There's a bit of discussion on this
here, but in short - no one seems to know. It's the usual scenario from the current shambles of a government - lots of
"we're going to do this" but no "
and this is how we're going to do it".
If you already have a PfCO then it's supposed to be transfered into a CofC automatically come July, but the situation for getting qualified in the interim, let alone the point of doing any GVCs at upwards of £1000 once all costs are included, is now much more murky, and the initial reaction from those that are going to be provide the training has been decided negative. They've just put a lot of effort into getting into a position to offer and administer the new courses, and now people are not sure if they are worth doing.
If you've been holding out on a PfCO on the grounds that all you need from July is an
A2 CofC then I guess it depends on what that's going to be worth to you. You'd have been waiting until nearer July before you could do the test anyway, so there's a (probably very slim) chance of some more clarity by then. A CAP with more info from the CAA seems likely at some point, it's anyone's guess when, or what it might contain. If you have a business that requires that you hold a PfCO/
A2 CofC then it's a no-brainer I'd have thought; you're just going to have to get the current certificate regardless and if it become useless then you'll need to get the replacement as well since the alternative would be not to be able to fly legally except in the open category.
FWIW, I was planning on booking an
A2 CofC, and potentially reserving a place on a GVC as well, hopefully with some additional discounts, while at the Photography Show this weekend. Well, that's not happening since the show has been postponed, and with this latest announcement it's moot anyway. I'm certainly not going to be booking any training courses/exams until I get confirmation that they're going to worth the paper they are written on (and unlike some, I'm not yet that desperate for toilet paper either!
). Barring some additional clarity, my current plan is to fly in the open category from July (which should cover most of my flights anyway) or until I have enough justification that having the CofC and any GVC are going to pay for themselves.
My
guess is that since the EASA regs. are going to on the UK's statute books come July, they'll just revert to being the "CAA's regs" in January, or whenever it is we actually leave - I'm totally expecting delays given that Covid19 is likely to disrupt negotiations and act as a convenient excuse for Boris going back on his word (again). Basically, grandfathered in like all the other EU laws we currently have on the books - they just become subject to us potentially amending them once we leave. After that, I suspect the CAA is going to be *far* too preoccupied with re-establishing an ability to handle all the work that was previously handled by EASA to be bothered about drones, so I'd expect the EASA rules to stand, pretty much as-is, for the foreseeable future.
EDIT: fixed link to
other thread that didn't embed for some reason.
