With stuff like this and this, there are so many licenses, and combinations of privileges according to whether the plane is certified or not, that I am absolutely certain 99% of pilots have no idea of the matrix of privileges across the UK and Europe…
The subtle differences change over time and the changes are notified via ORS this and that, which 99% of pilots do not receive, and when they do receive them they are hard to decipher. Also some of them contain clear mistakes, and stuff which wasn’t within the power of the CAA to specify.
The UK should just merge all these licenses i.e. get rid of the NPPL, LAPL, national PPL, have just one ICAO PPL, allow the PMD for everything (for emotional/political reasons, probably not if you have an IR 
) and simplify the whole system.
Any fool can make things complicated. It takes a determined, courageous and intelligent mind to simplify them. CAA?
Forwarding a CAA reply, probably relevant to this, to Peter.
Peter wrote:
have just one ICAO PPL, allow the PMD for everything
Still wondering where this complexity comes from?
There is no such thing as self declaration in ICAO doc 8984 – therefore PMD and ICAO license are not compatible. Should CAA now reduce complexity or increase complexity open the way for a recreational license sub ICAO standards without a medical examination (knowing that such licenses are always a national thing…).
Yes: Reducing complexity is quite simple: Ban all sub ICAO licenses and sub EASA airplanes from the sky. But it is us, the pilots, who do not want this simplicity!
Malibuflyer wrote:
Ban all sub ICAO licenses and sub EASA airplanes from the sky
ICAO is for commercial stuff, and airlines mostly. To apply this for recreational private aircraft is nonsense to start with. It would be like applying cruise ship, super tanker legislation for canoes and other small boats. The rules of the air is another matter, they are applicable no matter what.
There is no ICAO nonsense for paragliders for instance, yet they can be operated anywhere (all over the world). It’s the same for smaller boats, and cars. For the exact same reasons there should be no ICAO nonsense for small airplanes and the licenses to operate them. And it doesn’t really help either. Today there are lots of different and incompatible “ICAO licenses”, even for small aircraft. One of the most universal license today is in fact LAPL, and it is “sub” ICAO.
Ive never understood why there has to be anything other than a ICAO compliant PPL recognised everywhere.
Imagine if ICAO or some sort of UN for certification would take care of all licensing world wide. What a dream. Imagine howe much time and money would be saved across the globe by doing so? One license, good for every country. What a dream.
I’d call it a nightmare, from the POV of an FAA licensed pilot.
AdamFrisch wrote:
One license, good for every country. What a dream.
You mean you’d have to learn how to fly in ANY country? PPL will 150hrs, not 50! ;)
To start with: English language is not the only aviation language in many countries. And then you have to have other language as well, which adds “fun”.
On a serious note, it would have been good if there was a much simpler PPL requirements from ICAO, agree with that. And keeping in mind that almost every country already have some simpler pilot license available, I see no point in stopping this from happening…
