Addendum – EASA Part-FCL & Part-MED — Page 553, Lesson 746

Let’s pick this up right where the ratings leave off, because this addendum is all about the shelf life and the paperwork that keeps your licences alive. First, the big one: validity. Every class or type rating you hold has an expiry date, and the general rule is that they are valid for 1 year. But there’s a very important exception — a single-pilot single-engine class rating is valid for 2 years. So if you’re flying something like a simple single-engine aeroplane, you get a little more breathing room before you have to renew. Now, what happens if you let it lapse? If the type or class rating has expired, you cannot simply walk in and take the check again. The rule is that you must first undergo refresher training at an ATO — that’s an Approved Training Organisation — before you are even allowed to attempt the proficiency check again. So the training comes first, then the check. Let’s talk about revalidation for multi-engine class and type ratings. This is where timing becomes critical. The proficiency check must be passed within 3 months immediately preceding the expiry date of the rating. That’s a hard window — you can’t do it too early, and you can’t do it too late. It has to fall inside those three months before the expiry. There’s also a nice piece of efficiency built in here. The revalidation of an IR(A) — that’s the Instrument Rating for aeroplanes — may be combined with a proficiency check for the revalidation of a class or type rating. So if you need to renew both, you can often do them together in one session rather than two separate events. Now let’s move to the experience requirements for the issue of class or type ratings on aeroplanes. This is about what you need to have done before you can be issued a new rating. For single-pilot multi-engine aeroplanes, you need at least 70 hours as PIC — Pilot in Command — on aeroplanes. That’s the baseline. For multi-pilot aeroplanes, the requirements stack up. You need at least 70 hours of flight experience as PIC on aeroplanes, same as before. But on top of that, you must hold a multi-engine IR(A) — the instrument rating. You must have passed the ATPL(A) theoretical examinations — that’s the Airline Transport Pilot Licence theory for aeroplanes. And you must hold a certificate of satisfactory completion of an MCC course in aeroplanes — MCC stands for Multi-Crew Cooperation, which trains you to work as part of a two-pilot crew. So for multi-pilot types, it’s not just hours — it’s the instrument rating, the ATPL theory, and the crew cooperation training all together. Now let’s look at a specific rating — the Night Rating for aeroplanes, which is section 5.19. This rating exists for one purpose: to allow PPL(A) holders — Private Pilot Licence for aeroplanes — to fly in VFR conditions at night. VFR means Visual Flight Rules, so this is about flying at night while still navigating visually, not on instruments. The training must be done at an ATO, and there are specific minimums. You need at least 5 hours of flight time in the appropriate category of aeroplane at night. Within those 5 hours, at least 3 hours must be dual instruction — that means flying with an instructor. And within that dual instruction, you need 1 hour of cross-country flight of at least 50 km. On top of that, you need 5 solo take-offs and 5 solo full-stop landings. So the night rating is a package: a minimum number of night hours, a chunk of dual time, a cross-country leg, and a set of solo circuits to prove you can handle the aeroplane on your own at night. Finally, let’s cover the Instructor Certificate for aeroplanes, section 5.20. This is about who is legally allowed to teach. The general rule is that a person shall only carry out flight instruction in an aeroplane when they hold two things: a pilot licence and an instructor certificate appropriate to the instruction given. So the certificate must match the type of instruction — you can’t teach with a certificate that doesn’t cover what you’re teaching. There’s a second part to this. The same person shall only carry out synthetic flight instruction — that’s instruction in a flight simulator or training device — or MCC instruction, the Multi-Crew Cooperation training, when they hold an instructor certificate appropriate to the instruction given. So whether you’re in the real aeroplane or in a synthetic device, the rule is the same: you need the right licence and the right instructor certificate for that specific kind of instruction. That’s the full picture for this section — the validity periods, the revalidation timing, the experience gates for multi-engine and multi-pilot types, the night rating requirements, and the instructor certificate rules.