FAA radio license for int'l ops

[Carrier]

Do not send any money to the FCC!

Below is a copy of my letter of 29 December 2007 to the FCC Chairman. There has not been any response and I have received neither the licence nor a refund. The Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan Washington DC and Eastern Pennsylvania refused to help as it will not handle complaints against a government agency. Martin is a conman running a scam.


Mr. Kevin J. Martin, Chairman
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street, SW
Room: 8-B201
Washington, DC 20554
U.S.A.

29 December 2007

Dear Mr. Martin,

Re: Complaint regarding FCC

I refer to my letter of 30 October 2007, copy enclosed, which you did not respond to. Neither was there any email confirmation of its receipt as requested.

I have still not received the licence that I requested and paid for. It seems obvious that the FCC has no intention of issuing me with a licence and that your staff will find one excuse or another to continue this. I therefore request a full refund of the fee of $60.00.

Your employees (one of whom yet again left a message asking me to call her on a toll free number that does not work here!) suggested that I should reapply and pay again and that after (if?) the licence is issued I should ask for a refund “that might be considered” of the original application fee. There is an old Chinese saying: “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” As my wife pointed out to a supervisor in September, this could go on indefinitely. There is no way I will pay again. I have already paid for the licence! I would prefer to receive the licence but as it is obvious that this will not happen then I expect a full refund of my licence fee.

This form of serial obstruction is exactly the sort of corruption we faced on many occasions while living in Africa. It is normal there for officials to make any process as complicated as possible. They are then able to readily find excuses to deny service and to demand that the applicant apply again and PAY again. This goes on indefinitely until they have extracted sufficient money from the victim. Of course, not all of the reapplications and extra fees show up in the official records! My wife and I are appalled that the US government seems to have sunk to this level of behaviour and integrity.

All we are talking about is issuing a restricted radio operator’s licence to a pilot so that he may legally operate the radios in US registered aircraft. This should be a simple and speedy matter. Instead, it has been ongoing since last April, when I first applied for an FCC CORES number. It is a disgraceful indictment of your operation that I still do not have the licence nearly nine months later. I have aircraft radio operators’ licences from Canada and two other countries, along with their pilot’s licences. In all three cases the application form was simple and brief and the matter was concluded within one business day. Contrast that with the FCC’s 28 page Form 605, schedules and instructions and nine months with no progress! Perhaps the FCC should contact other countries to find out how to issue aircraft radio operators’ licences in a prompt and competent manner.

Kindly look into this matter and ensure that the refund is issued without any further obstruction or delay. Please confirm by email that you have received this letter and that the refund is in the mail.

Yours truly,