30 October 2006
IAOPA-Europe (the European wing of the International Aircraft Pilots and Owners Association) has taken the Council of Europe to task over the way in which it is ‘dismembering’ EASA’s proposal for a Europe-wide recreational pilot licence. In its November 2006 newsletter, IAOPA-Europe says that “EASA’s proposal for a Europe-wide licence seems to be suffering death by a thousand cuts at the hands of national aviation authorities”.
The Council of Europe – made up of representatives from individual countries’ departments of transport, each ‘briefed’ by its national aviation authority – seems to be set against a number of proposals which would have made the pan-European ‘recreational’ licence so suitable for existing and potential pilots.
The most important of these, according to IAOPA, is the matter of whether such a licence could be issued by an ‘assessment body’ in each country, or by the national body itself. The concept of ‘assessment bodies’ was created in order to keep costs down; however, individual states are now suggesting that would not honour recreational licences issued by non-regulatory assessment bodies from other countries.
The Council is also reported to be calling for the new licence to be restricted to 2,000 kg, and some of the states want the licence to be restricted to day VFR, with no possibility of adding ratings, and for the new licence to require a full medical, not a GP’s signature to declere fitness.
Similarly damaging would be an insistence that any hours gained on the licence should not be counted towards a full ICAO – for instance, a professional – licence.
The final text is currently being worked on by the Council of Europe, but IAOPA is making represtations to Members of the European Parliament – the EU parliament will be presented with the Council of Europe’s draft once it is completed – in the hope of getting a more favourable draft.
