You will have spent considerable time, effort and expense to obtain your PPL or NPPL. Here are a few reminders for new and experienced licence holders on keeping the licence valid, including the ratings within it, and how to renew if you are unfortunate enough to have allowed them to elapse.
The period of validity for a UK PPL (not NPPL) depends on when you obtained it and can be checked by looking at the licence itself. Our more mature flying colleagues will notice a statement on the validity section declaring that the licence is valid for the holders lifetime unless rebuked (if your licence has been rebuked, bad luck, see the CAA..). Our more youthful friends holding a JAA licence will observe that it is only valid for 5 years and will include a reissue date. Remember this date is for the licence only and not the rating(s) within it. To have your licence reissued simply fill in CAA form SRG1102, accompany it with a cheque and send it to the CAA before it lapses. (Price is currently £70 but it does tend to vary (upwards usually). If you should find that your licence has lapsed – see me…
Most of you will have a Single Engine Piston Land (SEPL) rating listed in the ‘Ratings to be revalidated’ section of your licence. Reference to the revalidation page will indicate when your current rating expires. It is valid for a 2 year period and the rules are, naturally, quite convoluted. To remain valid you are not required to partake of any flying at all in the first year (?). However in the 12 months preceding the expiry date (the second year) you are required to fly a minimum of 12 hours of which 6 may be logged as P1S (pilot under supervision) and one has to be a instructional flight with a suitably qualified instructor. This is not a test but we treat it as an excellent opportunity to remind pilots of something called airmanship, and to practice some long forgotten manoeuvres.
If you don’t manage to squeeze in your 12 hours in time, or it looks as if you won’t be able to, then you can revalidate/renew by Flight Test either before or after you rating expires. Warning – do not let your rating lapse, even if you have the hours and the check flight. We are not permitted to revalidate an expired rating even if it is only a day out of validity. This means a test – not an unplesant experience with our super friendly examiners, but you will incur a fee.
If your rating has expired by more than 5 years then it may still be renewed by test, he only difference being that the licence revalidation page may not be completed by the examiner – we will send it to the CAA. (This may well incur a fee..). For those of you wishing to renew a licence issued by the Air Ministry, we can do that as well. Don’t forget your Gosport Tube.
Watch this space for more information about the NPPL.
Phil Mummery. (Instructor/Examiner)