NPPL SLMG to EASA PPL

[davydine]

Am I the only one that finds the current EASA proposals hard to fathom? I have tried to work this out via the NPPL and EASA web sites and by searching previous posts but everything seems to be constantly changing!

I am currently unable to get a class 1 medical because I am short sighted and my prescription is too high to meet the initial requirements.

Under the EASA part MED proposals the strength of prescription does not get a mention so I might be able to get a class 1 medical in the future, however I contacted the CAA and they did not know what was going to happen so suggested I wait and see.

My corrected vision is fine and I could train for a NPPL, however I have some gliding experience and I am thinking about going back to gliding. As I understand it if I get my BGA gliderpilots licence I can convert this to NPPL SLMG or SSEA with just 10 hours dual instruction (i know that is legal minimum not actual but for now am intrested in the regulations rather than the realities if you know what I mean)

If I do go back to gliding the club I would fly from one of the members owns a T61 SLMG and I think he is an instructor so i might be able to get some training.

If I went down this route and the medical rules changed at some point in the future would I be able to convert this NPPL in to an EASA PPL or is there a chance I would fall in to a trap because the airfield is not licenced or my instructor didn't have the right sort of qualification or someething equally obscure? I am not trying to get a PPL on the cheap but am curious if this is possibe. It would be frustrating to have to start from scratch building dual hours because of a technicality...

Thanks in advance for your help

D

[thing]

I went through all of that guff and made neither head nor tale of it. I just went for the full fat milk JAR PPL. You get an hour knocked off your minimum hours required for every ten hours P1 gliding you have up to a max of ten hours knocked off (100 hours gliding). I've got about 33 hours now and am ready for my skills test (just got to find an examiner that can be off at the same time as me but that's another story.......). TBH I'm glad I did it that way around as I don't think that a ten hour conversion would have been enough.

The actual flying is easier than poling a glider around, landings are a lot easier, PFL's are a doddle as are glide circuits as you can imagine. It's the other stuff, nav for instance is done differently, you don't draw some lines on a map and then not look at it again, you actually have to know where you are going which I found a bit novel and just talking to ATC with some degree of confidence takes a while. It's not difficult to learn, it just takes practise and I don't think ten hours is enough. You want to do it in a reasonable time scale as well, it's taken me three months so far but I reckon I must have had around half my lessons scrubbed due to weather etc. So if you think 'Yeah I'll give myself three months' then double it to six. I thought I would have it all done and dusted in 8 weeks or so but it doesn't work like that.

You don't need a class 1 medical by the way, you need a class 2. Don't know what the eyesight difference is but I wear specs and didn't have a problem with it.

[B4aeros]

[A class 1 medical is a professional pilot's medical; I'm assuming you mean you can't get a class 2 medical.]

The medical requirements will change - the equivalent to the NPPL medical will be the Light Aircraft Pilot's Licence medical, the details of which have yet to be published. If you have an LAPL medical, you can only hold an LAPL licence, not a PPL - the LAPL being the equivalent of an NPPL.

It will be feasible to parlay a BGA glider pilot's licence into an EASA LAPL(aeroplanes). You can get the BGA licence & use that to get an NPPL SLMG & then SSEA, or you can convert the BGA licence into an EASA LAPL(s) and add ratings to your licence through the EASA system.

The licenced airfield requirement no longer applies. Be aware that a BGA motorglider instructor cannot instruct for an NPPL, you will need an actual NPPL SLMG instructor.

We don't yet know what the conversion requirements from the BGA/NPPL system to the EASA system will be. An optimist would say that if the BGA/NPPL syllabus is equal to or exceeds an EASA syllabus, then the equivalent EASA licence & rating will be granted.

[thing]

So if I have a JAR PPL what's the score on converting it to a TMG NPPL? Or is the NPPL disappearing?

[kestrel539]

At present,you cannot have a TMG NPPL, only a SLMG NPPL., the TMG rating
is only for the JAA PPL.
Isnt this fun:)

[thing]

Aaaaaargh.

[B4aeros]

I thought it was a trick question. :)

I believe the NPPL SLMG licence will disappear completely.

The CAA allow SEP licence holders to fly SLMGs within UK airspace (& by that they mean the NPPL definition of SLMG) so we can all fly Grob 109s, Falkes, T61s etc without a TMG rating. The EASA PPL(a) will continue that privilege:
The privileges of the holder of a PPL(A) are to act without remuneration as PIC or co-pilot on aeroplanes or TMGs engaged in non-commercial operations.What we can't do now, nor will we be able to, is count TMG hours towards the minimum required to revalidate your SEP class rating. You need an actual TMG rating for your TMG hours to count towards both your SEP & TMG rating revalidation.

[kestrel539]

Go here Licensing and Training Standards | EASA | Safety Regulation (http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?gid=2061) to see the CAA take on
all the changes that are to come....came out an hour or two ago.

[bubo]

I guess to fly TMG you need to have TMG rating under FCL. Hours are not counted against each other, but once you have both ratings and re-validate one of them you´ll get the other one re-validated automatically.

[davydine]

Thanks all for the responses. Really useful info about the BGA SLMG instructor rather than a specific NPPL instructor.

With regards to the difference between the Class 1 and Class 2 medical, as I understand it the LAPL does not allow for instrument rating or night rating, so where does the private pilot that wants to fly on instruments or at night fit in. I hae no desire to become a profesional pilot, at 39 I am too old to change career, but if money was no object I would be interested in getting those ratings and increasing my skills and knowledge.

Confused!

[thing]

To do a night rating or IMC rating you have to have the JAR PPL. I'm not sure why, possibly the higher rated medical but it's one of the reasons I opted for it.

[BEagle]

Please see:

http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/620/c-May2011v3.pdf The latest version of the European Legislation - the Expected Effects on the Licensing of Pilots in the UK document.

http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/620/d-FAQMay2011_linked%20to%20paper%20v3.pdf Frequently Asked Questions concerning the new European Rules for pilot licensing.

It will be possible to add a Night Rating to an EASA part-FCL LAPL(A), provided that your colour perception is deemed acceptable (and you do the relevant training).

[Whopity]

ICAO Annex 11.2.2.2 Recommendation.— A pilot licence issued by a
Contracting State should be rendered valid by other
Contracting States for use in private flights.With that in mind one wonders why EASA are concerned about the PPL; any existing PPL that meets ICAO standards should automatically be acceptable. EASA is not a contracting State and it doesn't actually have a PPL that complies with anything. They have failed to produce a single theoretical exams for any of their proposed PPLs, resulting in each State having its own National variant of a so called EASA licence which is then only accepted by EASA on an EASA aircraft. What utter tripe this bunch of bone heads have produced. It is fit only for the rubbish bin.