Future Licensing

Introduction 24th April 2008

The European Commission has now placed pilot licensing under EASA compentency. In due course all glider pilots in Europe, including the UK, will be required to hold an EASA approved pilot licence to enable them to operate as qualified pilots. The BGA expects the changes to be in place after 2012 following a four year transitional period that almost all countries will need in order to reorganise existing processes. The new rules will include ratings on licences, for example instructor ratings, self launching ratings, etc.

The BGA has been engaged in related EASA rulemaking development through the European Gliding Union and Europe Air Sports for a number of years. Additionally, the BGA is engaged with CAA who will be expected to interpret any future EASA regulation and implement those rules in the UK through the BGA.

The BGA future licensing working group, under the chairmanship of Chris Gibson, an instructor and ASW20 pilot/owner who flies at Lasham, has been working for some time now to determine where the challenges lie and how best to address the known issues before the detailed EASA licensing rules are finally developed during the latter part of 2008. This work continues.

In mid May 2008, EASA are expected to produce a Notice of Proposed Amendment (NPA) describing in some detail its regulatory proposals for future pilot licensing and seeking responses from industry and the public. The BGA will be providing guidance - based on the work of the BGA licensing working group - to provide response support to individuals and clubs.

The BGA expects there to be some thorny issues that will need to addressed in the consultation.

The BGA bronze badge is ICAO Glider Pilot Licence compliant. On this basis it is expected that existing BGA glider pilots could transition into a future EASA glider pilot licence system. There is however a lot of work to do before we get to any transition process. As mentioned, the BGA is working closely with the CAA to achieve minimum disruption, bureaucracy and cost issues for individuals and clubs. The first step will be to comprehend and in due course respond to EASA’s licensing proposals when the NPA appears in May 2008 – the BGA is prepared to do so and would encourage others to do the same.

The BGA will be raising the profile of this subject in due course. Please watch this space.