Polite discussion about EASA, the CAA, the ANO and the delights of aviation regulation.
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By Spooky
#1635297
I currently have an NPPLm and had planned to go LAPL (and on to PPL then perhaps commercial). Unfortunately I wasn’t able to add the SSEA rating to my NPPL in time so now I’m a bit stuck, as obviously flying post April 2018 is different to beforehand.

I had read of people upgrading their NPPLm to an FAA PPL. So...

1) is this still possible? If so, how?
2) how awkward is it to have an FAA PPL in the U.K.?

Thanks in advance
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By Irv Lee
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1635301
Get an nppl ssea anyway, unless i mis-read it, you cannot convert to lapl(a) by paperwork and money but i think you can still fly easa aircraft til at least April next year on ssea with UK restrictions and hopefully beyond then if allowed. I don't think the exemption to allow this mentioned when the ssea was issued. Also some don't think it will be too long before flying ssea gives credits against a lapl course. Some amendment to EASA just came out but haven't had time to digest. No doubt it will be worded so no one agrees what it means.
By ak7274
#1635322
From Justin (CAA) at Sywell this afternoon.
NPPL (SSEA) to LAPL a maximum of 10 hrs credit can be applied, so 20 hours minimum requirement. This includes NPPL holders who held a license before April this year.
Apparently this is a DFT decision.
NPPL will not be allowed to fly EASA aircraft after the current exemption runs out next April.
That's all I was told.
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By Irv Lee
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1635404
ak7274 wrote:From Justin (CAA) at Sywell this afternoon.
NPPL (SSEA) to LAPL a maximum of 10 hrs credit can be applied, so 20 hours minimum requirement. This includes NPPL holders who held a license before April this year.
Apparently this is a DFT decision.
NPPL will not be allowed to fly EASA aircraft after the current exemption runs out next April.
That's all I was told.

Just quickly read the easa announcement. Bit unfair to blame DFT, they are just reading what Easa wrote.
Disgraceful and many will see it as a double cross.... so someone with lots of hours ssea get 10 hours credit!
By ak7274
#1635424
I must admit, I was shocked at the DFT blaming.
There was a chap there who has held an NPPL for a number of years and said he " Was advised to hold off on applying for the LAPL" to find holding back was NOT good advice. I felt sorry for him having heard his story.
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By Irv Lee
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1635641
I can actually see a ray of hope here ... there is a little known clause in easa fcl which was brought in via very dodgy means to keep the French onside and Goudou his pension honours and i hope that someone dft/caa is going to surprise everyone with a clever solution using it and this 10 hour thing to give a fairly good overall result to nppl lapl future conversions. Unless they reveal it very quickly they may do a lot of damage though. I hope i am not crediting them with too much GA friendly lateral thinking.
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By Irv Lee
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1635924
Well it is a Ray of Hope easily extinguished if Mr Ky decided his predecessor had gone too far and let it disappear as quietly and secretly as it was inserted in the first place. I haven't looked for this particular clause since it was quietly slipped in between the 26-1 State vote against the Basic Lapl in early Autumn and the December publication of FCL for the 1st time in whatever year it was. It may have gone, if so it is a shame, as it provided evidence that Easa was prepared to let individual States have something special that other States didn't have to recognise. This might even have been used as a precedent to justify keeping the imc rating as an IR/R, I don't know.
It was the ability of individual States to decide a Lapl course didn't have to go the whole hog if safety cases and risk assessments were made for individual students, in which case, the individual was subject to various limitations defined by the State and could only fly in that State.
If this provision wasn't withdrawn, I see scope in this, individual safety cases being made much easier by proof that someone had already been flying with another licence and ten hours credit being a big step to an early terminated course.
If the provision has gone, and not been replaced with something on those same lines, and pilots with hundreds of hours p1 in Sep style aircraft can only get ten hours credit on a whole initial non icao lapl course, then we have final confirmation of the anti GA side of EASA. All part of the GA roadmap we are supposed to believe exists but not seen much in practice on the Sep side yet?
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By Irv Lee
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1636506
But what i am missing is the change that allows this. Certainly the possibility of ground exams, quuck checkout, to certify, then test was a minimum beung hoped for and hinted at fir later2018.
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By Irv Lee
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1641683
I am now being told from a (usually) extremely reliable source that despite what is reported in this thread, an nppl ssea issued before April 8th 2018 can still be converted by paperwork and fee to a lapl(a) without a lapl course.
Anyone know enough to comment? It would be dreadful if a club put someone with an "pre 8/4/18" ssea through an unnecessary lapl course.... and even worse if they found out afterwards.