$2 licence fee?

[mjbow2]

From Aviation International News
13 Mar 2007

Comments Due on Plastic Certificate Proposal
Today is the deadline for comments on the FAA’s proposed rulemaking (http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20071800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2007/06-9989.htm) to require that two years after a final rule becomes effective, paper pilot certificates could no longer be used. Instead, airmen would have to hold “upgraded, counterfeit-resistant plastic certificates,” like the ones the FAA has been issuing since 2003. There would be a $2 fee to upgrade. The FAA said these requirements are intended to assist law-enforcement agencies in their effort to combat drug smuggling in general aviation aircraft, but the agency didn’t explain how. All but a handful of the 40 people who have commented to date are critical of the proposal, claiming that it is not cost effective and questioning how plastic certificates would be a deterrent against counterfeiting. The remaining commenters said they would support the proposal if it included a requirement for a photo.


Note the fee of $2 for the upgrade of you lic.

Perhaps CASA could learn something here! Credit card size certificates at a reasonable cost.

MJB

[bushy]

CASA (or CAA or DCA or DOT or however they were that week) did do that once with a $10 fee. But that was too good to last.

[Hugh Jarse]

I kept my plastic SCPL and ATPL for posterity. They were issued around 1991.

So we are going full circle :hmm:

[TROJAN764]

I still have my plastic licence too. My recollection is that they were never withdrawn, just ceased to be issued. Mine indicates that it is perpetually valid so I reckon that you could still legally produce one when officially asked for your licence. I wouldn't though as I still carry my 1964 issued paper licences in their genuine DCA green cardboard folder.

$2 sounds about right, but remember that this is US dollars and probably doesnt include all of the special admin expenses which would need to be incurred by CASA. You then need convert that to Aus Dollars and it would come to around $150 I'd reckon (give or take $100 or two!).

And Hugh, just before you put your naughty boy hat on and make rude aspersions about my age, my licence isn't the one with a daggeurotype picture in the front.

[Hugh Jarse]

Troj, Troj, Troj. You know I always respect my superiors. ;) 1964 was a very good year. I started kindy that year, but still have the emotional scars.....

Mine's a Department of Transport green folder with the 3 arrows in the logo (i.e. no known direction at the moment, awaiting DS):} I accidentally went for a swim at Main Beach with it still in my pocket just after first solo :E The salt is still leaching out of the cardboard cover, which always impresses the checkies :}

I came across a few of the old Daguerreotypes you were talking about when I was cleaning out the old RAC hangar a few years ago. They all had pretty serious looks on their faces, but were wearing their caps :=.....

Hope you were wearing your CAP when your piccie was taken :8

[TROJAN764]

Ah Hugh! I always knew you were a man of taste - even if it is brine. I remember that logo well, it was actually reproduced from the blueprint they used for formulating the regulator's future, and multiple, reorganisation.

Caps? No they were the days before a cap had ever adorned my head. In fact, not even the Defence Force has such a well developed 'hat fettish' as we experience in our present incarnations. Wearing a hat on the tarmac of a RAAF base could actually get you charged, or even Court Marshalled - some petty concern about a $100 hat being blown off and sucked into a multy million $$$ engine. But we know that we have our priorities in perspective, unconfirmed rumour has it that the 'uniform police' will be checking to ensure we wear our hats to bed on company rostered overnights.

OOOH my back is so sore! I know I have been stabbed again. Look, I can even feel the cut, complete with steri-strips and brown antiseptic stuff.

[bushy]

Are those old "perpetual" licences still valid. They were issued by an organisation that does not exist anymore. That may be one way of avoiding any liabilities for past performance. Otherwise why would they spend so much of the taxpayers money changing their name all the time?

[gupta]

My plastic perpetual was issued by CASA so I, perhaps naively, believe it to be still valid. My green cardboard multidirectional relic is cosseted under cover awaiting the circle to be completed and to be back in vogue

[Dick Smith]

Hugh Jarse, yes, you are right. It was issued in about 1991 when I was Chairman, and it closely followed the FAA perpetual licence system.

It was just part of my cost saving pressure. I now note we have gone back to the multi-page licence booklet which must cost a fortune to keep updated – with all the paperwork, posting it out etc.

Remember, my main vision has always been to remove unnecessary costs so we can have a viable aviation industry.

[Flyingblind]

I have a paper licence which serves just fine, if they really want to get serious why not put it as another endorsement on your drivers licence?

Might not be as silly as it sounds, oh wait! which Government Derpartment then gets all that lovely admin revenue? :ugh:

[Pinky the pilot]

Still have my old D of T issued folder like Hugh but never did get the plastic one for some reason!:confused:

And like Hugh, I took a licence folder (my PNG one) for a swim one time! It dried out well, with all pages still very readable!

The latest folder type licence appears to be of the same type material but I still wonder why it was'nt made the same size as the original version so it could fit in a shirt pocket!!!:ugh: Very dumb decision there.

[Hugh Jarse]

Who remembers the green PLASTIC folder? I remember training a bloke who had survived a prang near Canberra a few years ago. He was carrying his plastic-cover licence in his top pocket, and now has a nice licence-shaped scar on his chest where the deceleration forces/seatbelt forced the licence to open up a nice flap of skin :eek:

My 'new' paper licence resides in a bunch of A5 plastic protectors because I'm not going to waste my money on something that: 1. Will probably be replaced by yet another design by someone who builds a better mouse trap, and: 2. Lifts the lettering off your paper licence, making it totally illegible and the sleeves useless when the time comes to insert new pages:hmm:.

Bring back the credit-card licence, maybe add a photo from CASA's database and bingo!:ok: We almost have a working ASIC then :E

[TROJAN764]

I agree with HG (gee this is becoming a worring habit), but I don't even bother separating the licence sheets into their perforated components. I just slip them into a singe A4 document sleeve, along with my similarly intact medical sheet, and stuff the lot into the pocket of my nav bag. I keep a plastic credit card licence in the car just in case some smart *&#@ Highway Patrol officer asks to see my 'pilot licence'.