EASA license changes / renewals

[molecular man]

Hi,

I'm in a bit of pickle here. I have a valid and current JAA MEIR. I also have an MEP rating but that has expired now (by about a year now). I've been told by my training provider that they believe the license changes will mean that if MEP is not validated by the time of conversion (8th April i believe) then i will have to redo the entire MEP course. Is this correct? At the moment i'm being quoted about £950 for 2 hours refresher and test compared to about £2,500 for the entire MEP course.

Can anyone clarify if this is indeed the case as i can't find the relevant info on the CAA website and time is running out if i do need to do this. My friend who has an MEIR which has now expired is also worried that he will have to redo the entire course again if its not valid and current on the 8th april.

Any info would be nice!

Thanks guys

[BillieBob]

Absolute nonsense! It sounds as though your training provider is trying to rip you off.

For a start, the UK is not planning to adopt the Annexes to the new regulation until 1 July and so the new requirements have no effect until then. After Annex 1 to the regulation (Part FCL) becomes effective, there will be a requirement for refresher training prior to renewal of an expired class rating. The amount of refresher training varies with the time since expiry - Up to 3 months no training is required; from 3 months to a year a minimum of two training session; from 1 to 3 years a minimum of two training sessions and over three years the initial course should be repeated. All this is in AMC 1 FCL.740(b)(1), with which your training provider should be familiar.

It is worth noting that there is no definition of a training session - a 10 minute briefing over a cup of coffee could be said to be a training session!