The PPL exam lottery
A growing number of flying schools, instructors, examiners and student pilots are expressing exasperation over the new UK PPL ground exams, after witnessing unprecedented numbers of students failing their exams in recent months. The problem has become so bad that instructors and students alike are describing some of the exam questions as ‘exotic and unrelated to the course content’, with one well-respected instructor/examiner publicly...
What a Performance! – The CAA exam with a 95% failure rate
Following the introduction of a new Question Bank (QB), between January and April 2021 the UK ATPL theoretical knowledge exam ‘Flight Performance and Planning – Performance (A)’ dropped from a previous 88% average pass rate to just 5%, marking a new low for the subject and indicating that all is not well with the current UK exam system for commercial pilot cadets. Prior to Brexit, the UK CAA had ‘acquired’ ATPL exam database...
ATO regulatory oversight debate hots up
The flight training industry is continuing to seek financial oversight of UK Approved Training Organisations (ATOs) in the aftermath of the collapse of two majors UK schools, FTA-Global and Tayside Aviation, which resulted in the loss of millions of pounds of students’ training funds. Following FTN’s announcement that the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) may be falling short in its regulatory oversight duties, a number of ATOs,...
Courting a battle over airspace
After years of increasing tension between General Aviation pilots and organisations on one hand, and airfields and airports seeking increased controlled airspace on the other, the signs are that disagreements over new airspace proposals, and even the continuation of some existing controlled airspace, may be headed to court. This simmering discontent is being bought to a head by one airport’s refusal to amend its controlled airspace,...
Red Lines and Red Ink: Will Finances Trump Politics Over the UK’s Future in EASA?
With just under two months left before the UK officially withdraws from the European Union, the future for the UK aviation industry, and that of its regulator (the CAA), remains as opaque as ever. It is no secret that both industry as a whole and the regulator in particular wish the UK to remain a member of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). Speaking in September 2017, Andrew Haines – then Chief Executive of the CAA...
