Speaking at AirVenture Oshkosh 2024 on Wednesday, Ryan Johnson, Transport Canada’s chief of civil aviation pilot training and licensing standards, pledged that the agency is committed to cleaning up delays associated with sending out required aviation document booklets (ADBs) that contain a pilot’s individual permit, licensing, and medical information.
The booklets were redesigned last year, but mailing was delayed due to a problem with the vendor. This required rebidding the contract and putting a new vendor in place in April, Johnson said.
“We expect that within six to eight weeks this is going to be resolved. We’re making a number of changes to our business processes and IT infrastructure to sort this,” he said. “But they are up and running and producing rapidly now.”
Johnson said overall, Transport Canada’s (TC’s) business practices “were too reliant on paper,” which piled up during the pandemic and created a large backlog that needed to be addressed. He said TC is working on a digital licence and a prototype is currently being tested on an Android device. He said the digital licence will allow updates to be made quicker, within minutes, once approved by a licensing officer.
The goal is to include medical documents as well. “Other things could be bundled with it, too, such as airport access.”
Rather than going to a professional photographer for an ID picture, users will be able to upload a selfie from their cell phone with some AI guidance to ensure a proper image. Johnson said the digital licence’s beta version will be released this fall.
To deal with the current backlog, Johnson said he expects the current exemption, which expires at the end of August, to be renewed through March 2025. Pilots traveling internationally can request a temporary licence from TC to enable them to make their trip.
Digital licences initially will be offered to commercially rated pilots and then rolled out on a wider basis. Target for completion of the ICAO-compliant digital licence offering is 2026.
