipment of those aircraft.
Pilots who can't meet the appropriate Medical standards accepted across Europe as being safe simply find another country that has lower standards and defeats the CAAs attempts to maintain it's own standards of safety.
The reason why everyone in the UK constantly complains about JARs is that the UK has made a hash of the implementation and the large Euro sceptic part of the UK views anything not wholely British in origin to be alien. Far better for the CAA to have simply published JAR-FCL unedited as a schedule to the ANO and simply said "there are the rules".
The NPPL was introduced because the aviation authority that actively encourages pilots to use facilities in other parts of the world while aviation at home suffers, had to be seen to be doing something. In doing so, it backtracked over decades of it's own medical standards and produced the NPPL - a licence that has been shown to be not for the recreational pilot but more for the pilot cut-off by medical misfortune.
There is simply not enough demand for the NPPL from abinitio pilots (other than the microlight fraternity) to justify an industry based on such poor possible return.
I have no problems with PPLs with suitable experience teaching at any level of the spectrum. There are a few PPL IR's that I know who can teach the IR better than some wet behind the ears CPL/IRs simply because thay have lots of appropriate practical experience.
What I do have a problem with is the idea that having PPL instructors will be cheaper and thus make the NPPL cheaper and thus attract some students. It simply will not work.
I would not like to be the person who must ask the CAA to lower it's standards for cost reasons because that would simply be a satatement that it is only money that counts.
From the previous posts, the debate seems to be moving from a point where the idea was that the CPL knowledge was a waste of time to a position of agreeing that some if not all the knowledge is required and that the instructor course should be extended.
Surely extending the course means extra expense for the PPL instructor who with little posibility of having any future students would see little future chance of recovering their investment and thus would be unwilling to waste the mony available for what limited flying the NPPL permits on a course with little if any reward.
The whole "Traial Lesson" operation in the UK is currently simply Public Transport (joy rides) under a poor disguise. The numbers of trial lessons compared to PPL starts prove that either this is the case - or instructing standards are so poor that lots of potential students are frightened away.
Perhaps the CAA are ignoring much of the activity because at least the operations are in Public Transport certified aircraft and piloted by Commercial pilots. Would they do the same for a fleet of C150s and PPLs giving joy rides as birthday presents every Saturday and Sunday?
What is also being ignored is the changes in society generally. Could it be that most students are 40+ years because when it comes to recreational flying only, most people will be 40 or more before thay can assign a large chunk of the family income on such pleasures (house prices, levels of debt etc).
Piloting a little aircraft in circles outside town for £100 plus per hour is not as awe inspiring today as it was 20 years ago. Most teenagers have flown B747s in virtual reality round the world at little expense.
The emergence of many a Low cost bus of the air now means that holding one's chest out at the golf club bar and stating that one is a pilot simply puts onself in the well paid bus driver category - not near as much cudos as placing one's porche keys in view!
The answer - stop drumming down and start promoting what we have got - provide a link between that teenager doing circuits at Meigs and doing something interesting at the local airfield.
Is France or Germany about to have it's own NPPL. If not then why not (unless it is a bad idea)!.
Rant over.
Regards,
DFC