Medical Cash Cow

[SuperGuppy]

Recently applied for a PPL(A) and after sending off the required documentary evidence (and waiting 4 weeks) got a letter from a nice man at the CAA saying that they couldn't issue a license as I only held a (still valid) CAA class 3 medical.

Off I trot to the local AME to be told that he could issue me with a certificate with the same validity without carrying out any examination at all. There were only about 3 months to go on the license so I paid up and got prodded, tested, measured etc. Total cost about £85.

The point is, if a JAA class 2 can be issued WITHOUT further medical exam on the strength of a CAA class 3 why oh why can the CAA not issue a license on the strength of a CAA class 3....

Rant over....:)

[ATCbabe]

Welcome to the wonderful world of the CAA!!!:rolleyes:

[Tinker]

Be fair, they must have a hefty mortgage on the Belgrano and those lifts weren't cheap either.

[A_Pommie]

So if I read this right your medical only had 3 months validity left.
Are you complaining because the CAA wouldn't issue you a license or that you had to cough up 85 quid 3 months early.
If its the refusale to issue the license then it's no different from the post office refusing a tax disc if the MOT or insurance are about to expire. Why issue a license thats about to become invalid anyway.
If its the money then look at it this way £85 over 5 years is about £1.42 a month or 2/3rds of a pint.

Why do people always moan about medicals, I take it as a small price to pay for the joy of flying.

[Avoiding Action]

And which particular department in the Belgrano do you work in, A_Pommie???:D :D :D

[A_Pommie]

A A

Oops forgot to add the I am not employed by those charming peole at Gatwick disclaimer.

[Genghis the Engineer]

Personally, I don't mind shelling out periodically for a reasonably thorough medical, it's nice to know I'm still fit to be killed by the enemy, so to speak.

Seriously though, it is a cash cow for the AMEs. I was chatting a while ago to the doctor who did a lot of the pushing for HGV style medicals for the NPPL. Apparently he actually has received hate-mail from AMEs over the amount of revenue he's lost them. That to me, given that all that should really matter is safety, lost them a lot of sympathy from where I'm sitting.

Finally, is it really that expensive? Given that nobody is really safe flying less than 20 hrs pa, if that's at cheap syndicate rates of £50/hr, £80ish every other year is not a major part of most people's flying budget. And anyway, if like most private pilots you only fly day-VMC in non-complex types, you can now transfer to an NPPL anyway and cease worrying.

G

[Tinker]

A_Pommie.
If it’s the refusal to issue the license then it's no different from the post office refusing a tax disc if the MOT or insurance are about to expire. Why issue a license that’s about to become invalid anyway.
Not that I make a habit of this but not that long ago I got a tax disk with less than a week to run on my MOT so what's your point.
If I pay for something designed to last for set period I expect it to do exactly what is says on the label. Not an unreasonable expectation.
The licence in question is not valid without an appropriate medical, and at time of issue the medical was valid for 60/24/12 months depending.
The person in question had obviously earned the right to his fancy little book from the CAA so why shouldn't he get it with out question even if he can only exercise the privileges for a month or so?

[A_Pommie]

Tinker

Ok so may be I suffer from post office nazis locally and it was maybe a bad example.

People seem to be under some delusion that they have the right to a pilots license they don't, the CAA grant them the privilege of one.
Moaning about medicals gets my goat, since the age of 24 I've been on annual medicals at Gatwick including an ECG and since 30 I've had to have an exercise ECG as well. I consider myself lucky to be able to fly. In fact my first exercise ECG was at 29 as I would be 30 in four months time.
So people whining about being mildly put out by there medical get no sympathy from me.

[bingoboy]

Whoa there.. The CAA might set the rules for us to obtain licences as they are directed to by our elected representatives BUT as long as one fulfils all requirements then they must "grant" (misnomer) a licence.