[The Other Ian]

I currently have an EASA PPL with an SEP rating and a UK NPPL with an SSEA rating. I have been recently looking at flying 3-axis microlights as a cheaper way of flying. Some microlights look very interesting and those friends who fly them say they are fun and just as capable as the basic Cessnas or PA28s, etc - just much cheaper to run and maintain.

What do I have to do to get a microlight rating added to my NPPL? I can find lots of information about 'upgrading' an NPPL (M) to a LAPL or a PPL (A), but nothing on the requirements to go the other way.

Now that microlights are being welcomed back to the 'Bushe, it seems a good time to investigate further.

[low&slow]

Page 14 of the NPPL licence allowances document. Basically, show licence & medical, oral test & flight test.

[The Other Ian]

Excellent. Thank you.

[Kemble Pitts]

You can fly a microlight on your EASA PPL so long as you do differences training; equals a check flight(s) (until the instructor finds you competent) and a log-book sign-off.

Much quicker and easier than adding something to your NPPL.

[Irv Lee]

It depends on individual circumstances whether to go for differences training (at the time quicker probably, cheaper surely) but there are circumstances when it is worth the new rating for some pilots. If most of future flying is microlight for example, 11 hours p1 on a microlight plus 1 training hour dual on ssea gets both nppl ratings into revalidation signature territory by asking for date alignment. The odd thing about it all is that you could have been flying microlights for ten years on an Sep rating and have hundreds of hours on them, be very current, and you still do a test to get a microlight rating.

[low&slow]

The downside to flying microlights on an EASA licence is you need to keep the SEP rating valid.