After a lengthy consultation exercise between the CAA and most of the recreational flying organisations in the UK, the new National Private Pilot's Licence (the NPPL) came into effect at the end of July 2002. This new licence is aimed purely at those wishing to fly for fun rather than those who want a PPL as a stepping stone to a commercial licence and a career in aviation. It is a response to what many people have felt is the increasingly bureaucratic and expensive nature of the JAR-regulated PPL and its associated medical requirements which, while they might be appropriate for commercial aviation, impose an excessive burden on recreational pilots.
This article is my view of the NPPL and its implications. As someone who currently holds a microlight licence I'm interested in the NPPL because it offers a way to add to the range of aircraft that I can fly without having to more-or-less start again from scratch to train for a JAR PPL with all the costs which that involves.
It means that, with only a modest amount of extra training and some more exams, microlight pilots can gain the option to use larger aircraft as well as microlights. Those aircraft would obviously still be more expensive to fly, so personally I'd be sticking to microlights for most of the time, but the option would be there to use, say, a PA-28 for a longer trip with two or three friends and a change of clothes on board.
The NPPL replaces the former microlight licence, the PPL(A) Microlights. A microlight licence is now simply one of several possible ratings under the NPPL. The Self-Launched Motor Glider (SLMG) licence will work the same way.
For the introduction of the NPPL the existing privileges of holders of the PPL(A) Microlight licence will be retained, and those who already had such a licence will keep it in its existing form. Anyone applying for a microlight licence after July 29th 2002 will be issued with an NPPL with a microlight rating instead.
As well as the microlight rating, the NPPL will also provide for a Single Engine Piston (SEP) aeroplane rating. If you have the SEP rating you will be able to fly aircraft of up to 2,000kg (Piper PA-28s, Cessna 172s etc.) as long as they are so-called simple aircraft types. That essentially means no retractable undercarriages, variable-pitch props, forced induction engines, pressurised cabins, or aircraft which cruise in excess of 140knots.
All of these limitations can be removed by doing
extra "Differences" training. The same will apply to the difference
between tailwheel and nosewheel aircraft - you will have to be specifically
trained on whichever one (or both) you want to fly.
The medical requirements for the NPPL will be similar to current microlight practice; sign-off by your own GP to a standard equivalent to the DVLA's Group 2 (professional driver) standards. Those who don't meet that, but do meet the Group 1 (private driver) standard, may be able to get a licence limited to flying without passengers, or with another qualified pilot.
The NPPL medical certificate lasts longer between renewals than the old pink microlight form. Once issued, it does not need to be renewed until your 45th birthday. Between then and your 65th birthday it must be renewed every five years, and after that, annually.
The same NPPL medical certificate covers all the NPPL ratings and supersedes the microlight form. For example, if you get an NPPL medical certificate to train for a SEP rating, that supersedes your microlight pink form. From then on, you only need to maintain the NPPL certificate.
The NPPL will be limited to:
The NPPL, being by definition a national licence,
is not designed to allow you to fly in any foreign country. At present a
microlight licence is recognised in several other countries which allows us to
pop over the Channel to France for example. The NPPL won't initially allow you
to do this. There is talk of this changing in future, but I have not seen any
dates mentioned. Current holders of the PPL(A) Microlights licence will retain
their existing privileges and it would appear that countries such as France will
continue to recognise their licences.
To keep the NPPL current will require 6 hours per year (4 of them as PIC) plus a
check flight with an instructor every two years.
The 90-day rule is retained for carriage of passengers which means that you must have done 3 take-offs and landings within the last 90 days as sole manipulator of the controls before you can fly with a passenger.
You must do six hours per year and take a flight
with an instructor in the second year to keep an NPPL
(SEP) current. You cannot just use
microlight hours to keep your SEP rating current.
The NPPL (Microlight) rating has the same currency requirements as the old
microlight licence: 5 hours in 13 months, or a flight test if you haven't done
the hours.
The NPPL should offer a quicker route to an "A Group" licence than the present JAR-FCL licence.
If you currently hold an unrestricted microlight licence and wish to upgrade to an NPPL with SEP rating to fly larger aircraft you will need to undertake some further training. This has to be done at a CAA-recognised flight school. You will get much more credit for your microlight hours towards an NPPL than you can get towards a JAR-FCL licence.
The conversion training syllabus will consist of:
It is theoretically possible to convert an unrestricted microlight licence to an NPPL SEP licence with only three hours of flying training. This is because the cross-crediting terms above specify only that you need to do one hour of instrument appreciation and two hours of stall and spin awareness training. Anything beyond that is at the discretion of your instructor. When he or she thinks you're ready you can take the two flight tests required: the General Skills Test (GST) and Navigation Skills Test (NST).
Curiously, it appears to be perfectly possible to gain an NPPL SEP licence without ever having flown an A Group aircraft solo!
On the theory side the NPPL will use the same exams as the JAR PPL, at least initially. There is no cross-crediting for microlight exams at the moment which means that you will need to sit all six of the JAR PPL exams before qualifying for the NPPL SEP.
The radio licence is the same for microlights, NPPL and JAR PPL so you don't need to do that again, assuming you already have your Flight Radio Telephony Operator's Licence (FRTOL).
The cross-crediting terms mean that it will be possible to use microlights to train for an NPPL with not just a microlight rating but a SEP rating as well (or indeed instead).
Obviously some time would be required in an "A Group" aircraft in order to carry out the parts of the SEP syllabus which microlights aren't equipped for, such as the instrument appreciation part of the course. This puts microlight training companies which also have access to "A Group" aircraft into a strong position since they could have the potential to offer a very cost-effective route to the full NPPL licence. To do this they need to be CAA-recognised flight schools with JAR-qualified instructors for the SEP part of the training. Cloudbase now meets both these criteria.
As an aside, if you should one day wish to upgrade your NPPL SEP to a JAR PPL, you may qualify for 30 hours credit towards that licence on the strength of your NPPL SEP. Be aware though that all the flying training must have been undertaken with a JAR-FCL qualified flight instructor for you to get the full 30 hour credit. Since most microlight training isn't done by JAR-FCL instructors, you may well be stuck with the existing 10-hour credit if you want to go beyond the NPPL SEP to the full JAR PPL.
Licence issue will be carried out by a new body called the NPPL Steering Group (NPSG) which is made up of representatives from the AOPA, BMAA, BGA and PFA.
The cost of the licence is £131. It will be issued for life, with no renewal charges. Note, this is just the licence, not the medical as well!
The licence cannot be used for any income-earning except instructing. The details of the NPPL Instructor Rating are still being worked on. At the moment, NPPL SEP training can only be carried out by JAR PPL instructors.
There is a web site with all the details of the NPPL, the microlight, SEP and SLMG syllabi and application forms which you can print out at http://www.nppl.uk.com/
I believe that the NPPL will be a good way of expanding the flying possibilities for many of us who currently fly on microlight licences without too much expense and without having to commit to one form of aviation at the expense of the other. It will probably also appeal to those who are interested purely in recreational flying, or who do not meet the JAR medical standards. In any event, I think that it is a positive development for GA in this country.
Safe flying,
Alasdair Arthur
23 November 2001.
Revised 23 July 2002