Wonderful
That would sell a PPL to people
Seriously, what’a this slide rule thing you keep mentioning? 
I remember in 2012 when I wrote my (JAR) PPL exams in France that they were already broken up in subsets, but most people sat them all at once in one day. Some were just there to write the parts they had got wrong on the previous try, and a few candidates seemed to come in to write only one part at a time and come back one month later for the next. So as long as we keep the current breadth and depth of PPL TK content and it is organized well, I don’t think it is a problem to split the exams. I also only had one book (actually three but that was my personal geekiness).
It seems that this way of organizing exams was the blueprint for how it is now under EASA, but the CAA must somehow have misunderstood the concept and badly implemented the changes.
I assume from the smiley that you know already, but don’t need them in France?
They’re really quite fun and arguably less likely to give you a ridiculous answer than a calculator.
Canuck wrote:
We were discussing how to bring in more pilots and make it easier for people to access aviation. I was just trying to point out the bureaucratic differences
I understand. But as I wrote, it’s not necessary to have nine books. Not everyone does it like that. A tongue in cheek example would be CATS who have, I think, seven books. 
I believe Phil Croucher has an all-in-one book for PPL training (I know others but they’re not in English). And just like with the number of exams, it doesn’t really matter. What matters is the amount of content. How relevant and difficult to digest it is. Most people I know simply went to a ground school organized by a club. And it’s possible to have a ground school without any books. A lot of the things are universal so one could use a book from the states for self-study. And you can buy an air law book separately (well, at least in English; as I wrote, not everyone follows this approach which seems popular in the UK).
NAA fees are a topic in itself. But I understand that often one has to do with what one has and the fact that it’s cheaper (or the books are less “intimidating” or it’s common to do the exam in one go) elsewhere in the EU is of little consolation.
For avoidance of any doubt as to the applicability of this ingenious device:
Fortunately for now, the CAA is nice enough to let you fly a G reg on a foreign PPL.
I think that very useful privilege ended c. 2012, unless it is a non-EASA aircraft e.g. Annex 2. @Tumbleweed and @bookworm should know.
As far as flying a G-reg on a foreign license (PPL, non-commercial), I think the can has been kicked down the road until 8 April 2017… I guess we will see if it gets pushed out any further. I just took a quick look on both the EASA and CAA websites, but can’t find an easy reference to hand. Just how does one find something in EASA land?!
172driver nice photos – there used to be a nice instructor out of SMO (over thirty years ago) called Jim Ward – he claimed, not in jest, to have second sight which I always thought was a very neat gift for an instructor
Canuck wrote:
As far as flying a G-reg on a foreign license (PPL, non-commercial), I think the can has been kicked down the road until 8 April 2017… I guess we will see if it gets pushed out any further. I just took a quick look on both the EASA and CAA websites, but can’t find an easy reference to hand.
Commission Regulation (EU) No 1178/2011
Article 12
Entry into force and application
1. This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
It shall apply from 8 April 2012.
…
4. By way of derogation from paragraph 1, Member States may decide not to apply the provisions of this Regulation until 8 April 2017 to pilots holding a licence and associated medical certificate issued by a third country involved in the non-commercial operation of aircraft as specified in Article 4(1)(b) or (c) of Regulation (EC) No 216/2008. Member States shall make those decisions publicly available.
…
Article 4
Basic principles and applicability
1. Aircraft, including any installed product, part and appliance, which are:
…
(b) registered in a Member State, unless their regulatory safety oversight has been delegated to a third country and they are not used by a Community operator; or
(c) registered in a third country and used by an operator for which any Member State ensures oversight of operations or used into, within or out of the Community by an operator established or residing in the Community; or
…
shall comply with this Regulation.
…
It’s the (b) that’s relevant in case someone is unsure. I won’t help you with the UK side of things.
Thanks Martin!
