UK PFCO

[toonarmy]

well got an email yesterday from caa with my pfco I’m guessing they post original out ? So is the best thing to say while marketing /advertising holder of a caa permission for commercial operation ? Cheers guys

 

[The Editor]

well got an email yesterday from caa with my pfco I’m guessing they post original out ? So is the best thing to say while marketing /advertising holder of a caa permission for commercial operation ? Cheers guys

Have added ‘U.K.’ prefix to the thread as this is UK specific.

Nope, that’s all you get.... a tacky pdf from the CAA. You will not get anything further in the post.

 

[toonarmy]

How easy is the renewal next year ?

 

[The Editor]

How easy is the renewal next year ?

Very - providing you supply the correct docs when you submit it.
Allow 30days before expiry, make sure you give excerpt of your last two months flight logs giving evidence of at least 2 hours accumulated within that period and ensure your ops manual is up to date with both revisions/addendum updated etc.

 

[toonarmy]

Thank you

 

[SimonMW]

Allow at least 90 days! And make sure your insurance has three months left on it when you renew (they refused mine unless I renewed my insurance a month earlier than I needed to). Make sure you are ready for the huge renewal price hike next year as well to fund things such as NQE inspections (I can hardly wait).

 

[giumick]

Allow at least 90 days! And make sure your insurance has three months left on it when you renew (they refused mine unless I renewed my insurance a month earlier than I needed to). Make sure you are ready for the huge renewal price hike next year as well to fund things such as NQE inspections (I can hardly wait).

Excuse my ignorance but what is a NQE inspection pal? Our was the same at renewal this year.

Our ops manual is off as we speak been checked over as we added additional permissions this year....Fingers crossed all is well.

 

[NickU]

The CAA inspect the NQE training orgs to make sure they're up to scratch and appropriate NQE level.

 

[The Editor]

Yup - which is why the cowboys at EuroUSC lost their NQE status!

 

[MarkLincs]

there not the only ones to of lost it

 

[MarkLincs]

Allow at least 90 days! And make sure your insurance has three months left on it when you renew (they refused mine unless I renewed my insurance a month earlier than I needed to). Make sure you are ready for the huge renewal price hike next year as well to fund things such as NQE inspections (I can hardly wait).

They are already doing NQE inspections I sat in our 1st audit and they had two more in the same week for existing NQEs

 

[upthere]

Yup - which is why the cowboys at EuroUSC lost their NQE status!

Ahh EuroUSC my former mentors................sorry rip-off merchants, it was only a matter of time for them.
Interesting to see what happens to us who passed with them back in the day.
Surely, there should be a retest or something in the future?

Mike

 

[The Editor]

Interesting to see what happens to us who passed with them back in the day.
Surely, there should be a retest or something in the future?

Not for you - you’re emigrating!

 

[upthere]

Hopefully next year if all goes well.........my old bones need somewhere hotter Ed

 

[The Editor]

Hopefully next year if all goes well.........my old bones need somewhere hotter Ed

I know the feeling! - btw I’ve sent you a PM re your Classifieds ad.

 

[Eyeup Aerial Solutions]

I've been having fun with the OMs of former EuroUSC trainees to help them with OSC applications. I can't believe what they made pilots put in their manuals and how they stuck their noses into pilots ongoing businesses.

 

[SimonMW]

I was lucky. We did our ground school with EuroUSC but did our flight test and OM approval with ICARUS (Aerial Motion Pictures), who were absolutely superb. But due to a combination of other commitments and the total lack of aerial work, the new price hikes have confirmed my decision not to renew next year. I feel a lot of the regulations and requirements for OM's are way OTT for the tiny drones we have now like the Mavic. Basic safety sense and adherence to law is needed, but a lot of the stuff just administrative fluff. These aren't real aircraft, just glorified radio controlled models. Some of them in the case of the Spark, barely bigger than a human hand.

There seems to be an obsession with ridiculously long and complicated OM's. No wonder the CAA are taking ages half the time! The trouble is that a lot of people seem to be writing their OM's in order to satisfy the CAA, rather than as a manual for their own company. What gets forgotten is that you are supposed to know your OM insude and out. I don't care who you are, but memorising the multiple 100's of page tomes that some people have isn't practical. How can you possibly remember all the overly complicated stuff that often goes in when you are in the middle of an emergency? OM's as we know them are grossly impractical for the purposes they are intended for, and it is generally the fault of the NQE's and a few people who were probably the sorts at school to write 100's of pages of non-writing for their English homework thinking that length equals quality.

The priority of OM's should be based on the K.I.S.S principle. Although I'd make a fair bet that apart from mandatory updating for firmware etc, most people barely ever touch or read their OM's (be absolutely honest now).

 

[upthere]

I was lucky. We did our ground school with EuroUSC but did our flight test and OM approval with ICARUS (Aerial Motion Pictures), who were absolutely superb. But due to a combination of other commitments and the total lack of aerial work, the new price hikes have confirmed my decision not to renew next year. I feel a lot of the regulations and requirements for OM's are way OTT for the tiny drones we have now like the Mavic. Basic safety sense and adherence to law is needed, but a lot of the stuff just administrative fluff. These aren't real aircraft, just glorified radio controlled models. Some of them in the case of the Spark, barely bigger than a human hand.

There seems to be an obsession with ridiculously long and complicated OM's. No wonder the CAA are taking ages half the time! The trouble is that a lot of people seem to be writing their OM's in order to satisfy the CAA, rather than as a manual for their own company. What gets forgotten is that you are supposed to know your OM insude and out. I don't care who you are, but memorising the multiple 100's of page tomes that some people have isn't practical. How can you possibly remember all the overly complicated stuff that often goes in when you are in the middle of an emergency? OM's as we know them are grossly impractical for the purposes they are intended for, and it is generally the fault of the NQE's and a few people who were probably the sorts at school to write 100's of pages of non-writing for their English homework thinking that length equals quality.

The priority of OM's should be based on the K.I.S.S principle. Although I'd make a fair bet that apart from mandatory updating for firmware etc, most people barely ever touch or read their OM's (be absolutely honest now).

I totally agree with you re KISS principle and keeping things simple.
And “yes” I don’t look at my manual........although always with me on jobs!
Mike

 

[Eyeup Aerial Solutions]

I did my whole course with AMP...great bunch. They stressed the need to keep things simple but the CAA template (or list of headings) certainly doesn't help. It is repetitive in places and in my opinion doesn't form the basis of a useable dynamic manual. However, we're stuck with it. Sorry to hear you're thinking if leaving the fold Simon. It certainly is tough out there and you do have to carve your niche.