in reply to DFC, a change of medication " a minor blip " jesus, what an asumption, the CAA will not issue me with a licence, and I have tried to change medication, certainly NOT a minor blip, I guess you have never had
to take strong medication, and the " cold turkey " of changing or stopping
it, take it from me, its not pleasant,

Well, there was "the biggest load of Beaurocratic Garbage in aviation history", and "forget the NPPL" as well as the start of the strange rumours that abound, such as "Am I correct in thinking that the holder of an NPPL is not able to carry passengers, unless, of course, he is accompanied by a PPL or above who would be P1 ?"; which made me laugh and fume in equal amounts, not easy to do.

I did a CAA PPL in the olden days, came back into it a couple of years ago and went for the NPPL for the reasons I gave earlier - not medical.

I've not flown abroad on either licence so can't help with that query, certainly can't add anything that the venerable company above haven't already said.

The NPPL seems to get a slating every time the topic comes up and I really don't see why. However, no-one's had too much of a go on this thread, so perhaps the tide is turning.

If, due to medical restrictions, I were given the choice of day VFR in the UK or 3/5ths of FA squared - I know where my money would go.

Hello again
J.A.F.O, there's 2 nppl's apparently, the restricted version, no pax, and can only fly 8kms from home ( maybe they attach a string also ? )
unresticted version, can carry pax, usual VFR rules, UK airspace, ( which apparently also covers Europe, but not the Channel Islands ! )
Its no wonder, that aviation, isn't attracting new pilots, I don't consider myself thick, but, this is all so confusing, maybe I should just not bother and by a sports car instead, Makes you wonder how many folk have ??????

Does anyone know how to upgrade NPPL to PPL. I was told if you had 75 hours as P1 flying on an NPPL that you could automatically upgrade to a PPL (subject to passing a skills test and an upgraded medical).

Any ideas:confused:

I am not an expert on the NPPL but a lot of the above is very confused! The NPPL( SEP) is restricted to the UK. The NPPL (M restricted) restricts you to the local aria and the NPPL(M) which allows you to fly in most of Europe, both micros only. You then have NPPL (MG) which I know nothing about at all!

Rod1

As the original post asked about SEP (or SSEA as it is now) I assumed that's what we were talking about and didn't think that we might be off on microlights or anything else.

I'm only a humble NPPL myself and there is a lot of much more accurate information out there but as I understand it:

NPPL is split into three main groups

SSEA - Light aircraft to me and you - You can fly anywhere in the UK in reasonable weather, during the day with up to three passengers - none of whom need to hold your hand or be qualified astronauts or anything.

You can fly aeroplanes with the spare wheel at the front or the back, you can fly ones without any wheels but with floats or skids, you can fly ones where you hide the wheels while you're flying and hope to remember to retrieve them from their hiding place before you land. You can fly aeroplanes where the props all wobbly. In fact you can do most things you'd ever want to do, just not in clouds or with more than four on board.

SLMG - You can do much the same (probably not as many pax, though) in gliders that have engines to launch themselves; in fact you can probably do much more.

M - You can fly microlights and probably to far more places but...

...as I said, I've got the first type and assumed that that was the topic.

Now, I've heard that pilots with NPPLs look just like ordinary pilots but at night they turn into badgers and feed on oranges and beetles; is this true or just a rumour?

The restricted part comes into a Microlight Rating.

One can obtain a Restricted Microlight Rating with 15 hours training. One is restricted to flying within 8nm of the take-off point, Cloud base 1000ft, visibility 10Km and wind less than 15Kt. One can not carry passengers until one has 25 hours experience.

To have the restriction removed, one has to complete the navigation element of the sylabus.

Nothing stopping you making several 8nm flights in a straight line!

------

With your medical problems, are you sure you can meet the DVLA professional driving medical standard?

Regards,

DFC

DFC, yes I can easily pass the DVLA medical, or any other medical come to that, its just, the CAA, have a list ( unpublished ) and the pain killer I need to sleep, are on it, all the arguing in the world, wouldn't change there mind.
and I wasted £1000's on heli training, to be told, NO, fly a microlight

There are so many errors and misconceptions in this thread about the NPPL that it is difficult to know where to start.

Might I suggest that LASORS 2006, for all its errors, would be a good read for some?

Beags

Did I get anything wrong? Apart from the badger/beetle thing - sorry, long day.

No - the badgers and beetles bit was spot on! As was the rest of your post, except that NPPL (SSEA) floatplane operation is being defined as we speak.....

Hopefully!