The UK’s legal position appears precarious, and industry insiders are pointing to a lack of willingness by EASA Member States to challenge the situation, rather than the CAA being in a strong legal position, as being the only reason that the UK hasn’t yet been taken to court. The CAA’s position, meanwhile, says PLAG, is that they own some of the historic content of the EASA databases and are therefore entitled to use them in their entirety, even without an agreement in place between the two parties. PLAG advises that EASA’s stated position is that the ownership of the exam databases rests collectively with EASA and its Member States and that they will prosecute breaches of their copyright. Of equal concern is a perception within industry that by using these databases the UK is in breach of EU copyright. PLAG advises that the reality is that pass rates will improve in the UK as ATOs become familiar with the questions being asked and candidates use online databases of feedback questions, but clearly neither of these remedies address the fundamental problem of certain exam questions being unfit for purpose. The CAA’s response, meanwhile, is that nothing can be done because they have neither the capacity nor capability to review the database. PLAG is made up of senior representatives from UK Approved Training Organisations (ATOs) and it is currently challenging UK Government on what it says has been a rushed and badly managed exit from the EASA regulatory system.Ĭoncerning ECQB2020, PLAG states that the issues with the database were well known early on and that EASA, acknowledging this, was quick to react and have already put the QB through two revisions. It was estimated that between 5-10% of the QB was unfit for purpose and a further significant percentage covered subject matter not currently taught as part of the ATPL LOs.ĭuring June, a new UK flight training industry association was formed – the Pilot Licensing Advisory Group (PLAG). Schools specialising in TK training were quick to point out that many of the questions in the QB were not fit for purpose, being badly constructed, written in poor English and examining areas outside of the established Learning Objectives of the ATPL syllabus. Prior to Brexit, the UK CAA had ‘acquired’ ATPL exam database ECQB2020 from the EU Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and made it its new QB for UK ATPL theoretical knowledge (TK) exams, adopted by a number of schools from January this year. Following the introduction of a new Question Bank (QB), between January and April 2021 the UK ATPL theoretical knowledge exam ‘Flight Performance and Planning – Performance (A)’ dropped from a previous 88% average pass rate to just 5%, marking a new low for the subject and indicating that all is not well with the current UK exam system for commercial pilot cadets.
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