Qualifications and maintenance

Another fundamental part of these “general instructions” concerns obtaining and maintaining qualifications and the activity necessary to always be “able to fly”.

We said that a license never expires, like a diploma or a degree, however would you have a house built for you by an engineer who has done another job for 5 years…? Maybe first he will have to do a refresher course and gain some experience in a studio to become familiar with the subject again.

The same goes for pilots. Once a pilot has obtained a license, he can also remain “on the ground” for a certain number of years. But what must he do to fly again? And above all, to do it safely? He will have to return to a flight school and, depending on the vehicle he wants to fly, how long it has been since he flew and his experience, the school will determine a training program to regain the necessary skills.

Type VS Class

First of all, let’s distinguish between what a “type” and a “class” are: a type of aircraft is a specific model for which it is necessary to obtain the qualification.

Helicopters, for example, are practically all “types” and therefore to pass from one to another it is necessary to take a specific course (there are some small exceptions that are not even worth mentioning).

Airplanes, on the other hand, up to a certain tonnage can fall into classes, such as SEP (single engine piston) or single-engine piston aircraft, or MEP (multi engine pistons) or multi-engine piston aircraft and SET (single engine turbine) or single-engine turbine aircraft. When you then get to MET (multi engine turbine) or multi-engine turbine aircraft, even airplanes practically all become types (airliners are all MET but each has its own specific qualification for type: Airbus 320, Boeing 737, etc …).

CLASS RATINGS

Class ratings last two years and there are two ways to renew them:

• Having flown at least 12 hours in the last 12 months of validity, one hour of which must be with the instructor (hypothetically you may never fly in the first year)
• If you have not completed the minimum required activity, you can do, before the expiration, a check with an examiner (a CRE: class rating examiner) who can stamp the license for another two years

TYPE RATINGS

Type ratings, on the other hand, last only one year and there is only one way to renew them: having flown at least two hours in the 12 months, one of which must be a check with an examiner, in this case TRE (type rating examiner).

These requirements are actually only formal because to continue to maintain manual skills on an aircraft, especially if it is a helicopter, it is necessary to fly at least once a month, maybe even less than an hour: half an hour can be enough to follow all the start and stop procedures, refresh the radiotelephony and do some maneuvers.

So if a person wants to keep the stamp on the license, he can also do only 2 hours (provided that he must pass the check and therefore the manual skills must be maintained in some way) but if a pilot always wants to be “active” he will have to do at least 5 or 6 hours a year for each type for which he has obtained the qualification.

These tips are valid for pilots with little experience, however, as a pilot gains experience (a few hundred hours of flight) the commitment to maintain manual skills will be less and less.

Revalidation

Renewals made before the expiration date are called “revalidation”.

Also remember that to carry passengers on board (both privately and in commercial operations) you must have made at least one flight with 3 take-offs and 3 landings in the last 90 days.

Some schools or clubs rightly require at least one flight per month, after which it is necessary to do a “recovery” with an instructor. Don’t complain if they ask you to fly with the instructor every now and then, they do it for your safety and not to speculate on a few dozen Euros of extra cost.

This “recent flight activity” is called “recency” and is the last check you need to do before flying.

Enabling expired

If the qualification has expired, we said that there are evaluation parameters to bring it up to date (what type of aircraft it is, how long the qualification has expired and how much experience the pilot has on that type of aircraft) and the school will therefore study a “renewal” program that will include a certain number of hours of theory in the classroom, flight hours and a final check.

After three years, however, the qualification has definitively expired and it will be necessary to redo the entire course as if you had never had it (there are some credits based on the pilot’s experience but it is the school that will evaluate them).

Additional training

Within the types or classes there are families or different variants between one model and another for which a minimum of additional training will be necessary: ​​for the SEP class you will have to do a familiarization to move from the Cessna 172 to the Piper PA28, for the types instead you will have to do a training for difference to move for example from the Boeing 737 400 to the Boeing 737-800 or for helicopters from the AW109 power to the AW109 SP.

Let’s not go further into this very specific topic, because you don’t need it at the moment. You will learn the details of these particularities during your training course.

INSTRUCTOR RATING

Another qualification that can be obtained, in addition to the instrument flight rating that we have already talked about in previous tutorials, is the instructor rating, which can be obtained by a commercial pilot or even by a private individual (with certain limitations obviously) who have achieved a certain flight experience.

The theoretical course will cover aeronautical regulations, teaching techniques and a very important part of human factors, a subject that is now heard in many working environments and concerns the psychological aspects of human-human and human-machine relationships. Specifically in this course, the management of the student and the subjective instructional approach that must be calibrated depending on the person who is attending the course are explained.

Depending on the experience, qualifications, titles and type of course, an instructor will be able to teach PPL, CPL students, only for qualifications or for instrument flight or MCC courses.

Recap

In summary, the checklist of deadlines to be able to fly is the following:

• Medical certificate
• License
• Type or class Rating (currency – revalidation/renewal)
• Familiarization / training for differences in that specific class
• Rating for the activity I do (visual flight, instrument flight, instruction)
• Recent activity (3 take-offs and 3 landings in 90 days or whatever your club requires)

Let’s repeat it in English just to do some practice:

• Medical certificate
• License
• Type or class Rating (currency – revalidation/renewal)
• Familiarization / training for difference
• Specific Rating
• Recency

If you have all these valid requirements then you can take flight safely and calmly!

If you have any questions or curiosities contact us at info@checkbeforeflight.com