Hi flystrathclyde,
As you know, young lad came from us at Strathaven.
I completely agree with everything you say. Our first question to anyone who phones up - please don't all try it at once to check! - and says they want to get a PPL is: do you want to work towards becoming a commercial pilot, or is it for leisure and recreation?
If CP, then we explain they would need an EASA PPL, a Class One medical and have a look at the Honourable Company of Air Pilots assessment courses. So, thanks but no thanks.
If Sport & Leisure, then we move on to explain what we do and invite folk down just to even look at the hangars and see what we fly.
This approach usually leads on to discussion on why the mad differences in licences etc, and what actually is a PPL. (It says Private Pilots Licence on the front of my microlight licence)
The confusion, of course, comes with a 15-year-old like the person mentioned by FS. And their parents, and their grandparents. They want to do their best for their kid, and are slightly horrified at the potential costs! We, since we operate aircraft registered in the microlight category (although structurally and visually identical to their light aircraft versions) from a grass airfield, have lower costs and so lower hourly rates than many.
So we have a customer who has dreams. They don't have the certainty of opinion one, or option two! So we explain that the aerodynamics of the C42 are the same whether it is a light aircraft or a microlight, but also add that some airlines really don't like their candidates to have very much flying experience (I seem to recall an Easyjet advert in Flight Training news saying they wanted less than 85 hours?) so that they know newbie pilots haven't picked up too many bad habits! There are still prejudices about "microlights" too.
But it is handy to have some flying experience.
And, we used to point out, there is a route to NPPL (Micro), a conversion to an EASA LAPL via the NPPL (SSEA) for c £1300 fixed price with Derek J, and then a conversion to EASA SEP.
So if people start training with us and then decide later to become a CPL, all is not lost. (I said "used to" since getting a NPPL M before Easter is not that realistic in Scotland now!)
But if in this category, they have to do a lot of research and soul-searching and make their own minds up! And if they can't, then maybe they are not CPL material!
Anyway, that is what we do, and I think it is as fair as we can be. For leisure flying in Scotland, a VFR-only licence is all that is really needed, in my opinion, and for affordable flying of 30-odd hours a year, a microlight or LAA aircraft is the most affordable way.
Now on to the big picture:
The system is a total mess.
In my opinion, our negotiators have lost sight of the big picture. They are weak-willed because they are frightened of the people they represent, so we now have all sorts of historic mish-mashes on licences and medicals. They are often in-fighting, because we seem to have so many corners, i.e. microlights, home-guilts, Annexe 1 etc
In the perfect world, let's start again.
Three medicals: Class One for, CPL, Class Two for instructors (I think they should have a slightly higher medical requirement than their students) and self-declaration for leisure pilots.
Two licences. EASA SEP for the ICAO compliant foundation for a CPL, and a LAPL/NPPL equivalent for leisure flyers.
Differences training (i.e. tailwheels weight shift microlight etc) as sign-offs.
Separate instructor ratings, all allowing money-earning, for the two licences.
Cross-crediting for those wanting to move up the ladder from LAPL/NPPL to EASA.
Wouldn't that be easy!
Now, as a final thought. In my scenario I haven't even mentioned PPL !
So what do we do when someone calls and says: I want a PPL?
Because, they think a PPL is the flying equivalent of a car driving licence!
Imagine if when you went to driving school you had to answer 100 questions about how and what and where you wanted to drive, now and in the next 10 years!