Menu Sign In Contact FAQ
Banner
Welcome to our forums

What will FAA IRs / N-reg pilots do in the UK after 21 December 2021?

Peter wrote:

all N-reg people grounded, or force them to get UK papers

Well hopefully I am all right Jack. I have the full flush, can’t wait for a Ramp check in Oban….I thought however Shaps would be championing our protection, or has he been nobbled?

Fly safe. I want this thing to land l...
EGPF Glasgow

Shapps has to be careful. He owns (or at least flies) an N-reg Saratoga. If you email him (as I have done) he just passes it to a pompous DfT official who sends you a totally useless reply. I posted all this in the long-running EASA/N-reg thread. He cannot be seen to be doing anything other. If he does anything, it will be done via a different route – example. And he got a load of flak from CAA/NATS people all over FB and UK forums, posting anonymously.

I have UK papers too, but that’s not the point.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Peter wrote:

I have UK papers too, but that’s not the point.

Absolutely agree but during all of those discussions there was an element and possible expectation that Mr Shaps would be our saviour, a beacon of sense in the midst of insanity and pompous hypocrisy. I also agree he has to be careful. however, he is at the pinnacle. The rest of his government appear to wallow in deep water so it would not be a stretch for him to stick his neck out a bit. Anyway with dual and multiple papers we should be alright, unless they were to throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater.

Fly safe. I want this thing to land l...
EGPF Glasgow

FWIW, I see no hint that anything else will happen. Too many reasons.

Get the PPL+medical. Those two forms, I would not be at all surprised if Qalupalik is right and the CAA text is bollox – it has happened so many times already, since few people in the CAA are on the ball.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

TODAY’S THE DAY . . .
If the CAA remains ‘silent’ today, and does NOT ‘derogate’, as they have regularly done each year in the past, then the original theme of this forum page is being answered!
At midnight tonight, as I understand it, any U.K. resident pilot who is flying only on FAA papers will be grounded.
He/she will only be able to fly in U.K. airspace provided they possess a current CAA license I.e. with a current BFR and a current Medical (hard to get in these turbulent Covid times).
Even then, they will not be able to exercise IR privileges in Class A airspace unless their IR is converted and attached to their CAA license.
How many pilots are actually flying only on FAA papers, as against an FAA 61.75 license (a ‘piggy-back’ ‘based-on’ their originally possessed CAA license) is a moot point; but there must be some for whom today is the end of the road.
What has happened to the mantra: “Making the U.K. the best place in the world for GA”?

Rochester, UK, United Kingdom

Well, unless something comes out tonight, the UK seems to have finally done it… and f*****d a big chunk of its most experienced IFR community.

But, remember, most countries in the EU have either never derogated (various versions of the matrix posted here) or gave up doing so after a few years. Some IMHO could never work out the EASA texts And yes there are N-regs based in all the main EU countries, and there has been zero enforcement, in all of the ~10 years. Why not? Probably the lack of definition of operator residence is one of the main reasons, and this continues in the UK which has not defined it either.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Peter wrote:

Why not? Probably the lack of definition of operator

Even more probably because there is almost zero enforcement in everything connected with aviation. In 20+ years of flying I did not have a single ramp check. I could have done the very same 20 years completely without a license (well, almost: At some Southern European airports I had to present my license to get through security – but obviously nobody checked there if I have the required licenses/ratings for my plane/flight).

Germany

Ramp checks are indeed rare, but most pilots who participate usefully on social media are eventually identifiable to the CAA (instantly so if a CAA/NATS employee is an admin on the forum; has happened!) and those who run a forum on which e.g. infringement policy is discussed will be closely monitored

So one cannot assume lack of awareness on the part of the CAA is a useful protection.

IME, license checking is pretty common, but they don’t get into the impenetrable details of “Brussels FCL” so my FAA plastic card always sufficed.

I am sure, in the case of the UK, the reason why Grant Shapps was not able to prevent this, despite flying an N-reg himself, is precisely because of his GA involvement. He has to look totally proper. The chief organ of the CPGB, the Guardian, and other assorted rags like the Private Eye (a champagne socialists’ favourite; look at the car adverts) would have run an expose on him, possibly including some stuff from his ancient business activities and god knows what else (one UK “dig out the max dirt” GA site, now thankfully almost defunct, even dug out some accident(s) he had) and the govt cannot afford another xmas party a year ago and another owen paterson scandal, especially against the current policy of not doing another lockdown while the opposition is demanding a tight lockdown, naturally with loads of £££ compensation for everybody and free dog food (which the opposition doesn’t have to pay for, and that’s without even getting into the current fraudsters’ paradise). So it is a “perfect PR storm” really.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

especially against the current policy of not doing another lockdown while the opposition is demanding a tight lockdown

Unless there is a deep conspiracy, and the UK always was blessed with the common sense attitude that ‘cock-up trumps conspiracy’, it is the epidemiologists and front line medical professionals (nurses and doctors) who are calling for this. Grown up countries who are keen to protect their medical capacity are not shirking leadership and taking appropriate measures.

The vast majority of the population who have essential jobs in retail, public transport, logistics etc don’t have the libertarian choice of self isolating, working from home, flying their own aeroplane:)

Oxford (EGTK), United Kingdom

Peter wrote:

The chief organ of the CPGB, the Guardian

I thought it was the Morning Star. (Haven’t we been here before!?)

ESKC (Uppsala/Sundbro), Sweden
Sign in to add your message

Back to Top