I think Englishal has just about summed it up for me, its a good system gone bad!
If you think about it the US could be thought of as a 'Europe' with all their little states - yet they all fly under one licence. We have all our little 'states' yet we can even sort our own house out - yet we still reserve the right to pass judgement on other countries licences.
From what I understand ( and someone correct me if I wrong - which I am sure they will on this board
), there used to be a reciprical agreement between the US & UK as regards licences until they got fed up with everyone going to the US for training - now the only licence you can convert is to get a PPL valid in both countries. We are now stuck with all this in fighting and messing about!
If you think about it another way - why are you not allowed to fly over here under full FAA privledges unless you are flying an N reg - does changing the letter on your tail improve your flying skills? I think not! And likewise obviously!!
And finally, the NPPL is a joke, again as englishal said - how long before the first NPPL pilot has a heart attack and plummets into a street of houses because he never undertook a medical - that will give GA all the publicity it needs right now!!
What next NAPTL?
Julian.
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Live fast..die young...leave a good looking corpse!