Aerial Forum

Jack Cousins

JAR? PAH!

I got my PPL(H) before JAR came in, but I thought that one of the prime objectives of it was to ensure commonality in training, testing etc across Europe. However, it seems that there is not even standardisation within the UK, let alone across Europe. Let me explain.

I recently decided that I really ought to convert onto the Robinson R44. I've had my R22 for a few years and am considering upgrading to a 44, so I thought I ought to find out what it was like before putting a deposit down. I rang two local training courses and asked them for quotes for the conversion. As far as I was concerned the courses would be exactly the same (ie to the JAR syllabus) so was somewhat taken aback to find a substantial price difference. Their hourly rate was almost exactly the same, so that was not the reason. One school (School A) was based at an international airport, so landing fees would be higher with some delays due to scheduled traffic, but again not enough to make the difference. I decided to dig further.

After pressing both schools for details of their training syllabus, I found that...