General aviation (GA) is a high priority for the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), which dedicates effort and resources towards creating simpler, lighter and better rules for GA. Recognising the importance of GA and its contribution to a safe European aviation system, EASA, in partnership with the European Commission and other stakeholders, has created the GA Road Map. In this context, the EASA Rulemaking Task RMT.0678 addresses several topics related to flight crew licensing in the GA domain.
With RMT.0678 Subtask 2, the objective of this Notice of Proposed Amendment (NPA) is to address miscellaneous efficiency and proportionality issues in Annex I (Part-FCL) to Commission Regulation (EU) No 1178/2011 with regard to GA. The existing Part-FCL requirements and the related acceptable means of compliance (AMC) and guidance material (GM) have been revised, and new requirements as well as new AMC and GM have been introduced in order to address several topics and issues, such as:
- new flight crew licensing requirements for small single-pilot single-engine aeroplanes with electric propulsion;
- the possibility for student pilots to change from LAPL training to PPL training during the training course with credits;
- the optional integration of the night rating training in aeroplanes into the PPL(A) training course;
- the revision of the mountain rating revalidation requirements;
- clarifications in the training syllabi for the LAPL(A) and the PPL(A) related to spin avoidance training;
- the revision of the requirements for revalidation training flights for the LAPL(A) and for single-pilot single-engine class ratings;
- the revision of the revalidation requirements for helicopter type ratings;
- the deletion of text from the AMC and GM to Part-FCL related to flight crew licensing for balloons and sailplanes;
- text clarifications, improvements, and corrections.
The proposed amendments are expected to increase the efficiency and proportionality of numerous Part-FCL requirements and to update Part-FCL in the context of electric-propulsion aeroplanes used in GA.
