General Exemption
The CAA has now issued a General Exemption which replaces the now obsolete ORS4 No. 756.
A re-wording now states that an 'appropriate Class Rating' must be held by pilots operating under this Exemption. An appropriate Class Rating means one which gives the privilege to fly the aircraft concerned. This will be the applicable SSEA, SLMG or Microlight Class Rating - or an SEP Class Rating (with differences training where SLMG and/or Microlight privileges are exercised on the SEP Class Rating).
The main change is that henceforth an SEP Class Rating cannot be 'included, renewed or revalidated' in a JAR-FCL pilot licence unless the pilot holds a JAA Medical Certificate.
This means that those currently using an SEP Class Rating under the previous ORS4 No.756 may continue to do so until its expiry date. At that point, it will be replaced by a SSEA Class Rating; if SLMG and/or Microlight privileges were exercised on the SEP Class Rating, the relevant Class Ratings will also be issued.
I have reminded the CAA of their agreement that, where a licence holder is obligated by regulatory change to have such additional Class Ratings included in this/her licence, PLD have agreed that there will be no charge.
One significant benefit of having multiple Class Ratings is that the 'consolidated revalidation criteria' originally introduced for the NPPL by the 2008 ANO change now also applies to, for example, lifetime UK PPL holders with SSEA and Microlight Class Ratings - which can lead to a significant cost saving. These can be viewed in Table 2 of Section 3 of Part C of Schedule 7 to the ANO.
There is another exemption which merely regularises Medical Declarations which were countersigned other than by the holder's GP prior to 9 June 2010.
The General Exemption will be included in the Official Record Series 4 shortly; an AIC will also be released giving full details.