This was posted on a UK domestic site by one AME I used years ago. He’s packed it in.
Not sure how many people it affects but it does mean you have to travel to the UK to get a UK medical.
I believe the other way round – EASA medical in the UK – is still functional.
On the CAA website’s search for an AME ticking the ‘non-UK jurisdiction’ box shows only 7 doctors, with addresses in Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, and UAE. It must mean that not many pilots fly or work internationally on UK licences.
I use Aviation Medicals Wessex in the UK for UK, EASA, and FAA medicals, and it looks like they are still doing them. Most of their business is ATPLs; UK-only severely limits their customers’ career prospects so they have to offer all three. They said they had problems post-Brexit finding a friendly EASA aviation authority, and eventually found Transport Malta the most accommodating.
OK; it looks like the other way (EASA authorised AMEs can be UK based) still works. You just need any one national CAA to support it. EASA/Brussels would have to specifically block this, but it would have the side effect that no EASA AME could work in the US, which I reckon would be highly undesirable politically (in the airline pilot context).
The UK is also not blocking UK based FAA AMEs although there aren’t many, and almost none want the more complicated Special Issuance medicals.
The thinking behind the thread topic is not obvious.
It must mean that not many pilots fly or work internationally on UK licences
If they never entered the UK, their flights would be cabotage and that is not possible in Europe post-brexit. Easyjet etc solved this by moving the planes and the pilot papers to Austria, but most EJ business still terminates in the UK.
I’d forgotten about cabotage 🙂
I thought there might be a certain number of bush airline type operations with pilots flying on validations or conversions of their home licences, but on reflection it’s probably a tiny number.
There isn’t international G-reg use like there is with N-reg. In the days of empire, an English licence was more internationally acceptable, but even then each colony had its own aircraft register.
No idea what’s behind this. Rationalisation e.g. cost-cutting or simplification? Or quality issues like lack of oversight, or a specific problem?
Peter wrote:
but it would have the side effect that no EASA AME could work in the US, which I reckon would be highly undesirable politically
Pretty irrelevant as there are only one or two (in Florida, prob90 associated with some FTO). I looked into that a few years back when I still maintained my EASA license and medical.
Capitaine wrote:
I thought there might be a certain number of bush airline type operations with pilots flying on validations or conversions of their home licences, but on reflection it’s probably a tiny number.
AFAIK in almost all (all?) cases, validations work for PPL only, not for commercial ops. I’ve had a couple (PPL) and that was always made clear. There may, of course, be some exceptions, as there always are.
[ brexit comments get removed because the OT thread excludes brexit stuff, and this always goes off the rails ]
Peter wrote:
it would have the side effect that no EASA AME could work in the US, which I reckon would be highly undesirable politically (in the airline pilot context).
Following up on the post by @172driver there are apparently only two that were operating in in the airline pilot context in 2018, one in Florida and one in Arizona. Link
The UK CAA/Transport Malta AME in Florida was Dr Mark Rubin. He is no longer approved by either authority. Dr T Gilmore in Maple Ontario is the only EASA AME in north America AFAIK.
