Waiting...

Got a good lesson in waiting... Which is ongoing ;)

Just over a month from completing my ground course and flight training with Susi and I finally got my Indonesian license validation issued... The wheels of bureaucracy turn VERY slowly in Indo... Doesn't help when the DGCA takes a 1 week vacation to celebrate then end of Ramadan... :-/

Then, 1 day of travelling, from NZ to my first base assignment in Kalimantan, turning into 3 days due to fog in Sydney, missed connections and some admin hiccups...

Then... I get to base to find that the flight crew to aircraft ratio is a bit high...

Still, I can think of worse things than getting paid to sit around and watch TV and drink beer... :P

A slight hiccup, but a big improvement...

Not even triple checking all your paperwork is OK before you send it off for processing guarantees that things will run smoothly...

Got home the other day and found an envelope from the CAA waiting for me... "Woohoo!" I thought, "My shiny new licence has arrived"...

Sure enough, I found the new format credit card sized piece of plastic with it's fancy holograms (see pics) inside... unfortunately, it had been endorsed as VOR, ADF and ILS as the NavAids for my instrument rating... DOH!

So I sent the CAA an email and received a response that basically said "Whoops! We've fixed it up and sent you another one"... 3 or 4 days later and this shows up :-)  VOR, ADF, GNSS... 

Ooo Fancy

A few more ratings for the collection ;)

You have to admit, that it is a HUGE improvement over the old licence format... which was effectively a piece of paper printed on a laser printer and then laminated!!?! (See below) I mean... the copy of your signature they added, was cut from your application form and glued on before laminating it!!  You can just make it out next to the giant black (paranoia) box I edited into the pic ;-)

Look what I found in my Weetbix packet mum!

Only 4 aircraft... and no twins

What they DON'T train you for...

Specifically, the huge volume of paperwork involved with aviation!

So after recovering from a couple of days worth of "celebrating" getting my MEIR (and a good friend getting both his NZ and UK multi instructor ratings), I set about the somewhat laborious task of completing the mountain of paperwork required actually get the rating officially issued by the CAA.

My apologies to the rainforests!

A new personal best of 3 separate forms...

• 24061/01 - Application for Issue of Flight Crew Licence or Prime Rating
• 24FPP - Fit and Proper Person Questionnaire
• 24061/04 - Application for Amendment to a Pilot Licence

The first one is obviously required... the second is just a pain in the arse and the third is pretty straightforward.

The "Fit and Proper Person Questionnaire" has to be one of the most annoying parts of applying for an "aviation document".  If you haven't completed one within the last 2 years, you must prove that you are worthy of holding a licence... ie. you aren't a crim and/or you don't have a whole bunch of drink driving convictions etc.

This involves applying to get your criminal history from the Ministry of Justice (relatively easy, but takes forever for them to process... something like 4 to 6 weeks is normal), your demerit point and suspension history from Land Transport (easy, but now costs $11.10??!?)... then find a JP or some other "person of standing in the community" to sign the form verifying you are who you say you are and that the copies of your ID and proof of address are legit etc.

If you've already done this in the last 2 years... you fill in a declaration that takes like 30 secs and basically says "I promise nothing has changed since last time I did this"... Naturally, with all the delays I'd had getting to my flight test, I was just over the 2 year validity period... :-/

The application for amendment isn't really a huge deal... it was just required to get all the extra aircraft type ratings added to my licence... this usually costs around $50... but is free if you do it when applying for a licence or "prime" rating ;-)

And to top it all off... I have to send in the original of my flight crew licence... so no flying for me until my application has been received, processed and my new licence is sent back to me... which will probably be about 2 weeks!  #firstworldproblems :-(

Good things come to those who wait

So the MoJ finally decided to send me my criminal history... they actually received it on January 9th. The letter stating that I had no criminal history was dated February 13th... and I got it on the 15th. So it only took 5 weeks in the end... jade tells me I should be thankful, some of the employees she has hired had to wait like 6 to 8 weeks for theirs! yikes!

So I got all the paperwork sorted with the flight examiner on Sunday, so it should have been sent off on Monday. He has asked me to note how long it takes for the license to be issued and let him know. Apparently, in today's post 11/9 world, the CAA want to talk to Interpol, the FBI, CIA, NSA, SIS, MI-6, KGB, DGSE, GSG-9, ABC and XYZ ;) to make sure that I am not a terrorist hell bent on flying my 152 into the tallest building I can find.

He has told me to expect it to take around 3 weeks. *sigh* I really want to take some friends flying, but until I have the piece of plastic, I am stuck being 'Captain Solo'.

So in preparation, I think I will just get a 172 rating, so that when I finally do get a license I can take 2 or 3 people at once, rather than 1 at a time in the 152. I also found out that DXJ has finished it's engine run-in, so is now available for flight training and is cleared for ab-initio pilots (unlike DXP which is minimum 100hrs PinC) for insurance purposes.

Sunday was not a complete write-off though... one of the other club members was getting current in the 182, and needed a check flight at all up weight. I am very good at being ballast ;) so I jumped at the chance to tag along for the ride. Got to test my headset out at the same time against a different intercom system and 3 other headsets and it was fine.

Then after getting current Nathan decided to go for a city scenic.

I have not flown over the city except in heavy jets making an approach for Auckland International, and it was a nice day so I was more than happy to sit in the back.

We took off, departed from the circuit on the downwind leg and headed towards Musik Point via Brookby.

Once at Musik Point we flew up the harbour, then circled around the Sky Tower before heading out to Waiheke.

Around Waiheke and back to Ardmore. A nice little 40 minute joyride... fabulous!

Do as we say...

and not as we do.

That seems to be the motto of the Ministry of Justice... Note the part that says "20 working days"...

I find it more than a little ironic that the government department charged with upholding law and justice seem to ignore it...

The Privacy Act 1993 states that an organisation has 20 working days to respond to your request, and if they cannot comply within that timeframe they are supposed to advise you, in writing, of the delay, how long they expect it to take and the reasons for it within the 20 day period. They even say this on their website!

But they have done neither and when I called them, they fobbed me off with some sob story about how its 20 working days, so you don't count weekends/public holidays, and that they're all snowed under since they got back from Xmas/New Years break... cry me a river.

When I pointed out that I have been waiting for around 25 days and I have not received either my requested history or a note detailing the delay, I was told they are only just processing requests from January 7th! So I asked if there was any way to check they had even received my application... "No, we don't send out confirmations"... Awesome, so given that 20 days has passed and I've had nothing and you wont even tell me whether you even got my application... how long should I wait now? 30 days? 40 days? Christmas?

*sigh*... I really should know better than to try and use logic and reasoning where government departments are concerned... still, I think I might send a note to the privacy commissioner expressing my disappointment with the Ministry of Justice...

Without the criminal history (which is empty btw), I am unable to complete the 'Fit and Proper Person' declaration which means I cannot get my PPL issued... grrrrrrrr

I hate paperwork and bureaucracy.