The simplest way to a PPL with “old” hours is to get up to speed and apply for an NPPL. This can be converted to a LAPL and thence upgraded to a EASA PPL at a future date.
Don’t waste your time talking to the CAA, they have nobody left with any knowledge and no longer do assessments, by the time they reply with the wrong answer you could have it all done.
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The NPPL data is on the LAA website follow that.
The LAPL conversion route will only contnue up to April 2018 so you have to get it all done and licence application in before the deadline
I believe that the Night Qualification can be done as part of the (full) PPL. If I just carried on with my PPL training until 45 hours could I qualify straight away with the night rating? I think in theory I could also do the IMC/IR(R) course, just wouldn’t be able to apply for the rating until after 25 hours of post PPL issue PIC time.
I’m not suggesting this option is necessarily sensible. Hopefully by exploring what is possible then a route which is both possible and sensible can be found.
Can I complete the NPPL without changing schools? The NPPL website would suggest this is not a problem.
What about the TK exams? Are they all the same? So when I came to convert the LAPL to PPL no further exams would be needed? Would there be a time limit on that?
Tumbleweed: what happens after April 18?
I ask as I have many friends on NPPL both M and SSEA who have not converted to LAPL but are considering it. They are slightly put off by the medical requirements.
April 2018 is also when the NPPL (with or without the Medical Self Declaration) will be rendered useless (by Brussels) from being usable on an “EASA aircraft” (basically a certified aircraft with an EASA Type Certificate). It will continue to work on an RV, etc. Some believe this date will slip, not least due to Brexit rendering that stuff a bit irrelevant.
Hi Peter – yes, i’m aware of that – but i was wondering what changed in the context of conversions route?
With the introduction of EASA it was deemed that National licences could only be converted to EASA licences up until the 7th April 2018 thereafter, your National licence stays a National licence with certain limitations i.e. it woul only be valid on an Annex II aeroplane.
There are moves afoot to lower the LAPL medical standards so conversion may not be such an issue but the deadline is approaching and is unlikely to be extended further.
At the PPL level there are only National exams, neither the JAA nor EASA ever produced any, so the same National exams are used for all PPLs except Microlight, issued in the UK. A night rating can be added to a LAPL as well as a PPL, an IMC (IR(R)) cannot.
The NPPL can be trained by an individual instructor , there is no requirement for a school though you won’t find an individual instructor able to administer the TK exams. The time limit for converting to a LAPL is 7th April 2018
I don’t think many instructors would waste their time training a new PPL for an IMC rating, without the 25 hours consolidation they would be wasting everyones time.
Just had it confirmed from someone knowledgeable and helpful at the CAA (yes, apparently they still exist!) that they are no longer granting exemptions.
Will examine options, including the NPPL, with the school later this week.
Update…
Thank you to everyone on here for their kind words of wisdom and inspiration to push me on and get it done.
Today I completed my NPPL, having done the nav test, QXC and skills test all this week.
Ok, so I do still need to upgrade it to the EASA PPL but there is no desperate hurry for that and my new NPPL will allow me to do all I want for a little while yet.
S57 wrote:
Today I completed my NPPL, having done the nav test, QXC and skills test all this week.
Well done. Where are you flying from now?
JasonC wrote:
Well done. Where are you flying from now?
Thanks. Good question… I now need to find a plane and somewhere locally to keep it. Training has all been at Gloucester EGBJ.
