AOPA says the bread and butter of many U.S. flight schools–foreign students–is being threatened by a European initiative that will make the U.S. ticket far less attractive. The European Aviation Safety Agency is proposing changes to its certification requirements that would essentially require U.S.-trained pilots to recertify in Europe. “While the training philosophies differ in Europe and the U.S., both groups of pilots have a similar goal, that of developing safe pilots,” said Andy Cebula, AOPA’s executive vice president of regulatory affairs. “It is critical that EASA and the U.S. formalize a bilateral agreement to reconcile the differences between this rule and the current U.S. rules governing flight training.”
AOPA protested the move in EASA’s comment period, which ended Feb. 28. The group also asked the FAA to press for a bilateral agreement with EASA that will address the differences in flight training between the two jurisdictions that sparked this move.
