How come no one has mentioned the exam system? I understand in the US the cost of exams for a commercial licence is $60. In Australia it is something like $600 – i.e. ten times the amount. In the USA all of the questions are published – around 1,200 questions, from which you could be asked about 80. This means that the FAA saves the cost of preparing a separate syllabus. Whenever they need to cover extra issues they publish them in the exam questions.
I’ve heard criticism of the US system, however the resultant level of safety is the same in Australia, and this is despite the terrible conditions and high mountain ranges in the US. It doesn’t look as if the ten times higher cost actually leads to higher safety outcomes. What do others think?