If a person flies an aeroplane he/she is effectively telling all who observe that they hold a licence to do so; if not they are acting illegally. If an interested party wishes to verify that the pilot is duly licensed, the person has a right under the Freedom of Information Act to apply for this information. The Police are no different and have to follow this process to determine licence information thus reporting an aviation offence to them is inappropriate. In some cases e.g. drunkenness they would refer the matter to the Transport Police.
If a person flying an aeroplane did not hold a licence, then the CAA holds no information on them so there is no Data to protect and saying so does not infringe anything.
Examiners and Instructors do not have any special arrangements or understandings.
The CAA will not divulge what ratings a person has, of the state of validity of a licence. If the person has a licence then confirming it is not divulging any more information that the act of flying an aeroplane which presumably is what triggered the initial request. i.e. It is confirmation of information already displayed publicly by the individual.
Organisations sell our names addresses and phone numbers every day with no authority to do so. Confirmation of holding a licence necessary for safety is in the public interest and should be more freely available.
Last edited by Whopity; 7th Jun 2010 at 07:39.