I N T E RV I E W L ike it or lump it, all pilots have a certain relationship with the CAA. Whether its to do with licensing, medicals or regulatory issues, we have all interacted with the organisation at some point in our careers. So, when I was fortunate enough to meet Captain Glenn Bradley, Head of Flight Operations at the CAA, I was keen to put to him those burning questions readers of The Log have been longing to ask. I spoke with a good number of pilots, canvassing their opinion as to what I should be talking about with Glenn and I came up with a list as long as my arm. That just goes to show how interested we, as pilots, are in the CAA and when we sat down to talk, I started exactly where youd expect: at the beginning. The Log (L): Whats your background, and where did you learn to fly? Glenn Bradley (GB): I went to university to study engineering and, in the last year, had an application form for the RAF and one for British Airways cadet scheme. I applied for both. BA came back and said it was delaying everything by a year, so I joined the RAF and was there for 12 years. I went through fast-jet training and spent most of my time flying the Tornado GR. When I left the RAF, it was the Monday after I had joined GB Airways, the previous Friday. GB was a 737 operator, though this changed over the next couple of years, becoming entirely Airbus. I started as a first officer and got the job as Airbus technical pilot. Command came along and then I became flight technical manager, which was fascinating. In 2017, I was headhunted to work for the CAA as a flight operations manager and, in 2019, became head of flight operations. All the flight operations pilots in the CAA still line fly with an operator, so I still fly the line with easyJet two or three times a month. Ive got just less than 10,000 hours total flight time and also work as a TRE. L: Could you clarify the overall responsibilities of the CAA what might surprise us about what falls within and outside of its remit? GB: Our mission statement, which we introduced recently, is Protecting people and enabling aerospace and that sums up what we do. For example, 300 million passengers fly through the UK each year; thats a lot of people to protect. In terms of scope, we have also taken on regulatory oversight for space, including the provision of a new space port to be built in the UK. When it comes to flight operations, Im basically accountable for three things: oversight of all commercial operations in the UK; oversight of all commercial training in the UK; and flight crew licensing. Thats a big scope. Its very easy, when talking about flight operations, to think its all about the big airlines theres about half-a- 16 THE LOG Autumn 24 pp14-23 CAA.indd 16 13/11/2024 14:38