Perhaps it's my age, but all this argy bargy about licencing is confusing me. Methinks it all comes down to cost, very few people wish to pay the European prices and I can understand that. However, standards have been set and no amount of whinging is going to change them. You want, or perhaps need the JAA licence then you have to buckle down like tens of thousands of other people and suffer the costs, but I'm afraid the theory will not go away.
If an easier and cheaper life is more appealing then go elsewhere.
I know as do many of you out there that the knowledge aquired by the JAA pilot is superior to many, but in 5 years, maybe less, this knowledge will be frittered away and only the "need to know" will be retained. On the other hand, the lesser pilot (licence that is) will over the same period aquire the same "need to know" and have less to forget, and both will be equal aviators.
I have found my UK ATPL/H and latterly JAA licences have been very useful, while friends with "lesser" licences have suffered. Every country I have worked in around the world has on receiving my UK licence issued me with a nice shiny full national licence, where as my friends had to do with short term validations. Once or twice I had to do the Air Law exam, and once in Europe an Instrument rating.
It all boils down to pain at the beginning and then the satisfaction of knowing your licence will be accepted almost everywhere. The unnecessary garbage in your brain does not do you any harm and it might come in useful if you decide to go fixed wing!
My own knowledge base from my early days is long gone only to be replaced by that which is useful today.
It's your choice, but make the right one as you'll have to live with it for the rest of your life, unless you win the lottery
Last edited by check; 29th March 2006 at 17:06.