Addendum – EASA Part-FCL & Part-MED — Page 542, Lesson 727

All right, let's get into the EASA Part-FCL and Part-MED addendum. We're starting with the exam rules, so let's talk about pass standards. The pass mark for any of these theoretical examinations is 75%. And there's no penalty marking, which means you're not docked points for a wrong answer; you're just scored on what you get right. Now, here's a critical time constraint. All the examinations for a particular licence or rating must be passed within 18 months, and that 18-month window is counted from the end of the calendar month of your first attempt. So if you sit your first paper on the 10th of March, the clock starts ticking from the end of March. Now, what happens if you don't make it? If you fail to pass one of the examination papers within 4 attempts, or if you fail to pass all the papers within either 6 sittings or within that 18-month window, then you have to re-take the complete set of examination papers. Not just the ones you failed—the whole set. And on top of that, you must undergo further training at an ATO, an Approved Training Organisation, and the amount of that training is determined by that organisation itself. Let's move on to validity, because these passes don't last forever. For the LAPL(A) and the PPL(A)—that's the Light Aircraft Pilot Licence and the Private Pilot Licence for aeroplanes—your exam results are valid for 24 months from the day you successfully completed the examinations. For the CPL(A) and the IR(A), the Commercial Pilot Licence and the Instrument Rating for aeroplanes, that validity extends to 36 months from the day of successful completion. And for the ATPL(A), the Airline Transport Pilot Licence, the validity is 7 years, but note this carefully: it's 7 years from the last validity date of an IR, an Instrument Rating, entered in the licence. Now, the practical skills test. There's an important sequencing rule here. Except for applicants on an integrated flying course, you cannot undertake a practical skills test for a licence, rating, or certificate until you have passed the required theoretical examinations. And in any case, the theoretical instruction must always have been completed before any practical skills test can be undertaken. So theory comes first, always. Let's move to section 5.5, which is about crediting of flight time and theoretical knowledge. First, crediting of flight time. The basic principle is that an applicant for a licence, rating, or certificate shall be credited in full with all solo, dual instruction, or PIC—Pilot in Command—flight time towards the total flight time required. So every hour you log in those categories counts fully. There's a special provision for graduates of an integrated course. A graduate of an Airline Transport Pilot integrated course can be credited with up to 50 hours of student PIC instrument time towards the PIC time required for an ATPL(A), a CPL(A), and a multi-engine Type or Class Rating. And the same applies to a graduate of a CPL/IR integrated course, but in that case it's towards a CPL(A) and a multi-engine Type or Class Rating. Now, for a higher grade of licence, there's a rule about co-pilot time. The holder of a pilot licence, when acting as co-pilot or as PICUS—that's Pilot in Command Under Supervision—is entitled to be credited with all of that co-pilot time towards the total time required for a higher grade of licence. Finally, crediting of theoretical knowledge. This is about not having to re-sit exams you've already passed at a higher level. An applicant who has passed the ATPL(A) examinations is credited with the examinations required for an LAPL(A), a PPL(A), and a CPL(A). An applicant who has passed the CPL(A) examinations is credited with the examinations required for an LAPL(A) and a PPL(A). And an applicant who has passed the IR theoretical examinations is credited with those examinations required for an IR in another category of aircraft. So the whole logic here is that a higher qualification covers the lower ones, and your flight time, whether it's solo, dual, PIC, or co-pilot, all counts towards building the total time you need. That's the framework.