Autosync,
Come on out into the middle of the street.....stand your ground...I am calling you out.
You don't get a JAR license by sending off a stamped addressed envelope like you can in other countries you have to work hard for it, its a professional qualification, and not something that you can "bang out" in a summer off (Now I know this is going to wind up pilots from other countries, but screw it, that’s the way it is, and that’s what keeps us in a job)
Name these countries where you can mail in a boxtop and get an ATPL....just one will do.
You might be able to get a PPL based upon the JAR license in the USA but it will still reference the JAA license and require the same limitations and privileges.
I listened to this crap when I worked in the UK.....and usually waited for some pompous ass to carry on long enough about the FAA system and the caliber of FAA pilots....before I informed him that I had both....and unless he had the same....he was talking out his ass.
Is that the case here?
Justifying the JAA licensing system by using it as one very large, complex, damned expensive hurdle that has to be gotten over in order to earn a living flying a helicopter is utter tripe in my book.
It is not the price of fuel that is killing aviation in the UK....it is user fees, license fees, exam fees, medical fees, landing fees, airways fees, fees fees, and more fees. It is the insurance regulations that killed the B-17 from flying and nothing else.
How many airfields are car factories, raceways, and vacant rotting expanses of concrete and macadam these days? How many closed last year? How many will close this year? How many operators are going out of business? How many folks are moving to foreign registrations to avoid the unnecessary expense of the UK/JAA system?
What keeps you in a job is the demand for aviation services....when you price/regulate yourself out of the market....you will no longer be in demand and thus might find yourself wondering what happened when the doors at your place slam shut and you find yourself on the dole.