Originally Posted by
richpea
Well yes, that's kind of the problem. The regulator is setting unnecessarily onerous requirements for the transfer of an EASA license acquired after a specific date to a UK one, especially considering the content of the syllabus and the way they are examined is identical. And that proves detrimental to UK airlines who are trying to hire pilots. I hold only an EASA license, yet I work and am based out of the UK. I am restricted therefore to working for only a select few employers in the UK, despite the fact that I'm doing exactly the same job in exactly the same place as a CAA license holder. I have colleagues who have moved to countries outside FAA/CAA/EASA land (whose aircraft operate into those jurisdictions all the time) and all they needed was to sit an airlaw exam, and presto, their licenses were converted. Why would I bother to stay in the UK, resitting 13 exams I passed years ago in order to work for a G-reg airline when I can (and will) do the same? I would suggest that's a problem for UK airlines and a reason why they might want to pressure the CAA. This isn't an issue about protecting British pilots job prospects, or the British training environment. I have seen plenty of ads stating visas can be provided, and read plenty of posts on these forums of pilots having work visas sponsored in the UK because through one route or another they have been able to get a CAA ATPL. The issue is not regulatory in the sense of standards and practices, it is just a political optics exercise (and quite possibly a money making excercise and jobs for the boys at the CAA, plus an entrapment of aspiring pilots not lucky enough to score one of the incredibly rare fully funded cadetships into the ridiculously expensive training ecosystem of the UK).
Spot on. The seemingly protectionist attitudes of some regulators does little to foster aviation safety and efficiency.
The only thing they seem to foster is their own empires