Pilot Licensing

[DNVman]

Dear All

I am undertaking some research into what systems of pilot licensing are in place and this seemed like a fine forum for tapping the knowledge of those with first hand experience.

In particular, I am trying to gain an understanding of the following.
• What national or supra-national licensing systems exist for Commanders, F/Os F/Es and anyone else that could be regarded as any sort of aeroplane driver. In this context I have come across the concepts of “Type Ratings”, “Self sponsored type ratings”, “JAR License” and the like. Who administers or certifies these things? How transferable are the licenses / ratings that an individual holds between operators? Is the holder of a B744 rating regarded as qualified to fly that aircraft for any operator, for instance?
• What licensing arrangements are required by the operators above and beyond this? I gather that operators often supply training to pilots leading to a type rating and that this leads into all sorts of issues surrounding “bonding”, but I don’t really want to get into the legal issues – I am more interested in the benefits that the licenses (for want of a better word) confer on the holder, on the operators and on the industry as a whole.
• How competence is assessed in relation to licenses. Do the supra-national organisations or the operators require some sort of periodic re-assessment?
• What documents exist to enshrine these ideas.

The motivation for all this is a project to compare the situation in the aviation industry with that in other transport industries. In particular, whether a unified licensing system (such as the aviation one(?)) can lead to benefits in terms of safety and efficiency.

Any links to the relevant authorities would be very helpful, but especially your first hand judgements as front line members of the community.

Regards, DNVMan

[FlyingForFun]

DNV,

The answers to your questions could easilly fill a book. In fact, there is a book which answers the first and third questions! I strongly recommend you invest £10 in a copy of "LASORS", which is available direct from the CAA. The first half of the book, "LAS", tells you everything you ever wanted to know (and lots that you didn't) about the UK and European system of licensing and validation.

FFF
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[redbar1]

DNVman,

tapping the knowledge of those with first hand experience
Took some of us more years than we care to think of to gain what little knowledge we now possess. To pass that on here will surely break the bandwith of this website :eek:

FFF, agree the LASORS is a good starting point. For the "full and unabridged answers", I would say DNV's 4 question groups easily fills a number of books. Sorry, not trying to put you down DNV, only to give you a perspective.

So to some meat:
For starters, your first point is mostly licence-related. Hence parts of ICAO Annex 1 and JAR-FCL 1(Aeroplanes), 2(Helicopters) 3(Medical) and 4(Flight Engineers) are reading. There's also some ICAO docs on Personnell Licensing systems out there.

Second point is mostly Operations, meaning ICAO Annex 6, JAR-OPS 1(Aeroplane) and 3(Helicopter)

Third point, 1st question is licensing.
Third point, 2nd question is a mix of Quality Systems, probably in your case mostly JAR-OPS-related, but also the system of JAA inspecting the NCAAs, see JAAs Advisory & Guidance Material, section 5, part 2, chapter 12 (Aka "The JIP")

Fourth point: A bloxxx lot! Two good websites (with lots of further links) are:

JAA (http://www.jaa.nl/) and
ICAO (http://www.icao.int/)

Good luck and God's speed, I really hope you get paid for this research!

cheers,
Redbar1

[DNVman]

Redbar1, FFF

Thanks, people - I appreciate it. That is pretty much the level of detail I need for a kick-off. I certainly don't have the time or the inclination to learn every detail or fill a book - just to get a feeling for the value that the system adds (if any!).

DNV