I agree; the worldwide airmail system is horrible, run by morons, and it only just hangs in there, and because nobody is responsible for anything, it is vulnerable to e.g. under the table “problems” like the current delays in UK packages to some EU countries. This moronic “management” has enabled the courier firms (DHL etc) to comprehensively trash the various national post offices so now they are serving just the scraps left over.
But the mail system has always been like that. 50 years ago, same as today. The US one (USPS) is just as bad as the various European ones. So I wonder what changed in the FAA?
I wonder what changed in the FAA?
How often does a bureaucracy become less restrictive and less process-bound over time? Same thing with periodic renewals of FAA aircraft registration.
The one saving grace of FAA in this regard is that with the help of lobbying organizations they realize that enough increases in regulation and ‘process’ would eventually kill the activity. Beyond a very limited and well defined role regulation detracts, it does not ‘support’ anything except the bureaucrats employed by it. So when FAA fills some logical hole they tend to study it legally and just fill the hole. They don’t reflexively attempt to repave the entire neighborhood.
Peter wrote:
The FAA community outside the US is mostly aircraft owners, of which airline pilots are nearly zero.
Are you thinking that the majority of FAA pilot license holders outside of the US are primarily “aircraft owners”?
Peter_G wrote:
Orbifly, the main (only?) FAA IR trainer in France, and whom many of you may already use for weather, have just posted the following possible solution:
Good stuff. I´d be happy to pay 50 bucks for that, instead of having to ask an American “friend” and make him feel pressured and asking a favor.
Are you thinking that the majority of FAA pilot license holders outside of the US are primarily “aircraft owners”?
I think the majority of FAA pilot license holders outside of the US who actually fly are primarily aircraft owners. You mostly can’t rent an N-reg, outside the US.
My drift was that a lot of people got FAA papers over the decades and then vanished, once they got into the airline pipeline and got their validations or conversions. The FAA maybe wrote to them when their medicals expired and the letter bounced back.
Peter wrote:
The FAA maybe wrote to them when their medicals expired and the letter bounced back.
Why would FAA write to you if your medical expires? For example, flying Sport Pilot category aircraft using a FAA Pilot Certificate requires no FAA medical or declaration of any kind and also the expiration of your medical has nothing to do with your FAA pilot certificate or ratings, all of which last forever regardless of current medical status.
My understanding is that FAA has been frustrated by their inability to reliably and verifiably notify foreign based pilots when an action is being taken on their pilot certificate, when that action has e.g. calendar dated appeal periods or a fixed window for response for FAA requests for information. The pilot can then claim he never got the FAA letter, and FAA cannot prove they did.
I imagine that in addition to FAA certificated pilot/owners who fly their N-registered planes based overseas there are also a lot of professional pilots and mechanics who maintain FAA papers to provide themselves with wider employment opportunities.
Yes; all true I am sure.
Funny thing … in the UK, the police posting a letter (does not have to be Recorded Delivery even) is legal proof of service of things like court summons. Evidently Britain gave the US independence far too early 
So what is legal proof of service in the US?
Getting Evidence They Got It (USPS Link)
Certified Mail with delivery signature required is the typical approach.
Silvaire wrote:
I imagine that in addition to FAA certificated pilot/owners who fly their N-registered planes based overseas there are also a lot of professional pilots and mechanics who maintain FAA papers to provide themselves with wider employment opportunities.
Peter wrote:
I think the majority of FAA pilot license holders outside of the US who actually fly are primarily aircraft owners. You mostly can’t rent an N-reg, outside the US.
There´s a substantial number of professional pilots worldwide (primarily corporate and other GA pilots) that hold multiple active licenses (including FAA). In the corporate aviation (pilot) world the FAA license is by far the superior licence when looking work (including freelance work!), unless you´re solely looking for an European operator with the airplane(s) on EU AoC. Many operators (management companies) have AoC and/or aircraft registrations in jurisdictions outside EASA land, and they´ll often favor FAA licenses, because it´s simpler to deal with FAA regulations (licenses included), when all you need is a license validation (not and actual certificate) to operate with this jurisdiction.
Snoopy wrote:
@Silvaire how about you do this for us for a tenner a year :) :)
Make it 20!
Yes; I was thinking of private pilots. I know corporate jet pilots who use FAA papers, plus as mentioned all the mechanics, etc.
All in all, that’s a lot of people who will need to set this up. The other side of all this is that the FAA will never know where people are actually located. Everybody will be a “PO Box” Hard to believe, in the post-TSA etc climate, this is intended.
