That rumour has been going around for some months.
EASA is not going to tell anybody till the last minute, otherwise it would be like telling your 2 year old kid “NO YOU CANNOT HAVE THAT ICE CREAM but if you scream loud enough I will cave in and let you have it” 
Each year they postpone it is another year for which FAA PPL/IRs in Europe do not have to obtain the equivalent EASA papers. So that’s a lot of IR training (CB IR especially) business lost to the FTOs who set up for training it, business lost to IREs who would otherwise be doing annual IR revalidations for people like me and business lost to AMEs who would otherwise be doing Initial and Renewal CAA medicals.
See here and here It would appear that the postponement to 2017, if it happens, would be simply because EASA has not managed to conclude the FCL treaty with the FAA.
The BASA IPL has nothing to do with EASA at this stage, the technical stuff was concluded a long time ago. I’d like to blame the delay on “politics”, but the reality is probably more administrative and bureaucratic than political.
The postponement of the April 2016 deadline to 2017 was definitely in the last draft amendment to the aircrew regulation, and was an uncontroversial part of it. The document is D042244/03 in the comitology register but it looks like you need to request it.
D042244/03 requested, will report back when it arrives and I have digested the relevant contents.
OK Guys, here it is.
(3) Paragraph 4 of Article 12 is replaced by the following:
‘4. By way of derogation from paragraph 1, Member States may decide not to apply the provisions of this Regulation until 8 April 2017 to pilots holding a licence and associated medical certificate issued by a third country involved in the non-commercial operation of aircraft as specified in Article 4(1)(b) or (c) of Regulation (EC) No 216/2008. Member States shall make those decisions publicly available.’
The draft document is here and the paragraph in question is on page 4:
This is still a draft (see the cover page) AFAICS.
Also each participating country needs to implement the derogation. Some may, some may not, and some don’t even know where to find these regs
So what does this really mean for us mere mortals less versed in the legal speak of EASA?
LFHNflightstudent wrote:
So what does this really mean for us mere mortals less versed in the legal speak of EASA?
It benefits people with FAA IRs who fly their N-reg aircraft under the IFR in Europe in that they now have a further year in which to get their EASA IR….
It also means, amongst other things, if you have an IR(R) with more than say 40hrs of IMC time and live in the UK, the best route to an instrument rating is to get an FAA IR now and then log at least 50hrs flying “under the IFR” either in an N reg anywhere OR in an EASA reg in the UK….you can then get an EASA IR with a Flight Test….and no written exams…
Very good news and I would say there is a chance it will get pushed out another year as it will be very hard for the ATO’s to get all the FAA IR holders converted in the next 16 months.
This 2017 date is still only a draft, IMHO.
What has happened this year, as compared with say January 2014, is that the draft containing the delay has become public, whereas e.g. the draft circulating Jan 2014 (which contained the April 2016 delay) was never made public while it was a draft.
We have to thank johnzh for digging this out
So what does this really mean for us mere mortals less versed in the legal speak of EASA?
The background is here
If the April 2017 delay does arrive, and your country’s CAA implements the delay (they are not required to, but the “First World” 
ones normally do) then you have till April 2017 to obtain EASA licenses, ratings and – very importantly for many – medicals.
Cirrus_Man wrote:
it will be very hard for the ATO’s to get all the FAA IR holders converted in the next 16 months
You do not need an ATO for the conversion – provided you have 50 hrs PIC time under IFR
