LPE Exams for British?

[Gemeen_Aapje]

Hi all,

Quick one this I hope.

Does a native English speaker with a British passport and UK PPL have to obtain an LPE certificate to fly in European countries?

What if the person has an Indian passport and a UK PPL?

Thanks
Matt

[S-Works]

Holders of UK issued licences who are native English speakers are assessed at LVL anytime they do anything with an Examiner as a routine. When I conduct any type of test on a UK licence holder I do the language assessment at that point.

You will need to have your language assessment on file. All UK licence holders were automatically granted LVL4.

[BackPacker]

Yes, you will have to obtain the LPE annotation on your license, otherwise you'll be severely limited in your flying (particularly your ability to legally use the radio).

However, that doesn't mean that you have to do the LPE *test*.

The UK CAA has thoughtfully come up with a scheme where, if you do your LPC, or if you visit the examiner for your class rating renewal based on experience, and the examiner is an LPE 6, and the examiner deems you to be a 6 (native speaker), then the examiner can give you a 6 straight away. In fact, this is now integrated in the SRG\1119 form. There's also a standalone SRG\1199 form which can be used.

However, if you're not a 6, then you have to visit a language institute to do the test. The examiner is not considered to be capable of distinguishing between a 3, 4 or 5.

All this was already communicated by the CAA to all UK pilots in 2008.

I must say that you are rather late to the party though. The LPE requirements became in force on March 5, 2008. At that date all current pilots automatically got an LPE 4 endorsement, which meant that they had three years, until March 5, 2011 to get assessed properly.

So if you haven't sorted your LPE by now, you may well be flying illegally.

[Gemeen_Aapje]

My apologies guys, I should have been more clear about my own circumstances (I wanted to be brief). I don’t yet have a PPL but am working towards it.

Here’s more clarity....

Myself (British) and 2 fellow students (1 Irish and 1 Indian) are studying in Holland. Unfortunately our Dutch isn’t at a level where we can take the PPL theory tests.

So, after all the training we’ve been doing, we’ve finally planned to go to a UK school in Spain (- | Fly-in-Spain |- Spain, Jerez, Flight Training PPL, CPL, IR, ME Rental, PPL-A-JAR Heli Helicopter PPL-H Holiday accelarated intensive (http://www.fly-in-spain.com)) where we will be assessed under the UK CAA examiners there. This will be in July.

When (if?) we get our PPL there then we will all return to Holland where we will of course continue flying.

In my case that makes me a British citizen living, working and flying in Holland. I’ll have a UK CAA PPL license but will be regularly flying in Holland.

The Irish guy should be the same as me I think. The Indian guy speaks perfect English (almost native if you hear him but it’s a 2nd language officially).

Ok, there you have it. What a mess eh? :-D

Thanks for your advice in advance.

-Matt

[BackPacker]

If you don't have PPL yet your LPE test will be integrated in the exam sequence somewhere along the line. Within the UK curriculum I think it's done as part of the FRTOL.

So you don't have to worry about it. Yes, you need an LPE assessment and yes it will be done in due course automatically, just like the rest of your exams.

If you want to be sure, ask the school in Spain about it.

[BackPacker]

In fact, that schools website talks about this specifically:

- | Fly-in-Spain | - Flight Trainings-Center Jerez, PPL, ME IR (http://www.fly-in-spain.com/en/ausbildung/sprechfunk2.php?navid=34)

In short, during the FRTOL test they can certify you as a six. If you're not a six, you will have to be retested at a CAA language school, and presumably the flight school will know which one to send you to.

[Genghis the Engineer]

Out of interest, I took my PPL and CPL in the UK, am a native Brit, and my CPL just says "Language proficiency: English" - is that officially a "6", something else, or nobody cares?

G

[Gemeen_Aapje]

excellent, thanks guys for the rapid responses. :-D

[BackPacker]

I can imagine that the CAA doesn't feel the need to print your LPE level on the license. After all, you fulfill all the requirements with a level 4, so why would anyone care whether you're a 4, 5 or 6?

But on the other hand, a level 4 or 5 will expire some day. I personally feel it's been a mistake on the CAAs side not to print that expiration date on the license. Right now you might be flying on an expired (grandfathered) level 4 and nobody would be able to get that from your license - it would look exactly the same as a confirmed for-life level 6.

I'd be interested to know what the reasoning of the CAA behind this is.