I thought my ECG at my AME went from the machine directly to the CAA. (UK)
Keeping this thread on topic, and while we have had only a few contributions from different countries, there seems to be zero evidence that EASA, or indeed any member countries except UK (no longer EASA) or France (the old UL medical), have any interest in relaxing the medical.
@Peter I think you are correct. In fact far from relaxing, I think in some countries eg France are if not tightening it, making the whole thing more bureaucratic and less logical.
@aart when you take up the ULM here you can either scan your class 2 medical or a doctor’s letter saying that you are fit to fly and send it to the DGAC along with your application to be a student ULM pilot.
After that, nothing. No annual check up, no scanning doctor’s letters. Nothing..
It is possible, in fact probable that if you own your own ULM you may have to answer some of the questions on the AMEs questionaire on tje questionaire for an insurance quote.
BTW its roughly the same for the aircraft. A one off dossier of conformity and that’s it. No annuals, no CDNs no STCs or TSOs. Nothing.
To be crude the ULM scene is one of pilot responsibility. If you want to go and kill yourself, well that’s your business. Just make sure you keep within weight limits.🙂
Peter wrote:
there seems to be zero evidence that EASA, or indeed any member countries except UK (no longer EASA) or France (the old UL medical), have any interest in relaxing the medical.
The only ‘evidence’ is that according to AOPA Spain when this topic was discussed at Aero this spring, EASA was negative but that they were a lot more receptive when Julian recently presented his document at the GA COM forum, whatever that is.
Of course things may have got ‘lost in translation‘ or some wishful thinking is going on, but let´s not give up hope. EASA have made changes in various areas over the last 10 years. It just takes a while.
Maybe someone here knows Julian and could reach out and get some further views? Or is Julian on this forum by chance?
He is widely known to be “bookworm” here but he rarely posts here nowadays.
I’ve emailed him.
I’m afraid I can’t add very much. I presented the deck that has been linked earlier in the thread at the June GA COM/TeB meeting, which is the joint meeting of the industry and NAA advisory bodies for EASA. It’s where most positive changes for GA are born these days. The reception was overtly positive, but that might be because no one wanted to speak against the proposal to look into the medical requirements. We will see what develops. These initiatives can take a long time.
gallois wrote:
After that, nothing. No annual check up, no scanning doctor’s letters. Nothing..
Are ULs in France restricted in some way? Can they fly in all airspaces (B, C, D), use all airports, not only “UL airports” ?
The problem with relaxing medical requirements for GA is that
On the last point, it reminds me of a conference in London where a couple of us (myself and another poster in this thread) were talking to a high-rank (probably CAA) AME about some concession, and he said, quietly but with a smile, yes that was nearly done but was killed by the AME lobby.
It’s actually true that the vast majority of GA regulation involves under the table axe grinding. This is the main reason why progress is so slow. It’s like we have with Poootin right now; there isn’t going to be much progress until he is pushing daisies, or something similar.
Just like in an SEP you need a clearance to enter CAS providing you have a transponder. Most airports can be used. I write most instead of all because I have not looked at all of them. Some airports you need to PPR whereas you don’t with an SEP. I don’t know the reasoning behind this, especially with somewhere like Royan Medis LFCY. But then again La Rochelle weren’t to bothered the week before last, when we took the DA40 for its 600hr and the Super Guepard to bring the pilot back.
LFBH couldn’t pick up the Super Guepard’s transponder which had suddenly gone “en panne”. But the avionics shop to fix it was at La Rochelle anyway so no problem.
There is very little difference between flying a 3axis ULM in France and flying anything else, except that with the ULM you have more freedom. No minimum annual hours, no control flights (other than perhaps when you fly someone else’s ULM for the first time) no medicals no annuals on aircraft no STCs. Just fly. But you do have to obey the rules of the air in the same way you do in a certified aircraft or helicopter.
I’m afraid I can’t add very much. I presented the deck that has been linked earlier in the thread at the June GA COM/TeB meeting, which is the joint meeting of the industry and NAA advisory bodies for EASA. It’s where most positive changes for GA are born these days. The reception was overtly positive, but that might be because no one wanted to speak against the proposal to look into the medical requirements. We will see what develops. These initiatives can take a long time.
Thank you @bookworm for the background information and for your efforts!
