here here eirik!!! finally someone said it how it truely is. i too am european and get really ticked off by all the english posts that are anti american and anti faa. they talk such drival and probably have never done anything other than a ppl or "heard from a bloke who did such and such" in the usa. it comes down to anti americanism more than anti faa but thats typical of the english these days, full of bleeding hearts and politically correct nonsense, untill something awful happens on their own door step. of course im not suggesting all brits are like that (that would be rather stupid), lots of good lads over there and pilots too!!!
but enough of the america bashing its quite tiresome and just because we think our collective **** dont stink because we have 14 jar exams id remind you all that you never have to do an atp checkride in some of the busiest airspace in the world and an oral exam that can last for days on end to get you atp ticket. there is no way you can comapre oxford or bristol to daytona beach itnl or LAX. only people who have gone through BOTH systems should critise! oh and if you think its tough learning to fly in the uk or the usa...try nav in canada in the bush....then you learn how to fly a god damn plane! faa is more practical and step by step orientated to get hours and experiance, jaa is way over the top to get you in a cockpit with 250hrs. both have their good points and bad points but at the end of the day it comes down to the guy or girl flying the damn plane that makes the difference. perhaps in the future you should look at the PILOT and not the system.
you can complain about the us making it almost impossible to get work there to protect there own pilots but how come our licensing dept will swap any eastern european or non-english eurozone country over the counter but if we go there we are told sorry you need to speak fluent german for example. just try showing up at air france or luftansa for instance and see what reaction you get. jaa or no jaa license. food for thought!