As you may remember, I renewed my flight instructor rating this summer in order to allow Lite Flyer to log our ferry time as a student pilot. The examiner signed the back of my licence and filled in the rating renewal information there. That allowed the old licence to serve as a new licence for 90 days, or receipt of the new licence, whichever came first.
It's been more than 90 days, but when I got home and went through all my mail, none was the characteristic brown envelope containing a blue paper from Transport Canada. I called my local Transport Canada office to ask about its whereabouts. The clerk looked up my record and said that no licence had been issued, but admitted that they were well behind. She transferred me to another office where I spoke to someone who looked through her pile of paperwork and declared that nothing for me was there. No paperwork had been received for my licence renewal. I called the examiner, who fortunately remembered me, and vowed that he had submitted the paperwork. He made some phone calls himself and then called me back. Apparently there was an office reorganization that week and a number of people just didn't get their licences.
He thanked me for following up and promised that it would be reprinted and mailed ASAP, then offered to fax me a temporary licence immediately. I didn't need it urgently, so I said I'd wait for the mailed one. It arrived the next day. Wow. I didn't know our postal service could be that good.
Inside the envelope was my new licence (I still haven't got used to seeing lower case letters on a Transport Canada document) and an application for for a new one. A new one? Transport Canada has finally moved on the issue of photo identification on licences, and they want commercial and airline transport licence holders to apply for them now. I have to go and get a passport photo taken. It says that all ATPLs and CPLs in the old format will be replaced by March 31, 2009. Considering they are just getting the application form to me now, I'm not really confident their timeline is going to work, but I'll apply now. My actual passport expires soon too so I can get all the photos done at once.
Also, an Air Canada Jazz Dash-8 slid off the end of the runway in North Bay, Ontario. The article says it overshot the runway in fog, but it's not clear whether they mean that it touched down late, or that it touched down normally but had insufficient braking action. No one was hurt and the landing gear didn't collapse, either.
3 comments:
A similar incident in Cambridge Bay.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2008/12/15/summit-flight.html
Congratulations on your permanent license. Here in the US we get shiny plastic cards these days, but it takes 120 days, not 90.
If things go according to plan, I will be flying on a paper temporary most of the for the foreseeable future.
Don't you love the way the petty'tyrannical officials "jump" when you catch them with their pants down?
Similarly, I applied for road-tax some weeks early,...It hadn't arrived by due date ,so i used the vehicle.
Sod's law, a police pull-I explained that if he "did" me for Failure to display a current tax disc....I would issue a summons against him personally,for conspiracy to defraud.
I phoned the issuing office who swore blind that it could not have been misfiled of dropped behind a piece of furniture......
yes, a buff envelope arrived the following morning and I took huge delight in taking it to the police-station and making them open it.
Sometimes you're the dog, sometimes the hydrant. :-)
Post a Comment