Using "old" hours for LAPL

[PropGun]

I'm British, and a UK resident. Back in 2005 I did a lads' holiday to the US where after a week's instruction and 17 hours I went solo in an N registered PA28. It was an Anglo American Aviation, Gillespie Field (KSEE) in San Diego. It's all there in my logbook, signed by the instructor (who was a Brit), along with my pre-solo certificate and FAA medical. However, back in the UK I never really did anything with it, as what limited flying I did was from the right hand seat of a mate's aircraft.

Fast forward to now, in 2024, and I am doing my LAPL. (I chose LAPL because it is marginally cheaper and quicker to get, and will probably be perfectly adequate for my realistic leisure aviation goals for a few years, and nothing to do with the medical, I'm fit and healthy). I have now gone solo (C152) after 6 "new" hours.

I do not for one second want to cut any corners, and I want to be the best and safest pilot I can be. However, if it does get to the point that I am ready for my skills test before I've flown another 24 hours on top of the "new" 6, is there any way that I can use any of those "old" US hours from 2005 towards the 30 minimum I need before doing my ST?

I've heard conflicting info ranging from "hours don't expire" to "US hours in an N registered aircraft don't count". A definitive answer would be great!

Thanks in advance

[Prop swinger]

FCL.110.LAPL(A) - Experience requirements and crediting, inherited from EASA:

(c) Crediting. Applicants with prior experience as PIC may be credited towards the requirements of point (a).

The amount of credit shall be decided by the DTO or the ATO where the pilot undergoes the training course, on the basis of a pre-entry flight test, but shall in any case:

(1) not exceed the total flight time as PIC;
(2) not exceed 50 % of the hours required in point (a);
(3) not include the requirements of point (a)(2).

Point (a) being the minimum total & dual & solo time. This is PIC time, so 16.5 hours dual & 30 mins solo doesn't really count for much.

[Pilot DAR]

PropGun, San Diego is a beautiful area to fly around, and some experience in a PA 28 back in the day is fine. In terms of "credit" towards flying now, think of it in two ways: what you can get credit for numerically, and the actual benefit it may carry in terms of retained skills. Numeric (hours) credit is defined. Bear in mind that those are minimums. The regulator does have to state minimum hour requirements, just to have some confidence that a sharp pilot wannabe is not just challenging a flight test.

As for retained skills you may have from 17 hours of flying 20 years ago.... not much. Sure, some will come back, but the important skills are perishable in much less time than that. There's a reason that most flying clubs want you to fly at least once a month, which parallels most insurers, who generally get antsy if you have flown less than 15 hours in the last year. I have mentored a number of returning to flying (now that they could afford it) pilots, who were short on recency, and provided advanced type training for others. The common gap I have seen is skills in unusual attitudes and emergencies, then easy task saturation. My better candidates (one, a 7000 hour airline pilot at the time) have said, I have flying experience and a license, but let's approach this without credit for either, and see how we do. That's the attitude I like to see in a pilot who strives for safety!

[rightbank]

I believe that training prior to 2012 had some restrictions. Have a look at this thread Question on PPL Hours crediting - PPRuNe Forums