Continued Exemptions for Aircrew

John FRANKLIN
John FRANKLIN • 20 November 2020
in community General Aviation

The ongoing situation with COVID-19 means that it is still difficult for aircrew to comply with all the requirements for training, testing and checking requirements. As licences are issued by national competent authorities (NCAs), EASA has published guidelines to help these authorities to extend the exemption regime for pilots, where needed, depending on the local situation.

Because the situation with COVID-19 is different in every country, the application of exemptions is managed at national level. The overall goal is to maintain the highest level of safety while allowing for some flexibility, where the virus makes certain activities impossible to carry out.

If you are a pilot, you should contact your own authority to find out the specific situation that applies to you. 

Links to authority pages: 

Comments (10)

Karel Abbenes
Karel Abbenes

In the Netherlands the following has been published: file:///C:/Users/Gebruiker/Downloads/NL+Exemption+COVID-19+2W+art.+71(2)+2020-11-18%20(2).pdf

Harry Karlsson
Harry Karlsson

This situation with continuous exemptions to Part-FCL rules, which have been proven to promote and provide a proven robust platform for safe aviation, is definitively being shred to pieces.
As ANS providers are also torn between commercial interests and an overabundance of personnel resources for continuous operations in the current low ebb of air traffic, we are foreseeing a possible glitch in the aviation safety networks.
The aviation industry is forced to rely on technical safety networks, ie automation and predictive instruments in traffic management and delegation of airspace to national entities.
The guidance is not taking into account a possible fast rise and demand of air services in the near future. How will individual EU27 countries react to this, when the current EASA guidance only provides a continuous descent into the abyss of slow traffic.
Air movements are already on the rise in USA, the acceptance of Covid-19 vaccines and their implementation will certainly make aviation industry services more viable even for consumers.
As travel restrictions are probably undone in the spring, the preferred safety advice would be to give guidance to unravel the current low tide of operations, rather to clear countries to make a provision for aviation hazards.


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