Circle - you may be right...an apology is due...so...
EGKA, I apologise to you for having diverted your thread about night ratings, and having abused it to vent my frustration at the incompetence of the CAA - the very people that we all employ (through the payment of our numerous fees) to administer the workings of the aviation industry within the United Kingdom...as agreed, many many years ago, when ICAO was formed and each country accepted a common set of standards, rules and procedures.
Circle - I'm assuming that's what you meant when you suggested an apology???
Surely you don't think that YOU deserve a personal apology, do you? That would suggest that YOU feel that YOU were under attack - and that was most definately not the case...indeed, if you refer to my first message (which you must have read whilst you were sitting back waiting [by your own admission] for somebody else to say "read the website"...instead of helping EGKA with his question) you will see that I was hoping that either you, or your close friend, Watford would come in and advise us of the correct answer.
I have to make it very clear that I place a lot of creedance in what you and Watford say.....although I'm no longer sure (having read your posts) whether JAR-FCL was issued in 1996 or 1997.
I suppose, really, that maybe I should apologise to the CAA too - for they are presumably making some attempt to inform the people that employ them - as to the requirements for this, that and the other. (You will have to insert your own three topics there!!).
It must be particularly frustrating for the Head of SRG to go to work every morning, knowing that he is a failure. He presumably knows that it is part of his job to get this information out to the various interested parties and that, despite his attempts, it just isn't working...as is borne out by this very thread.
It is clear that pilots, instructors and examiners have no idea of the requirements...so, even though it could be argued that it is their individual responsibility to know this information, they are not getting it.....which says, to me, that the CAA are failing in THEIR responsibilities.
Fair play, I have to agree that he (the Head of SRG) has tried - he has used the internet (though I know of not one U.K. flying school that can keep a telephone line and ISP going all day just to look up the information - surely they cannot be expected to use their normal telephone line and risk losing business whilst "surfing"...so they must have another phone line purely for SRG information ..oh, and weather [now that you cannot telephone for a briefing anymore]).
I remember the good old days (long before my time) when information on licences and ratings was to be found in well known, easy to read, books. CAP53 and CAP54. They worked well. I've even seen promises from the CAA that these will be reissued when everything settles down...though I don't know when that will be, as it seems things haven't changed since they were first rewritten in 1996...or was it 1997...and they are still not current.
But then again, neither are the application forms for the night rating....and the multi rating (sorry, "MEP rating") forms suddenly became invalid - though nobody said at the time....not until applications were being rejected for being on the wrong paperwork.
Even the PPL Skill test form seems to be out of date already - it was designed for use on MEP class ratings, too....but that died at the same time as the wrong application form.
I bit the bullet last night and went for a trawl through the web site. Hey, loads of information....no idea as to how much money it will have cost to surf it all...it's a very big site and took a good couple of hours to read all the relevant stuff and print it out - so that at least I can attempt to show people what the requirements are if they ask.
Problem is, you see, that people believe what they are told by their instructors and examiners....as Genghis has clearly stated....they will probably want to see it in writing before accepting the word of some other guy who happens to be passing by with a different opinion.
Biggest snag I can see now is that none of the information on there seems to be validated with a date....and parts of it change without notice or warning...other parts of it (apparently) haven't changed in some four or five years...although THE INTREPRETATION obviously has changed - as shown by the posting from DB6 where he says "not additional to as it was until recently".
I actually learned another little snippet, too - it would appear that you can no longer train for an IMC rating in the USA. I found a message saying that IMC training could continue until December 31st 2000 - and then would only be allowed at organisations who have obtained approval to train for the night qualification. As no organisation has yet been approved for PPL training in the USA, it must be that you can only train for the night qualification at a commercially priced school...which would be PanAm or IFTA.
I must take the opportunity to say that, on the whole, I agree with DB6 in that many people at the CAA are helpful...they usually respond quickly to my e-mails, and they usually give me good answers....though, that alone, reminds me of the time that I was driving a CAA staff examiner to a meeting. The examiner was discussing the changes to rules and regs and showed me copies of two letters...both from the CAA, both to the same person, both in response to the same question - and both giving different answers.
The closing line from that CAA staff examiner was "write to the CAA with a question, if you do not like the answer wait a few days and then write to somebody else - take the best answer and keep the letter, so that you have it in writing".
Again, RC, I hope you did not take my frustration personally - though I have to say that the tone of your message (without emoticons) did come over as somewhat smug and arrogant (which I'm sure was not your intent). It was purely at the failure of the Head of SRG to do his duty.
Indeed, I was somewhat surprised as to how defensive you were to the CAA.
You know yourself how frustrating it can be to not have current information - you criticise AOPA (even though they do try) for not knowing what is going on...but I do get the same feeling from the CAA.....and you, yourself, recently stated in a message that Section 8 of CAP682 was not yet published - even though I have a printed copy of it on my desk....seems very similar to the situation you found yourself in with AOPA about the JAR-FCL amendments (amendments????...has something changed since 1996...I'd better go and have another two hours re-reading the web site in case of any changes - there appears to be no other way to find out, as I found no dates or amendment notification pages...will have to read it all, every day).