I think the TSA stuff is
IMHO they have to do something to make it hard for terrorists to enter the airline pilot / cabin crew scene but the present system (as in the topic here) is probably not effective. And the cabin crew scene is by far the easiest entry point, with far fewer checks. Post-Germanwings, and with the cabin crew automatically entering the cockpit when one of the pilots take a leak, this is a blindingly obvious point.
I’ve always wondered about the TSA vetting – isn’t is pointless unless the whole word starts vetting student pilots?
A would-be criminal wanting to do something bad with a plane in the United States can just train elsewhere where there’s no vetting.
USFlyer wrote:
now that the medical is no longer the student pilot license it appears flying solo without the medical is now possible.
I’ve seen no documentation to that effect, but were that the case, I’d love to see it in writing. The FAA 3rd class medical requirement for private pilots is as yet unchanged, it has passed only the Senate and has some way to go before becoming law in whatever form it evolves into after passing the House, conference etc.
If it were to become the the case, a student pilot with a non-expiring student pilot certificate and no medical requirement for solo flight could get an instructor logbook endorsement every 90-days, fly solo legally, and never have any further contact with FAA, forever.
I think the FAA Private Pilot student will be required to get an initial medical before solo and also a student pilot certificate, now separately. If he stops flying for a period of time (say 40 years 
) then resumes flying, he will only need to deal with whatever medical requirement exists at that time, plus updated instructor logbook validations. The non-photo student pilot certificate will still be valid, just like an FAA private pilot certificate.
PS @Peter when you read an accident report that begins with “the 670 hr student pilot…. (etc)” you’ll understand that it may neither a misprint nor illegal!
Silvaire wrote:
fly solo without a medical certificate
As long as they have a student pilot certificate, yes. Today, a student pilot can fly up to solo without any certificate or medical. The solo endorsement requires a student certificate…now that the medical is no longer the student pilot certificate it appears flying solo without the medical is now possible.
Silvaire wrote:
requirement for a medical be shifted now from pre-solo to post private certificate
The medical was also a student license. They decoupled that…which means you can get the medical anytime during your training but before your license can be issued. The bigger problem for those delaying the exam is paying for all the training and then risking not passing the medical.
One day my instructor came to the airport and said “I’m tired of screwing around with payment every time we fly. From now on its forty bucks every time I have to drive down to this God forsaken crap hole. Take it or leave it” I took it and from then forward we messed around on Sundays as long as we both wanted to.
My instructor didn’t get paid much for dual time (it worked out to about $25/hr)
In Europe, at least at the PPL level, instructors usually don’t earn any more either…
Peter wrote:
Is this not the case in the USA i.e. does an FAA CFI not get paid anything for the student’s pre-cert solo time?
I originally wrote something here about $25/hr to my Private instructor and no payment to him for my self-supervised and planned student solo time, then stupidly erased it…
Regardless of my ineptitude at managing posts, It’s hard for me to believe an instructor would charge for doing nothing. Ground instruction time, OK, but payment for sitting on the ground while a student pilot flies? Bizarre. US students are flying on their own certificate, nothing to do with the instructor assuming he’s signed them off for solo.
If the 3 weeks part is correct, then this will surely do a lot of damage to the Florida 3 week schools. If you have to meet your instructor first (so they can verify your English level) and then you have to wait 3 weeks before doing any solo flights, it’s clearly not going to be possible to do the whole think in 3 weeks.
