Awful_Charlie Posted October 17, 2013 Report Posted October 17, 2013 Today (Thursday 17th October) the EASA Committee voted on the Qualifications for Flying in IMC proposal (Competancy Based Modular IR, Enroute IR). * The proposal was amended to include English Language Proficiency for both IR and EIR * The Article 4(8) exemption text was modified to not require English Language Proficiency * In addition, the deadline for converting third country licences was extended by 12 months to 2015. The proposal as amended was passed with no votes against. While there is still a legislative step to go (Parliamentary scrutiny), it is now highly likely that they will become law in the first part of next year. PPL/IR Europe and Europe Air Sports are delighted by the news of this success, and offer their thanks to the UK CAA, EASA, the European Commission, IAOPA-EUR and AOPA UK, all of whom worked hard to make this happen. The upshot of this is that European pilots will now have a practical method to obtain an instrument qualification (previously they required to complete extended ground studies at approved training organisation, with a complete day of more of written exams, and then complete a course of at least 50 hours flying). Work continues with the FAA and EASA on the BASA to allow FAA licence holders to convert to an EASA licence in a more practical manner. A great day for GA in Europe 2 Quote
Hank Posted October 17, 2013 Report Posted October 17, 2013 Wow--good news in Europe! Maybe common sense will break out here too, with the Part 23 rewrite? Congratulations, Charlie! Maybe there will be more flying activity soon. Quote
ncdmtb Posted October 17, 2013 Report Posted October 17, 2013 * In addition, the deadline for converting third country licences was extended by 12 months to 2015. What exactly does that mean? After 2015 US citizens living in EU flying N-reg aircraft, will not be allowed to fly IFR in EU w/o the conversion? Quote
Awful_Charlie Posted October 17, 2013 Author Report Posted October 17, 2013 Wow--good news in Europe! Maybe common sense will break out here too, with the Part 23 rewrite? Congratulations, Charlie! Maybe there will be more flying activity soon. We can only hope that with an 'achievable' IR, there will be more owner flown transport, increasing the utilisation and hence availability of facilities, but the previous practice of demanding several weeks of study and and aweek of attending a ground school was unsurprisingly unattractive to the people that could most use it, which may well have added to the current demise of European GA * In addition, the deadline for converting third country licences was extended by 12 months to 2015. What exactly does that mean? After 2015 US citizens living in EU flying N-reg aircraft, will not be allowed to fly IFR in EU w/o the conversion? Not only US citizens - EU residents (which is still an undefined term in EASA-speak) who currently only hold an FAA certificate can now continue to fly until at least April 2015 without having to do anything. The idea is that before the exemption expires, the BASA will be signed, making the conversion easier, and that the CBM route will make it more realistic to get an EASA licence. Bear in mind EASA wants *everyone* who is resident (that undefined term again) to have an EASA licence, even for VFR Quote
Jamie Posted October 18, 2013 Report Posted October 18, 2013 Any particular reason the EU is so extreme about this? Was it a reaction to a bunch of accidents or something? Quote
manu damaschin Posted October 18, 2013 Report Posted October 18, 2013 Today (Thursday 17th October) the EASA Committee voted on the Qualifications for Flying in IMC proposal (Competancy Based Modular IR, Enroute IR). * The proposal was amended to include English Language Proficiency for both IR and EIR * The Article 4(8) exemption text was modified to not require English Language Proficiency * In addition, the deadline for converting third country licences was extended by 12 months to 2015. The proposal as amended was passed with no votes against. While there is still a legislative step to go (Parliamentary scrutiny), it is now highly likely that they will become law in the first part of next year. PPL/IR Europe and Europe Air Sports are delighted by the news of this success, and offer their thanks to the UK CAA, EASA, the European Commission, IAOPA-EUR and AOPA UK, all of whom worked hard to make this happen. The upshot of this is that European pilots will now have a practical method to obtain an instrument qualification (previously they required to complete extended ground studies at approved training organisation, with a complete day of more of written exams, and then complete a course of at least 50 hours flying). Work continues with the FAA and EASA on the BASA to allow FAA licence holders to convert to an EASA licence in a more practical manner. A great day for GA in Europe Good news...do you have more details (how the IR rating is going to be achieve now)? I m prepapring myself for the theoretical IR test for this winter (the 7 exams). Do you have a link with this information...? Thanks! Quote
NotarPilot Posted October 18, 2013 Report Posted October 18, 2013 If we forget how good we have GA in the USA one need only look at Europe to be reminded of it. Lower fuel prices More freedom to fly when, where and how you want. The list goes on and on. I love America! 1 Quote
Awful_Charlie Posted October 18, 2013 Author Report Posted October 18, 2013 Good news...do you have more details (how the IR rating is going to be achieve now)? I m prepapring myself for the theoretical IR test for this winter (the 7 exams). Do you have a link with this information...? Thanks! There is the EU comitology register paper: http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regcomitology/index.cfm?do=search.documentdetail&vlwM7MvckvvHefhSyGhO8b4gzQiTvF8+XtmrwZI0uFMxdbQ+AI/X9VTTMRqv00VG It is going to be a bit late for you, but the theory requirements are being significantly reduced. Of course, when the law itself gets passed, then the training organisations and the NAAs have to produce the exams and the training material, so it is going to be some time yet before this is all fully in place. I strongly suggest you join www.pplir.org if you're not already a member (disclosure: I am on the Executive Committee there) If we forget how good we have GA in the USA one need only look at Europe to be reminded of it. Lower fuel prices More freedom to fly when, where and how you want. The list goes on and on. I love America! Indeed, and one of the reasons you need to keep up the pressure, whether it be via AOPA, or working with your politicians directly, just don't leave it to someone else! The gas price issue is another whole political ball game, but full marks to EASA - they realise they have driven people away with the private IR problem and Part M, and are now on a mission to reclaim EU aviation by fixing these. It's not going to be a rapid process, but they should be encouraged and given credit where it's due Quote
Awful_Charlie Posted October 18, 2013 Author Report Posted October 18, 2013 Any particular reason the EU is so extreme about this? Was it a reaction to a bunch of accidents or something? It's a long history, and please forgive me if I don't get it all right or omit something, it's also from personal memory, so plenty of caveats. Some time ago, each country had its own authority (now we group them all together as the 'NAAs' - the National Aviation Authorities) eg the CAA in the UK, the DGAC for France, the FOCA for Switzerland, the LBA for Germany etc.Each of these had their own way of implementing ICAO recommendations and they weren't necessarily all the same. When the EU started to get going, there was a willingness to harmonize some of this, and the JAA was born. Unfortunately, to expedite the implementation of the JAA a mixture of 'lowest common denominator' and 'fully compliant with all member NAAs' was used to draw up the rules, ending up with a very restrictive set. Many EU pilots/owners gave up with this and transferred to other registers (predominantly the US 'N'), thus depriving the JAA and NAA's of their power and income stream, which they didn't like. With more politics rolled in, EASA was formed and took over the JAA, and after plenty of meddling with the rules (sometimes making things even worse) the backlash became audible to the regulators. Realising they made such a mess of it, a few shake ups later they have learned that more regulation does not equal more safety, they are now listening and are hoping to make 'better regulation' which is risk and benefit based. Of course, changing what is already in place introduces problems too, and it's going to be a long job to get things put right, but al least it is moving the right way now. We are now at the stage where EASA has realised that like the JAA before it, very few associate it positively, so it is now going to re-brand itself the 'EAA' (dropping the 'Safety' ) in hope that it will be viewed more favourably Quote
Hank Posted October 18, 2013 Report Posted October 18, 2013 I have to wonder how many visitors will end up on EASA's new "EAA" site when they are looking for the Experimental Aircraft Association, www.eaa.org? Quote
Awful_Charlie Posted March 14, 2014 Author Report Posted March 14, 2014 So some more good news - today the EU published regulation 245/2014 in what could easily be the best news for European GA private IFR in a lifetime Particular thanks to Jim Thorpe and Julian Scarfe as well as the committee and members of PPL/IR Europe for making this happen from an idea originally conceived back in 2008 :) :) :) :) :) 1 Quote
carusoam Posted March 14, 2014 Report Posted March 14, 2014 Is there a short version for us to better understand what you have there? Fortunately English is my first language. Unfortunately, they made it challenging to read and understand.... Congrats and best regards, -a- Quote
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