Originally Posted by Heliport
If someone has qualified for an ICAO licence, what do you say is wrong with the FAA recognising that qualification and issuing an FAA licence on the strength of it?
Do you think licensing requirements should be used to protect jobs? (Or should that be the role of some other government department?)
Every profession has its own standards, and if you want to work in that profession in a different jurisdiction you are going to have to sit all of the exams that the next guy did, just so every one is on an equal footing.
It’s not a cartel, it’s a professional standard.
It may not necessarily make you better at flying the machine then a guy with thousands of hours long lining or gold seal instructor etc etc.
But why should standards be changed to accommodate those people those who wish to work in a different jurisdiction? Or the large companies hoping to get cheaper labour?
It keeps the playing field level.
And besides to the best of my knowledge there is no other government department that can legally prevent someone with all of the right paperwork from working in a country.
So licensing is the only way of the industry legally policing itself.