First, the renewal rules — Page 87, Lesson 142

Let’s pick this up right where the medical certificate rules left off, because the next block is all about what happens when your certificate has been expired for a while, and then we move into the proficiency checks and the exam rules. First, the renewal rules. If your medical certificate has been expired for more than 90 days but less than 2 years, you can’t just renew it the easy way. You’ll need a standard or extended examination, and that exam has to be performed at an AMC — that’s an Aeromedical Centre — or by an AME, an Aeromedical Examiner, but only if that AME is approved by the AMS, the Aeromedical Section. So the key point here is the longer you let it lapse, the more formal the examination has to be. Now contrast that with the next line: if your certificate has expired by less than 90 days, renewal is possible by standard or extended examination as prescribed — so even in that short window, you still need an examination, but the requirement is just the standard or extended exam, nothing extra on top. Then we have the 45-Day Rule, and this is a really practical one. If you take your medical revalidation up to 45 days prior to the expiry date, the validity of the new certificate extends from the previous certificate’s expiry date. Let me make that concrete. Say your certificate expires on 31st December. If you have your annual medical no earlier than 15th November — that’s the 45-day window — then the new certificate will be valid from 1st January until the next 31st December. You essentially don’t lose any time. But if you have your medical on 1st November, that’s more than 45 days early, so the new certificate starts from 1st November and runs until the following 31st October. You’ve effectively shortened your validity by taking the exam too early. So the rule rewards you for staying inside that 45-day window. Now we shift to pilot proficiency. Section 5.92 covers Pilot Proficiency Checks. Pilots are required to demonstrate piloting technique and the ability to execute emergency procedures, and these skills shall be checked. Where flight under IFR is required — that’s Instrument Flight Rules — the checks are to be carried out twice a year, and any two similar checks must not be conducted within four months of each other. So you can’t bunch them up; there has to be a minimum spacing of four months between two similar checks. Then we have Base and Line Checks. According to both ICAO and JARs — the Joint Aviation Requirements — operators are required to carry out checks of pilot proficiency at regular intervals. These are known as base and line checks, and they’re usually coincident with other proficiency checks carried out for validation of type ratings and instrument ratings. So the base and line checks often happen at the same time as those other checks. Now we move into the EASA Theoretical Knowledge Examinations. Section 5.94 is the requirement. Applicants for a JAA professional pilot licence or an instrument rating are required to demonstrate a level of knowledge appropriate to the privileges of the licence or rating by means of success in passing examinations. The examination is to be set in a language considered appropriate by the authority. And the format is multiple choice, set by computer from a central question bank — that’s the CQB. Then the pass standards in 5.95. The pass mark is 75%. All the examinations must be passed within a period of 18 months from the end of the calendar month in which the first examination was attempted. So the clock starts at the end of the month of your first attempt, not the day itself. Now there are two ways you can lose all your previous passes. First, all previous examination passes are rendered invalid if a candidate fails one particular subject at the fourth attempt. Second, all previous passes are rendered invalid if a candidate fails to record a pass in all subjects within either 6 sittings or the 18-month period I just mentioned. So you have a hard limit of 6 sittings and 18 months, and a single subject failed four times wipes everything. Finally, the acceptance period in 5.96. A pass in the theoretical knowledge examinations will be accepted for the granting of a CPL(A) — that’s the Commercial Pilot Licence, aeroplane — or an IR(A), the Instrument Rating, aeroplane, during the 36 months from the date of gaining a pass in all the required subjects. And here’s the longer-term provision: providing that an IR(A) is obtained within those 36 months, a pass in the ATPL(A) theoretical knowledge examinations — the Airline Transport Pilot Licence, aeroplane — will remain valid for a period of 7 years from the last validity date of the IR(A) entered in the CPL(A), for the issue of an ATPL(A). So the ATPL theory pass stays alive for 7 years, but only if you got the IR within the 36-month window, and the 7 years runs from the last validity date of that IR as entered in your CPL. That’s the full picture: the renewal windows, the 45-day rule, the proficiency check cadence, and the exam pass and validity structure.