Frequently Asked Questions - PPL licencing, renewals, logging hours etc.

[BackPacker]

I've seen a bunch of recent threads on PPL licenses, class ratings, renewals, logging hours and all that stuff that people should be able to find in JAR-FCL or LASORS, but apparently can't.

(Insert mild frustration here...)

Anyway, I have some spare time on my hands and are willing to write a FAQ on this subject, ask BRL to make it into a sticky and prevent the same questions to be asked again over and over.

I plan to include references to the appropriate JAR-FCL article and LASORS section with each answer, and where appropriate, a link to where on PPRuNe the question was debated (P1 on a checkflight anyone?)

I have a few questions (with answers) in mind which need to be part of the FAQ but I'm very happy to let others contribute more. So if you have a question that you think should be in a FAQ on this subject, and/or have the answer, and/or have the reference to JAR-FCL, LASORS or PPRuNe, please post them here.

When time comes, I will start another thread which will become the FAQ but since that one will probably live for a long time, I don't think it will be appropriate to have any discussion, witty one-liners, half-complete responses etc. there.

Here's my preliminary list of questions:

1. What are the license requirements to be issued a JAR-FCL PPL(A)?
2. Can I do parts, or all of the course in a foreign country, JAA or otherwise?
3. What are the license privileges of a "private" pilots license? To what extent can I get paid or reimbursed for my flying?
4. What airplanes can I fly on my PPL? (AKA what's this class/type rating thing?)
5. What do I need to do to keep my license current and valid? What do I do if I let some parts of my license (in the broadest sense) lapse?
6. Can I fly a foreign aircraft on my JAA PPL?
7. I'm having a flight lesson/checkflight/private flight/flight exam/ride as a passenger in an aircraft for which I am/am not licensed. How do I log this properly?
8. Can I log P2 time in an XXX if I acted as co-pilot on the flight, handling the radios and navigation?

Anyone wanting to contribute questions, answers, references etc. please post them here. Or post a link to a PPRuNe thread where info can be found.

[llanfairpg]

Great idea BP and save Beagle from constantly adding, 'you should already know that'!

[EvilKitty]

Maybe BEagle can be pursuaded to provide a foreword to the thread praising BackPacker for his hard work in providing these really useful FAQs, thanking BRL for making it sticky, and admonishing the rest of us for our laziness in not knowing the contained information

[BackPacker]

Well, the enthusiasm is overwhelming... Other than one PM (thanks for that) no additional questions?

[Xoxon]

How about:

5. b. "What happens if my license HAS lapsed?"

6. b. "Can I fly in Europe, USA, Asia on my JAA PLL?"

9. "What practical impact will the ongoing European standardisation have upon all of the above?"

10. "I acknowledge that a time will come when I want to be able to fly IFR. What is the most practical way for me to be able to do this in Europe (FAA IR, bring N reg plane over here?) Will future EASA alterations change this situation?"

11. "I fly a design that is sometimes registered as a microlight on a permit and sometimes registered Class A with a higher MAUW. When I approach one of the many aerodromes that don't allow microlights to land, how will they know the registration status of my plane and disallow me?"


Thanks! I think the sticky idea is a good initiative.

Lasors is slightly impenetrable to the uninitiated - one spends all their time laughing at the drawings of birds which are supposed to help with species recognition in a strike and drooling over the section that describes how to prepare your own farm strip, rather than all those legal technicality sections that still seem open to interpretation even after you guys dissect and discuss them! (referring to the "appropriately qualified" clause discussed in the previous thread concerning how to fly a micro with a PPL).

[EvilKitty]

12) How do I log time for different national licences? e.g. if I have a JAR-FCL and FAA piggyback? Or seperate standalone licences from different NAAs that may have different logging requirements? Do I need to keep seperate log books?

[BackPacker]

I came up with one or two that I admit I don't know the answer to. Microlights.

First off, can anyone point me to the proper definition of a Microlight?

Second, it seems you can fly Microlights both on an NPPL and a PPL. Formally there is no JAA definition for a Microlight so they're included in the SEP(A) class on a PPL. But for the NPPL they are considered a separate class, for which you need a class rating, right? And I saw a link to some ANO changes effective Jan 31st. I haven't followed up on it, but can anybody summarize the practical implications?

Any other exceptions for Microlights? I understand a PPL/FI can get renumeration for flight instruction, even if he/she doesn't hold a CPL?

And is there a legal difference somewhere between a three-axis and a weight-shift? Or is it just one license that catches all?

Oh, and how about the VLA class?

[BackPacker]

9. "What practical impact will the ongoing European standardisation have upon all of the above?"

Oh. Contentious topic. What about the following:

"In very short words: we don't know exactly.

Slightly longer answer: Right now, the JAR-FCL standards are enacted into law by the various countries that form the JAA. In that process, they can choose to modify the regulations slightly, and add some regulations to it. When EASA takes over, the regulations that they write become law automatically, EU-wide, with virtually no way of countries augmenting that with their own regulations.

The first aspect of this is that the regulations across Europe will be the same, will be ICAO compliant, and will most likely follow current JAR-FCL regulations closely.

The second aspect of this is that national licenses, ratings and ways of doing things will most likely disappear. For the UK, this will probably, but not surely, mean the following:
- The NPPL ... (actually, don't know about this. Stay, Go, or taken over by EASA for an EU-wide NPPL)?
- The IMC rating, as it stands now, will most likely disappear. (But see also http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=302722)
- Microlights, gliding, ballooning, homebuilding and other areas of the sport that now benefit from a lot of self-regulation under the CAA, will most likely get more regulatory oversight, both with regards to training/licensing and airworthiness/maintenance.
- The UK is currently very lenient in allowing people with foreign PPLs to fly Day VFR in a G-reg SEP(A) aircraft without further ado. This will probably not be possible anymore: people with foreign PPLs will most likely have to obtain an EASA PPL in a similar way as the FAA "piggyback" license.
- Equally, the current situation where N-reg aircraft are imported into the UK permanently, but are allowed to remain on the N-register indefinitely, will also change.

There's some good news too. There is a working group at the CAA active in proposing changes to the current theory requirements for an IR rating. The hope is that these proposals will be accepted before EASA takes over flight crew licensing, leading to a far more accessible IR rating than under the current JAR-FCL. My understanding is that the IR will have roughly the same theory requirements as the FAA IR, and this is only slightly more than the current theory requirements for the UK IMC rating."

[BackPacker]

11. "I fly a design that is sometimes registered as a microlight on a permit and sometimes registered Class A with a higher MAUW. When I approach one of the many aerodromes that don't allow microlights to land, how will they know the registration status of my plane and disallow me?"

Interesting question. My guess would be the following:

"A decision not to accept microlights is not a legal matter, but an operational decision, made for some reason, by the airfield manager. Based on these operational conditions I guess an airfield manager will judge things on a case by case basis. But if problems arise, you can assume that the airfield manager will have access to G-INFO to settle disputes."

But I have no practical experience with this. Anybody wants to comment?

[dublinpilot]

How to complete a flight plan for a trip to Le Touquet.

What do I need to do about Customs/Special Branch/Immigration

[BackPacker]

DP, I'm trying to keep the scope of this FAQ limited to everything related to pilot licensing issues. You're welcome though to provide the definitive answer to those questions and put them somewhere. Maybe an "long distance touring operational issues" FAQ? Might want to include oxygen information as well (with help from IO540 and Bose-X), avgas/mogas/jet-a availability, VFR flying in different countries and so forth.

But otherwise we will need to include questions like "What's sternones opinion on aircraft type XXX? (where XXX is everything except Mooney)" too.

[Mariner9]

Can I fly VFR on top in France

[BackPacker]

Can I fly VFR on top in France

Nice one. I might make it a little broader and say "weather minima".

How about this:

"JAR-FCL specifies that without an instrument rating you can only fly in VMC conditions. What these conditions are depend on the airspace involved (different classes have different minima, and the minima are different in each country) but the country that issued you your license may specify additional minima.

For a CAA-issued JAR-FCL PPL, there is an additional "surface in sight" restriction, which means that you cannot fly above an OVC (and maybe a BKN???) layer. This restriction is lifted automatically upon acquiring an IMC rating. So even if the IMC rating itself has no legal relevance outside the UK, the fact that your "surface in sight" restriction is now lifted means that you can fly VFR on Top, providing that the country where you fly does not have a restriction in place for the airspace involved.

In practice, it is virtually impossible for the authorities to determine the weather conditions exactly at a certain point in time, and the cases where people were prosecuted because of busting weather minima are few and far between. Common sense prevails mostly. Although incidents such as the one at Blackpool do remind us all that the VMC minimal rules are there for a reason." (Include URL to PPRuNe discussion about G-BBBK or whatever the callsign was?)

Edited: Here's what the ANO says about PPLs:

[A PPL shall not...] unless his licence includes an instrument rating (aeroplane) or an instrument meteorological conditions rating (aeroplanes), fly as pilot in command of such an aeroplane—

(i) on a flight outside controlled airspace when the flight visibility is less than 3 km;

(ii) on a special VFR flight in a control zone in a flight visibility of less than 10 km except on a route or in an aerodrome traffic zone notified for the purpose of this sub-paragraph; or

(iii) out of sight of the surface;

[ANO Schedule 8, Part A, Section 1, subsection 1, para 2c]

[Orographic]

One request.

A line indicating which territories this applies to, after all , we are not all in the UK, and we are not all in the states.

There are, after all differences between the various regulatory bodies.

[Whopity]

I've seen a bunch of recent threads on PPL licenses, class ratings, renewals, logging hours and all that stuff that people should be able to find in JAR-FCL or LASORS, but apparently can't.

Could it be they are looking in the wrong place? LASORS is in the main an advisory document; JAR-FCL has no legal status except where it is incorporated into the ANO.

If you can't find the answer in the correct reference usually the ANO, it would appear that there is no legally binding answer to the question.

Big changes to the ANO tomorrow for NPPL holders! http://opsi.gov.uk/si/si2007/uksi_20073467_en_1

[BackPacker]

A line indicating which territories this applies to, after all , we are not all in the UK, and we are not all in the states.

This'll be about a JAR-FCL PPL, with differences between each of the JAA states mentioned where applicable, and where I know about them.

I'm trying to incorporate the NPPL stuff and everything regarding Microlights in there as well but find I know next to nothing about it.

[Fake Sealion]

whopity

I've had a scan through the ANO amendment....However.....no chance I suppose of a summary of it's content!!! In particular it's impact upon NPPL SSEA?

Ta

[BackPacker]

Okay, I have the first few answers ready in draft form. Anybody who is willing to review them before I put them up, let me know and I'll PM the URL of a private website where they're currently stored.

[englishal]

Irv Lee has a very good FAQ's website...I can't remember the address but he answers most of your questions. I also bought a pre-preflight checklist off him a while ago. A very usefuld "checklist" which explains all things like customs and special branch etc.....

[Vlad the Imbiber]

Seconded about Irv Lee's FAQ page. Address is http://www.higherplane.flyer.co.uk/faq.htm