For IMC holders, they need to have converted to an EASA license before 8th April 2014 in order to exercise the privilege of the IMCr (IR/R) on EASA aircraft after this date. You won’t lose the rating if you convert after this date, but you won’t be legal using it on a JAA or National License. AOPA had an article on this in the June 2013 edition of their magazine (which I don’t have anymore as it got used to squash a large wasp in my car) but I do have a PDF version of the article if anyone wants it.
For this reason I converted mine last week at Gatwick and the process has been dramatically streamlined. I arrived at 0830 and was number 7 in the counter queue, but I still managed to leave the building with two licenses converted just after 0930. As long as you make sure you have the paperwork correctly completed and also have the Level 6 English Proficiency signed off by an examiner it is just a very quick check of the papers, they print you a new license, relieve you of £73 and off you go.
The lifetime UK PPL(A) with IMC privileges that I have held for a good many years now needs to be “renewed” because I have lived abroad and flown on a foreign CPL/IR license. I now wish to return to the UK and resume only PPL flying. On the basis that the lapsed period has been more than 5 years, what needs to be done to bring my PPL up to date. I am aware that I need a medical and will have to receive such training as to bring me up to test standard and take a (UK) GST for the reinstatement of privileges, also that I will need to resit the IMC written. My question is, will I need to resit all 9 exams, or any of them before submitting a Cert. of Test and application for an EASA license to the CAA? I would welcome some advice.
Another question if I may.
When it comes to UK National Licence, is a UK CAA PPL regarded as one or is it the NPPL only? I have checked the CAA website and they talk only about the NPPL.
Then, if the PPL is regarded as a National Licence my understanding is that the holder can’t fly any EASA aircraft such as PA28.
Am I correct?
Thanks again
A UK PPL is an icao compliant PPL. And you can fly all aircraft (including pa28) with LAPL privileges until April 2018. After that you will still be able to fly annex 2 aircraft indefinitely.
The 2018 date has slipped in the past and many people think it will slip again in the future.
It should slip into oblivion.
Legacy U.K. CAA PPL holders were trained tested and examined to ICAO standards and had a right to expect to be able to use their licences internationally with full privileges for life. EASA had no business inventing rules for its own little kingdom.
It should slip into oblivion.
Brexit should assist in that.
But – a silly Q probably – why does anyone keep this national PPL and not convert to an EASA one?
Peter
The point came out yesterday during the meeting with the guy that asked me to fly his aircraft. He has a CAA PPL, I told him that as of April he won’t be able to fly the aircraft as it is an EASA aircraft.
Bathman
Thank you, I will tell him to check what he needs to do in order to convert to EASA
Flybymike
This is one of the reasons why we have Brexit, people had enough of the Eurocrats. Next year is elections year in the continent, will be very interesting to watch.
Thank you all.
Peter wrote:
why does anyone keep this national PPL and not convert to an EASA one?
Can you use it as a basis for a FAA pilot certificate indefinitely?
Silvaire wrote:
Can you use it as a basis for a FAA pilot certificate indefinitely?
That’s a really good question. I obtained a JAR PPL (which was latterly converted to an EASA PPL) on the basis of my UK CAA PPL. So now I have both the UK CAA PPL and a UK EASA PPL. My FAA Part 61.75 Private Certificate was originally issued on the basis of my Australian PPL in 1996 but when the plastic cards came out I ended up getting a new Part 61.75 on the basis of my UK CAA PPL…. Then I was told that since EASA now calls the shots in Europe for certified aircraft, the UK CAA down-graded the privileges of my UK CAA PPL such that it is not permitted to fly EASA registered certified aircraft (other than so-called Annex 2 aircraft). Although the UK CAA did take up the derogation offered by EASA to defer implementation, which currently expires April 2017… Most UK PPLs with a 61.75 certificate then got their 61.75 reissued to show the EASA PPL number rather than the old UK CAA PPL number….although I didn’t because I since obtained a standalone FAA Private Certificate….
But now this thread has got me thinking: “is it correct that a fully ICAO compliant PPL can be rendered sub-ICAO at the whim of EASA for no other reason than they created a competing PPL?”…Doesn’t seem right to me.
AnthonyQ wrote:
But now this thread has got me thinking: “is it correct that a fully ICAO compliant PPL can be rendered sub-ICAO at the whim of EASA for no other reason than they created a competing PPL?”…Doesn’t seem right to me.
Especially when issued for life by UK and when operating outside of EASA governed airspace, i.e. most of the world, in a non-EU registered aircraft.
My reason for asking is that I know at least two UK ex-pats who obtained their FAA Pilot Certificate based on a ‘valid for life’ 1970s-era UK pilot’s license, which BTW is a very elegant looking thing similar to a UK passport of the same era. Both pilots are unlikely to fly in the EU again, but they would probably benefit from at least understanding if their UK license remains a valid basis for their FAA pilot certificate, without new restrictions on aircraft type, outside of EASA governed airspace.
I wonder about the chance of UK CAA explicitly stating to FAA that their lifetime ICAO license and the people who hold it have been downgraded? I believe that unless they do that, FAA will treat the UK license as it was when issued, and if so it will remain a valid basis for an FAA Pilot Certificate indefinitely.
