JAA Licence Number

[beerdrinker]

Does anybody know if the CAA Ref Number / Licence number changes if one changes one's licence form a CAA one to a JAA (soon to be EASA) one?

[BillieBob]

No, it doesn't. I have the same number on all my licences, helicopter and aeroplane, CAA and (UK issued) JAA.

[OpenCirrus619]

Same here. Got my number with a CAA PPL - same one on JAR CPL.

Number is the CAAs reference for YOU - so it stays the same.

OC619

[beerdrinker]

BB & OC,

Many thanks

Bd

[Maoraigh1]

It may depend on how old your license is

When I notified the CAA of an address change in March 2006, they gave me a new license and number. The new number was the same as my Aviation Medical ref no. (The old number predated the present ref no. system - from 1964.) This meant my FAA license, issued on the old number, was invalidated. (I asked the FAA)

[Whopity]

The CAA licensing system is based on the numbers generated by what was the original CAA medical department computer data base which started in the 1970s.

All earlier licence numbers were changed over to use the new 6 figure number plus a letter preceded by the licence type. Some PPL holders retained the old 5 figure numbers and for some reason have never moved to the newer data base. This usually implies that the CAA has received no communication from that licence holder to indicate that the licence is still in use (There are over 70,000 such PPLs) I encountered one only this week held by a PPL holder seeking a FAA validation.

The JAA requirement (JAR-FCL 1.075)for the format of a Licence states:
(III) Serial number commencing
with the postal code of the issuing State
and followed by a code of numbers
and/or letters in Arabic numerals and in
Roman script.

The UK has never included the postal code as part of the licence number, (more software required) so it could all change under EASA!

[Maoraigh1]

My 1964 license lapsed , and was revalidated in 1987, with the old number. Why do EASA not require " Arabic script and Roman numbers?

[BillieBob]

EASA may be a bunch of blinkered bureaucrats, bent on reducing aviation standards to the lowest common denominator, but even they are not that stupid - are they?

[Whopity]

and was revalidated in 1987, with the old number.

They were still issuing 5 figure PPL numbers as late as 1989 but professional licences had changed over by then. I expect EASA will require Arabic Script and Roman numerals.