LICENCES Fight or flight Getting a UK licence back after Brexit has been a challenge for some By a BALPA member work for a European aviation operator. For continuation of my employment, I found myself having to transfer my flight crew licence from the United Kingdom after the UKs exit from the European Union. My employer placed pressure upon myself and colleagues to obtain EASA licences from their state of AOC registration. I, however, opposed this, because every time I would have a licensing event such as a licence proficiency check (LPC) their Authority would have to reprint the licence for a fee. Other crew members who were examiners, but did not examine within the company, had issues with the company not wanting to pay to have TRE ratings re-issued, as the new Authority required the examiner to be observed by an inspector, attend seminars or similar, incurring cost. To transfer an EASA licence and medical from one member state to another, you complete a series of forms with both member states to move licences and medicals. It was easier to do this before Brexit and the UK becoming a third country outside of EASA. Licence issue Early in the process of Brexit, I could see there might be an issue with licences and the right to work. I wanted to make sure I had both a UK/EASA licence with my UK and European passport, to maintain the best possible continuation of future work and employment. I started the licence-transfer process to leave the UK around 12 months before Brexit, and chose to transfer to the Irish Aviation Authority. I am a citizen of Ireland, and the Irish Authority allowed any EASA examiner to sign my licence when taking an LPC. The Irish Aviation Authority required forms completed for licence, medical transfer, and copies of ATPL exam results. The UK CAA licence transfer and medical forms were completed to transfer from the UK, which involved having a copy of my licence verified by a UK examiner. I also wanted to keep something in the UK licensing system, so I applied for a UK national licence when transferring out. When I received the national licence from the UK CAA, it included a note advising that it would not print any EASA ratings and could only give me a SEP (single engine) rating under grandfather rights. After a few months, the Irish Authority medical department called me. It advised that it had asked the UK CAA several times for a copy of my latest UK medical certificate, to which the UK kept sending my medical records file. It was resolved quickly, with me sending a scanned copy of my medical certificate to the Irish medical department, and the following day my licence and medical were ready. When I was ready to exchange my UK EASA licence for the Irish, I made sure I had scanned copies of my UK EASA licence and UK EASA medical for my own records. I completed the EASA licence exchange with Ireland without issue. Then I kept renewing my UK medical for my UK national licence with SEP rating, to stay in the UK system, thinking this would help later when returning to the UK after Brexit. I realised it was going to become complicated to maintain a UK and EASA licence with all the ratings, because of cost and a lack of examiners postBrexit who have the authorisation. I kept all my ratings current on my Irish licence until Brexit happened and I could get my full UK licence back. Then I would only need to keep my type rating for commercial work on my EASA licence. After four weeks, my application status had not progressed at all. I called the CAA call centre, but they had no information UK returners application After Brexit, I expected to be able to re-apply for a UK licence quickly, and thought it would be a seamless process, as I had a UK national licence and a UK class 1 medical that was current. I submitted a licence-verification request to the Irish Authority to release my licence data back to the UK. The Irish Authority was extremely helpful again. I spoke directly to a licensing officer, who advised me to provide their details directly to the UK CAA for the verification requests. On 1 April 2021, I applied as an EU to UK returner to obtain a UK ATPL, using the new CAA online portal system to pay again for my UK national licence to be re-issued with all my EASA ratings. The UK CAA recently implemented an online portal that was supposed to help improve service. I called the CAA portal helpdesk when making my application. I asked if they could talk me through the screens, as I was getting an error. They advised that they could not, as they have a different view of the screens to the user applicant so, not really very helpful. I also asked if I was required to complete the EU-UK returners medicalverification form, as I always maintained a current UK national class 1 medical with my licence, to which they did not know the answer. They suggested transferring me to the UK CAA medical department to ask the question. After 45 minutes of waiting for the medical department, my call was cut off. After four weeks, my application status had not changed or progressed at all. I called the CAA call centre asking for an update, but they had no information and the Irish Authority advised that it had not received any licence-verification requests. The flight crew licensing call-centre staff were very apologetic, but said they were not involved in processing licensing applications and would not be able to help, or put me in direct communication with a UK licensing officer, or even escalate the request to Ireland for licence verification. I regularly called the UK CAA call centre for updates, with no change, and I had to pay for an application to have my UK medical certificate reprinted. Eventually, I lodged a formal complaint with the UK CAA regarding its lack of customer service and having to pay for another UK medical, when already holding a certificate and medical file. I also wrote to the chairman of the CAA regarding my experience. Sir Stephen Hilliers office replied, advising that it would reply in due course. That was six months ago, and I am still awaiting a response. My UK licence was eventually re-issued, with all my missing EASA ratings, within four to five weeks of my complaint. When dealing with other regulators such as the Irish, licence holders deal directly with licensing officers, who if there is an issue are very responsive and supportive, and competent in regulatory matters. Many licence holders now regularly comment that the UK CAA lacks the ability to provide customer service or maintain competent staff in licensing compared with other regulators. The UK CAA could learn from others, allowing a direct dialogue between licence holder and licensing staff.