Nilnoted,
I could repeat your message many times over the years.
I have a UK A,C & X in the 11,000 numbers!
First licence was all essay - no Multi guess! plus interview ( 2 guys at ARB Chancery Lane!) lasting 3 HOURS.
Then came multi guess, then came approved courses (no need to touch airplanes).
Then approvals. ( we had a guy who had failed a CAA licence but had company approvals ! What does that tell you.And then LWTR
Now JAR. dont talk to me about sold down the river.
I remember when the CAA we trying to brain wash us into letting Private pilots do rectification instead of these beastly licenced engineers.
One of the CAA gurus said to me "we are not talking about the local butcher,baker or candlestick maker" just who does he think private pilots are.
When I first took the licence you had to take a type rating, the company only had 2 sets of manuals for the aircraft (DC3) we had to take a note book in to work and copy the MM into our own books.
I have A&P ( also taken when you had to do a practical including cable splicing and welding!) - and there are no type ratings on an FAA A&P. You can certify any task that you have had instruction or previuos experience on. But it is for life and does not have any annual fee!!
Dont think I will bother about the JAR or ICAO