British Young Pilots · Air Law · Module AL-10.6
A driver needs a driving licence. A pilot needs a pilot's licence. The UK has its own simpler one called the NPPL: the National Private Pilot's Licence. It comes in versions for aeroplanes, motor gliders, microlights and helicopters, and it is normally used in UK skies on UK-registered aircraft.
The best news: you do not need a licence to start learning. A student pilot trains under the supervision of a flight instructor. The licence is what you earn at the end.
Try it: hands up if you thought you needed a licence before lesson one.
Source: Pooleys Vol 2 (17th ed.) p.171 and p.152.
A microlight is a small, light aircraft built to carry no more than two people: you and one other. A two-seat land microlight may weigh no more than 450 kg in total. Microlights come as single-seat or two-seat, and as three-axis or weight-shift types.
The microlight version of the NPPL is a great first rung on the ladder because the list of things to do is short and clear. Once you have the licence, it lasts for life.
Try it: point to the person you would take in the second seat.
Source: Pooleys Vol 2 (17th ed.) p.172.
Three numbers carry you to a full microlight licence:
There are flight tests too, and a medical step called a medical declaration. For the aeroplane version of the NPPL the book gives ages: 16 for your first solo and 17 to hold the licence. It prints no separate age for microlights, so ask your instructor for today's rule.
Try it: count the five exam subjects on one hand.
Source: Pooleys Vol 2 (17th ed.) p.171–173.
Wings is rung one. Every rung above it is a short, clear job. Which rung are you looking forward to most?
Source: Pooleys Vol 2 (17th ed.) p.172–173 and p.152. Rung 1 is the BYP starting point, not a Pooleys fact.
Alongside the Part-FCL licences sit the UK's own national licences. A UK PPL has no expiry date, but the rating you want to use must be kept valid with a Certificate of Revalidation. Its privileges are set out in Part A of Schedule 8 to the ANO 2016. One difference to remember: the holder of a UK PPL(A) may not fly out of sight of the surface unless they hold an IMC Rating or an IR.
The National Private Pilot's Licence (NPPL) arrived in 2002. It is administered by the Light Aircraft Association under authority delegated by the CAA, and is available for aeroplanes, motor gliders, microlights and helicopters. In general it can be used only in UK airspace on UK-registered aircraft, unless another country's aviation authority has specifically agreed otherwise.
Source: Pooleys Vol 2 (17th ed.) p.170–171.
A simpler licence than the Part-FCL PPL. Minimum requirements for issue:
Limits: day VFR only, UK airspace, no more than 140 kt IAS maximum continuous cruise, no more than 2,000 kg maximum take-off weight. More than 4 persons on board, retractable undercarriage or a variable-pitch propeller each need differences training signed off in the logbook.
Source: Pooleys Vol 2 (17th ed.) p.171.
Microlights are classed as single-seat or two-seat, three-axis or weight-shift. They carry no more than two people, with a maximum authorised total weight of 300 kg (single-seat landplane), 450 kg (two-seat landplane), 330 kg (single-seat amphibian or floatplane) or 495 kg (two-seat amphibian or floatplane). Wing loading is limited to 25 kg per square metre and/or the stalling speed (VSO) to 35 kt calibrated airspeed.
Microlights operate on a Permit to Fly, and the only aerial work permitted is instruction. Syllabus and flight test details are published by the BMAA.
STRETCHThe aeroplane rating asks for 9 exams, 22 hours dual and 10 solo; the microlight rating for 5 exams and 25 hours including 10 solo. What does each extra requirement buy the pilot in terms of what they may fly?
Source: Pooleys Vol 2 (17th ed.) p.172–173.
The NPPL itself is valid for life; its ratings last 24 months. To revalidate, either pass a General Skill Test, or log 12 hours of flight time including 8 hours as PIC, 12 take-offs and landings and 1 hour with an instructor, with 6 of the hours flown in the 12 months before expiry. A microlight rating is kept valid in the same way as the SSEA/SLMG rating.
Minimum medical for UK licences: UK Medical Declaration for the NPPL(A) (SSEA, SLMG or Microlight), the UK PPL(G) and the UK PPL(BA); Part-MED Class 2 for the UK PPL(A) and PPL(H); a Part-MED certificate for the NPPL(H). A Part-MED LAPL, Class 1 or Class 2 certificate is valid in place of the Pilot Medical Declaration (PMD).
Licence rules change. These are the requirements in the captured edition of Pooleys; check the current CAA and BMAA requirements before advising anyone.
Source: Pooleys Vol 2 (17th ed.) p.172–173.
Tap a card to flip it.
One statement at a time: is it on the ladder to a full NPPL microlight licence, or not? Tap to sort it.