Trained in California in 1995, then worked there for a year instructing. When i returned to the UK to get my CAA (now JAA) licence, i was in for a very expensive and frustrating awakening.
I think both systems have pro's and con's to them, but the FAA's attitude is definitely more pilot friendly. They give the impression that one of their roles is to facilitate people in their pursuit of gaining and keeping licences. I found them helpful, friendly and easy to deal with.............
on the other hand the entire system in the UK appears to be largely overly-expensive and frustratingly complex: I've lost count of the number of threads on pprune that are asking for help to clarify licencing requirements within the UK, after the CAA have been unable to clearly answer the question. If the governing body being confused by their own system isn't an indication that it needs simplifying, then i don't know what is. One obvious example is in the rule book : in the states any aviation question concerning rules and regulaitons is contained within one book divided into 2 parts - the FARAIM. If only it were that straight forward in the UK. It's almost as if the function of the CAA is to protect a privilaged flying club in the UK, and if a candidate is willing to jump through many needless hoops at great expense they are then grudgingly allowed to enter this carefully guarded group.
I know that in the states i would quite happily, easily and just as safely as in the UK, fly for fun. In the UK i'm fortunate enough to be employed by a company that takes care of the dealings and expense of CAA contact by and large, as there is no way i would have continued flying for fun in the UK: too expensive and too frustrating!
Andy
