Gilles Hudicourt
8th Oct 2014, 15:50
The legality of foreign licence validation certificates (FLVC) to conduct commercial flights in Canada on aircraft operated under Part VII of the Canadian Aviation Regulations (CARs)
October 1, 2014
Introduction
We are a group of aviation professionals and we wish to submit that it is our opinion, that the federal government misinterprets the Canadian Aviation Regulations (CARs) by allowing foreign pilots who do not hold Canadian licences to be employed as flight crew members of Canadian aircraft for commercial purposes by way of Foreign Licence Validation Certificates (FLVC).
Transport Canada is currently of the opinion that in accordance with the CARs, a FLVC is the equivalent of a Canadian licence. We believe, rather, that a FLVC is a document or a certificate, as defined under section 401.07 of the CARs, which recognizes the validity of the foreign licence of its holder, but it is not a Canadian licence as defined by the legislation. On this subject, the following was published in the Canada Gazette with regards to section 401.07 Foreign Licence Validation certificate:
While the issuance of the foreign licence validation certificate accepts the standards of training and operations within the original licensing country, these restrictions upon the duration and purposes of such a certificate minimize the potential exposure of Canadian operators and the Canadian licensing system to possibly less stringent standards.
This prohibition supports the limited duration and use to which such a certificate can be put. This measure ensures the protection of the Canadian aviation system from the effect of possibly less rigorous standards applied in pilot licensing elsewhere, which would dilute the worth of a Canadian document if foreign licenses were validated in Canada without limit or restriction.
In light of this text, we submit that it was never in the mind of the regulator to allow hundreds of pilots with foreign licenses to fly, year after year, Canadian aircraft with FLVCs. We also share the concerns expressed in the above text that the validation, on a routine basis, of foreign licenses without regards to the delivery and operating standards of issuing countries might constitute a security threat to the Canadian travelling public.
Transport Canada relies on the ground (j) of section 421.07(2) of the CARS to issue FLVCs for commercial purposes. The English wording of section 421.07(2) (j) stipulates that this provision can only be invoked when in the public interest. The French version of (j) includes an additional restriction specifying that a FLVC can only be issued in “exceptional circumstances”. Transport Canada relies on this provision to issue every year hundreds of FLVCs to foreign pilots, and allows them to conduct commercial flights in Canada. Statistics clearly show that the ‘’exceptional’’ nature of provision (J) is not respected since the majority of the FLVCs are issued under this particular ground.
We detail, in this document, that in accordance with the Canadian Aviation Regulations, Transport Canada should not issue, every year, hundreds of FLVCs to foreign pilots in order to conduct commercial flights in Canada in lieu of Canadian pilots.
The committee on foreign pilots.
Gilles Hudicourt, Richard Gagnon, Martin Gauthier, Michel Perreault
The full document can be read here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/gl0nvwzqvbxdas5/FLVCs%20under%20Part%20VII%20of%20the%20CARs.pdf?dl=0
October 1, 2014
Introduction
We are a group of aviation professionals and we wish to submit that it is our opinion, that the federal government misinterprets the Canadian Aviation Regulations (CARs) by allowing foreign pilots who do not hold Canadian licences to be employed as flight crew members of Canadian aircraft for commercial purposes by way of Foreign Licence Validation Certificates (FLVC).
Transport Canada is currently of the opinion that in accordance with the CARs, a FLVC is the equivalent of a Canadian licence. We believe, rather, that a FLVC is a document or a certificate, as defined under section 401.07 of the CARs, which recognizes the validity of the foreign licence of its holder, but it is not a Canadian licence as defined by the legislation. On this subject, the following was published in the Canada Gazette with regards to section 401.07 Foreign Licence Validation certificate:
While the issuance of the foreign licence validation certificate accepts the standards of training and operations within the original licensing country, these restrictions upon the duration and purposes of such a certificate minimize the potential exposure of Canadian operators and the Canadian licensing system to possibly less stringent standards.
This prohibition supports the limited duration and use to which such a certificate can be put. This measure ensures the protection of the Canadian aviation system from the effect of possibly less rigorous standards applied in pilot licensing elsewhere, which would dilute the worth of a Canadian document if foreign licenses were validated in Canada without limit or restriction.
In light of this text, we submit that it was never in the mind of the regulator to allow hundreds of pilots with foreign licenses to fly, year after year, Canadian aircraft with FLVCs. We also share the concerns expressed in the above text that the validation, on a routine basis, of foreign licenses without regards to the delivery and operating standards of issuing countries might constitute a security threat to the Canadian travelling public.
Transport Canada relies on the ground (j) of section 421.07(2) of the CARS to issue FLVCs for commercial purposes. The English wording of section 421.07(2) (j) stipulates that this provision can only be invoked when in the public interest. The French version of (j) includes an additional restriction specifying that a FLVC can only be issued in “exceptional circumstances”. Transport Canada relies on this provision to issue every year hundreds of FLVCs to foreign pilots, and allows them to conduct commercial flights in Canada. Statistics clearly show that the ‘’exceptional’’ nature of provision (J) is not respected since the majority of the FLVCs are issued under this particular ground.
We detail, in this document, that in accordance with the Canadian Aviation Regulations, Transport Canada should not issue, every year, hundreds of FLVCs to foreign pilots in order to conduct commercial flights in Canada in lieu of Canadian pilots.
The committee on foreign pilots.
Gilles Hudicourt, Richard Gagnon, Martin Gauthier, Michel Perreault
The full document can be read here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/gl0nvwzqvbxdas5/FLVCs%20under%20Part%20VII%20of%20the%20CARs.pdf?dl=0