NPPL Currency- Help!

[charliegolf]

Reading Lasors, I reckon that if you can show that you have always done 6 hrs or more SEP time in the previous 12 months 'up to today', and do the instructor ride inside the 24 months:

you never need to refer to anyone else
you need no signatures
there is no expiry.

Am I right? Anyone gone through re-validation recently?

Thanks

CG

[J.A.F.O.]

Reading LASORs, you seem to be right, lets keep quiet about it, shall we?

[Arclite01]

Sounds far too easy to me........

[J.A.F.O.]

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.................

[RichyRich]

Don't bury your head in the sand: why not ask the CAA (if no-one here can give a definitive reply)?

The last thing you want is to find that you were meant to send in paperwork (plus dosh probably), and have been flying illegally for the past N years: they will stomp on your head then!

I'm nowhere near first renewal, and it'll be JAR not NPPL, so I have the answers (on another thread somewhere).

[bar shaker]

I re-validated my NPPL recently and got my club CFI to sign the license (well, the few scraps of A5 paper that I carry around).

There's no point not doing it, although I can see that it would be difficult to make a case against you, if you had flown the hours.

Surely there is enough money in the NPPL license fee for the license to be like a passport type document, something that we could be proud of showing people.

[Irv]

lets keep quiet about it, shall we?

The secret should be safe, as it's all covered in an AIC issued over 3 months ago so hardly anyone will know.

Or, you could look at the Flyer home page and spot the news item on it - which would point you to:
NPPL AIC

I think any insurance company wanting to get out of paying for accidents should read it very carefully - there must be loads of NPPL pilots (especially the ones who converted from a full licence) flying with invalid ratings believing the rating expiry date in their licence - which shouldn't actually be there!

[BEagle]

The current state of confusion stems from an error made by the CAA - which they have admitted in committee.

The definitive re-validation and renewal requirements have now been completely re-drafted in accordance with the NPPL P&SC's original intentions. But as it takes an age to amend the ANO, the stop-gap AIC was issued earlier in the year to clarify current legislation. The AIC was also supposed to have made it clear that it is only a stop-gap until the corrected legislation is in place...but was printed before that statement was received

The re-drafted requirements will now go to the CAA's legal department; hopefully they will then be submitted to Parliament and will become law in the next ANO amendment later in the year.

Please don't blame any of the aviation groups represented on the NPPL P&SC for this gross cock-up - it wasn't our fault! And we've spent a heck of a lot of time trying to sort out the resulting mess!

[charliegolf]

Thanks Guys

I thought I knew the score, and I did!

All those possible insurance horror stories had already crossed my mind, so I wanted confirmation.

Got the same story from AOPA too.

Funnily enough, a local PPL examiner didn't want to confirm anything!

Cheers.

CG

[Irv]

Any clue as to the proposed 'new' system Beagle? Expiry dates? I know syndicates and rental owners who hope so, as it makes things clear.

a local PPL examiner didn't want to confirm anything

I doubt if examiners know - they're faced with an ANO saying one thing, and AIC saying something very slightly different, and a certificate of experience which gives a definite expiry date when apparently it shouldn't!

[BEagle]

Yes, I know precisely what the proposals are, but won't post them here now as they have yet to be discussed with the CAA's legal people.

There will, however, be clear validity periods of 2 years for SSEA, SLMG and Microlight Ratings. Time on each will count towards the total re-validation requirements.

[steve_moate]

Below cut & pasted from another site.......


CAA Clarifies Rules for NPPL SEP (SSEA) Ratings

26 - 01 - 2004

FLYER contributor (and licence guru) Irv Lee writes:

Any holder of an NPPL with a SEP ('Single Engine Piston') rating is advised to read AIC 3/2004 (white 92) issued January 8th 2004 very carefully. Failure to understand the newly explained concept of 'self regulation' for validity of the rating could lead to many problems. (Terminology has also changed - 'SEP' ratings will be renamed 'SSEA' - Simple Single Engine Aircraft' - when used in the context of an NPPL.)

The AIC can be found at your flying club or on the AIS online website (free registration required for access - see www.ais.org.uk). To summarise the important points for the NPPL-SEP or NPPL-SSEA holders:

- There is no longer a need to find an examiner to sign to revalidate NPPL-SEP (or NPPL-SSEA) ratings on NPPL Certificates of Experience every year as they no longer have expiry dates. Expiry dates already written against these specific ratings in the NPPL can be ignored as they should not be there. However...

- Instead of working to a specific expiry date, all NPPL-SEP or NPPL-SSEA pilots must 'self-regulate' the validity of their ratings on the day of any intended flight. This is done by checking their own logged flying experience over the previous 12 and 24 months before the intended flight. Failure to check experience over the previous 2 years before any flight could allow a pilot to take to the air without realising that the NPPL-SEP or NPPL-SSEA rating is no longer valid - a situation which might lead to legal and insurance problems should an incident occur.

For NPPL SEP (or SSEA) ratings to be valid for use on any particular flight, the pilot must have:

either:
1) Passed a NPPL skills test in an SEP (SSEA) rated aircraft with an authorised examiner in the 12 months prior to the intended flight.

OR

2) In SEP (SSEA) rated aircraft, have completed an instructional flight of an hour minimum in the previous 24 months AND also have flown 6 hours in the most recent 12 months, of which at least 4 hours must have been 'pilot in command'.

If NPPL-SEP (SSEA) rated pilots on the day of an intended flight find that they do not meet either (1) or (2) above, they must not fly as pilot in command using that rating. To regain validity of the rating, they must pass an NPPL skills test with an authorised examiner in order to satisfy point (1).

Note that the rules above only apply to NPPL holders who have 'SEP' ratings (newly renamed as 'SSEA' ratings) entered into their licences. This new concept of 'self regulation of rating validity' does not apply to NPPL Microlight, NPPL SLMG, or any JAA ratings - these pilots continue to work to
current revalidation rules and continue to have expiry dates on the ratings.

[BEagle]

Yes, those are indeed the current requirements - which are going to be changed at the next ANO amendment to something very much simpler!

[jgs43]

Note that the rules above only apply to NPPL holders who have 'SEP' ratings (newly renamed as 'SSEA' ratings) entered into their licences. This new concept of 'self regulation of rating validity' does not apply to NPPL Microlight, NPPL SLMG, or any JAA ratings - these pilots continue to work to current revalidation rules and continue to have expiry dates on the ratings.

If only it were that simple!! I know, at least one New NPPL (SLMG) holder who does not have an expiry date for the rating entered in his licence. As the licence was issued post January 1st 2004 perhaps someone should tell the CAA themselves about the current rules.
Trying to explain to the person concerned that his rating is only valid for 13 months is extremely difficult as the AIC issued did not clarify that SLMG and Microlight remained unchanged.

"perplexed examiner"

[J.A.F.O.]

Reading LASORs, you seem to be right, lets keep quiet about it, shall we?

Don't bury your head in the sand

I think that I should point out that I wasn't burying my head anywhere at all except perhaps in LASORS and the AIC therefore was well aware that CG was right, merely didn't want the CAA or anyone else to spot that we knew what we were doing and therefore feel compelled to initiate yet another change.