CAA Licensing Quagmire

[Avionista]

I hold a NPPL (SSEA) license and have been planning to fly a EVEKTOR EUROSTAR. I undertook 4 hours conversion training with a qualified FI who then signed me off to fly the aircraft solo. I have now discovered that the rules have been changed to the following:



SECTION 4. CROSS-CREDITING LICENCES AND RATINGS TO NPPL (MICROLIGHT)

4.1 Pilots with valid licences and ratings NPPL (SSEA), UK PPL (A) or CAA issued JAR-FCL Pilot Licence (Aeroplanes) with SEP Class
Rating to NPPL (Microlight)

The holder of a valid NPPL (SSEA), UK PPL (A) or CAA-issued JAR-FCL Pilot Licence (Aeroplanes) with SEP Class Rating who wishes to obtain a Microlight Class Rating shall:

a. Produce the NPPL (SSEA), UK PPL (A) or CAA-issued JAR-FCL Pilot Licence (Aeroplanes);

b. Pass the Microlight Aeroplanes Type (Part 2) oral examination conducted by a Microlight flight examiner. The examination shall include pilot maintenance requirements and conditions of the Permit to Fly;

c. Hold a valid NPPL Medical Declaration or JAR-FCL Class 1 or 2 medical certificate;

d. Pass the NPPL GST in a Microlight.

The above rules mean a holder of a NPPL (SSEA) license can legally fly a EUROSTAR with a MTOW of 465kg but cannot do the same for a EUROSTAR with a MTOW of 450kg, without undergoing microlight training/GST. This seems totally illogical, not to say plain daft. I could understand the need for training/GST if the holder of an NPPL (SSEA) wanted to fly a flex-wing/weight-shift microlight, but surely, a EUROSTAR of any weight requires piloting skills similar to those required to fly a Cessna 152 rather than what is needed to fly flex-wing/weight-shift microlights. If holders of JAR (PPL) licences are permitted to fly microlight class aircraft, such as the EUROSTAR, I fail to understand why the same does not apply to holders of a NPPL (SSEA). After all the training/NST/GST/Examination papers for the NPPL(SSEA) and the JAR(PPL) are pretty much the same. Requirement (d) above would make more sense if it stated: "Undergo differences training with a qualified microlight FI, and have the holder's logbook endorsed by the FI".

[S-Works]

It may be a simple fact that the Eurostar is the same regardless of the weight and the fuel pump and a few other odds and sods.

However that is nothing to do with the fact that the licence you hold categorises classes not an individual type. So you can fly a simple single engine aircraft but not a microlight aircraft without adding a microlight class rating. That is a restriction of the licence that you chose to adopt. The reason the NPPL is simpler and easier is that it has much more restricted privileges than a standard JAA PPL. You have to learn to live with that I am afraid.

A GST for someone as experienced on type as you are should be a simple affair. If you are in the midlands I would be happy to do one for you this week.

[BEagle]

The other point is that the Microlight Class Rating is not a 'Eurostar Rating', it is a Class Rating which entitles the holder to fly any Microlight aeroplane (subject to differences training for weight shift aircraft).

The BMAA's experts advised the NPPL P&SC that the differences between low inertia Microlights (at one end of the scale) and 2000 kg SSEA aeroplanes at the other end merited the requirement for a Skill Test. Which, to be frank, is an entirely prudent, safe requirement.

Incidentally, the 'rules' were 'changed' over 12 months ago. Why was your FI ignorant of this - doesn't he/she ever read AICs?