EASA Licencing
 

Has anyone here deciphered the new EASA licencing rules and how this will impact those of us who fly in the UK in a G or N reg plane VFR?

Mike,

I'm surprised that this hasn't been discussed in depth on here already or on other forums, considering that the forthcoming changes affect us all.

Nothing is finalised yet, but current indications from EASA are somewhat draconian. It seems likely that we're all going to step down one licence level on an interim basis, with a requirement for re-test under EASA regulations to recover the equivalent of original licence held. So, a PPL holder will become an NPPL, a CPL becomes a PPL, etc. When you take the test, you get your old licence back.

The medical changes are equally fierce. The Class 2 & NPPL medicals are to be abandoned, with all pilots moving to Class 1 testing. This will affect a lot of people, I'm sure.

What I find particularly irritating is the EASA flight plan requirement. All private flights will require two hours notice and an AFPEX submitted flight plan. Best apply for an account now, there seems to be an ever increasing backlog of account applications and it's taking three months or more to get on the system.

I'm sure there's more to come. There's some really heavy maintenance stuff, which I'm sure a maintenance expert will be along shortly to explain.

Also the GAR form will go, all aircraft will have to have a mode T transponder (which is mode S + additional BS) and the lower limit class C airspace will become 1000' AGL.

There's one major exception to all of these draconian measures though. Pigs will be allowed to fly without medical, license, maintenance/equipment requirements or flight plans.

Some threads on pprune should be marked with a health warning!:eek:

Well, everybody on here is supposed to have a Class 1 medical by now (see above) so your heart should be able to cope with some minor shocks, not?

You are not going to get a one-liner answer to such a one-liner Q :)

What exactly do you need to know?

I thought EASA was going to outlaw VFR flight meaning everyone would need IMC as a minimum...unless there is a cloud within 10km, in which case you need the full IR.

Except during the Olympics when all farm animals will need transponders.

Not all farm animals. Some are more equal than others.

EASA Licencing
 

Thanks for this, i wish i had not asked now! if we are all to have a class 1 medical how does that impact NPPL? - this will surely put a whole raft of pilots firmly on the ground for good - on the cost of the medical alone.

I cannot believe, as you say, there has not been much chatting re this as its nearly upon us and will affect all FAA certificated pilots in the UK.

Mikejohn, I guess the irony was lost on you. I'll put you out of your misery.

There's a 400+ post thread on the consequences of EASA on the IMC rating alone: http://www.pprune.org/private-flying...imcr-news.html

With just a bit more digging you should also be able to find the huge thread on the impact of EASA proposals on FAA licensed, EU resident pilots flying N-reg aircraft as well. IO540 is one of the top contributers there.

And there are similar threads on various other subjects, although other subjects don't seem to be as "hot" as these two. But just looking through the first five pages of the index should reveal several of them. Heck, the search function fortunately accepts four-letter acronyms like "EASA" so why not give that a try. (Sadly, in a world full of three-letter acronyms PPRuNe does not allow searches based on three letters alone. In that respect, EASA replacing JAA is a good thing.)

But ignore everything that was said on this thread. We were just playing with you. I had hoped the "pigs would fly" pun would make that clear.:ok:

EASA Licencing
 

Hahah - great sense of humour thank you for that - i was thinking at the time class 1 medical for all that wont work! many thanks for this will look at what you suggested.

The CAA publish a summary of the effect on G-reg operators here:
Licensing and Training Standards | EASA | Safety Regulation

The first link in the centre of the page is a detailed document, the second is to some FAQs.

PPL/IR have a summary for N-reg operators here: PPL/IR Europe - The Effect of EU Legislation on Foreign Registered Aircraft Operation - UPDATED & OPENED TO PUBLIC
It hasn't been update with the FCL008 NPA, but this won't impact VFR fliers, so the substance is still right I think

Anyone got any ideas as to the dates the CAA are working towards with regards to publishing their conversion reports for licences such as the NPPL?

Cheers

It's being worked on right now. I wouldn't worry about it, from what I know.

Given the similiar thread on the IMCr, that really left me with a chuckle.

Clearly one of the ones that know, or thinks they know, but arent saying.

David without wishing to be unkind you are very good at saying you know, but arent saying - its a bit playground. If you know, but cant say, please keep it to yourself. ;)

I know nothing, so I am not worried!

(Classic excuse for the behaviour of many students!)

Fuji,

When I say what I do I have a reason. As Secretary of NPLG I am privy to the draft conversion report, but it is not for me to publish details. CAA will do that when it is finalised.

Therefore I was giving my view, within the constraints on me. Don't you trust me?

David - I dont know you, so I have no basis for trusting you or not. On the basis of your posts, as that is all I have to go by, I would trust you.

I am delighted that you have given your view; I would have rather you said that in your opinion we shouldnt be worried about the conversion route for NPPL holders (if that is what you mean, because your post could also be interpreted to mean we dont need to worry about the conversion report being published soon, which was the question, not should we be worried about their findings) and left it at that.

Sorry if I am making an issue but the trend today annoys me of people making out they have information on the basis of which they can give assures without being prepared to disclose that information. It smaks too much of this whole process which has throughout been plagued by half truths, leaks, retractions and the usual nonesense which results in there being very little trust left between anyone. Not a happy state of affairs.

Fuji,

My intent was 'you need not worry about the conversion report in terms of conditions, based on what I know at this stage on the draft'.

When one works - voluntarily I add in my case - in a lead role for some of the main GA representative organisations in both the UK and Europe, which I have doing for 10 years now, one gets better results by playing by the rules of engagement. Which means not always being able to disclose every twist and turn of discussions and negotiations in an evolving environment where no one knows all the answers or even some of the answers. We do not negotiate in public, but we try to keep people informed reasonably from time to time of the main developments.

Anyway you can look me up as Chairman of the RAeC, President of Europe Air Sports, immediate past Chairman of the BGA, Secretary and past Chairman of NPLG Ltd, and member of the GA Alliance. I meet regularly with top level officials at EASA and the Commission as well as the UK CAA.

And I use my real name on this forum, which is another reason for being circumspect sometimes. Further, I deal in facts and try to avoid speculation. If I thought there was something in the pipeline to be worried about I would try and say so, within the limits I describe.

BTW, I wonder how it is that a large part of the LAPL licences are very similar to the UK NPPL and other UK comparable qualifications? Co-incidence?

On a related issue, has there been any progress on the medical front?

For example there is the present distinction between the Initial medical and the Renewal medical. In general terms, the UK and every other Euro CAA has allowed Demonstrated Ability (DA) on the latter but not the former. This is a corruption of the "safety system" because when you go on the BA 747 to Orlando, the two pilots up front have been flying on Renewal medicals for many years, so they have been allowed essentially unlimited uncorrected vision defects, unlimited uncorrected hearing loss, etc. Whereas any "Euro" IR has never been accessible to any initial applicant who fails the JAA audiogram in just one ear (except via a very complicated roundabout route which takes years to do, and may not even be available today) and I believe this remains the case for the FCL008 IR.

In 2008 I spoke face to face with Eric Sivel who said EASA will end this distinction, and will allow DA on initial medicals too - which is more or less what the FAA does.