SHORTENED (to help in the AF 447 case ):
You acquire definitivly a "brevet " and need the corresponding validated license to use it.
At the time where PP1 (pilote professionnel de 1ere classe) existed you were allowed to get captain of public transport aircrafts of :
-MTOW 5.7 tons with a professional pilot license ("PP " but be careful that today "PP" license is a PRIVATE Pilot license! And the former PP is CPL...)
-MTOW 21 tons with a first class professional pilot license (PP1)
-No weight limitation with Line Pilot license (PL today ATPL)
And you needed the PP1 or more to be F/O on multicrew public transport .
To be a private pilot you needed a private pilot license called "TT" (mini 40h ) or more.
France created also a " brevet de base " (BB) (20h) to fly in France with many additional autorisations to fly effectively.
When France decided to have a two worlds system they suppressed the PP1, but ...replaced it for multicrew F/O with a professional pilot license with a new (not ICAO) additional thaught and exam "Formation pratique complementaire" : FPC ! as pilot unions did not want to give the ATPL to former PP1 and PP... .
PP+FPC replaced the F/O PP1.
It is the reason why french F/O may fly as airliner pilot without ATPL but with a CPL (the new name of PP ). The other licenses Bonin had :PP (the new name of TT ) , BB , and glider were not enough to fly Air France Airbus but were validated with less severe conditions for lower or specific use.
Many special conditions exist, and derogations ("le fait du prince ") exist in the french civil aviation system. Sad.
What is really strange and abnormal in the CVR is that Marc Dubois seems to ignore at T.O. Bonin license... Sudden loss of memory ? Other ?