FAQ Answer

What happens to the ratings that I have on my licence?

If you have a JAA / JAR licence (fully compliant with JAR-FCL), which becomes an EASA Part-FCL licence on 8th April 2012, the aircraft ratings will remain in force with the expiry dates unchanged. When your licence reaches calendar expiry (or before that date if you choose) you must apply for it to be replaced with a non-expiring EASA Part-FCL licence. JAR-FCL aircraft ratings (that also appear in Part-FCL) will be included in the new Part-FCL licence. If you have valid non-JAR ratings a national licence may be issued to include these. When any Part-FCL rating approaches or reaches expiry it may be revalidated or renewed in accordance with Part-FCL requirements. When any national rating approaches or reaches expiry it may be revalidated or renewed on the JAR licence provided that the licence has not reached its calendar expiry and you have a current medical certificate appropriate to the licence. When the licence reaches its calendar expiry after 17th September 2012 application must be made for it to be replaced with an EASA Part-FCL. If there are valid national aircraft ratings on the licence at that time it will be necessary to obtain a UK licence to carry those ratings.

If you have a non-JAR (UK) licence, the aircraft ratings will remain in force with the expiry dates unchanged until the licence or the ratings expire or the licence needs to be amended by the CAA after the Part-FCL implementation date (17th September 2012). If you decide to obtain an EASA Part-FCL licence, the aircraft ratings that are Part-FCL ratings and are valid on the day the licence is issued will be included on the Part-FCL licence with the expiry dates unchanged. If there are national ratings that are valid on the day of conversion, a new national licence will be issued to include those ratings.

If your non-JAR licence has to be amended by the CAA for any reason on or after 17th September 2012 and it contains Part-FCL type ratings that you wish to retain, the licence will have to be converted to a Part-FCL licence at that time. From 17th September 2012 onwards a UK licence cannot be re-printed with a Part-FCL-specific rating included. (If the licence contains only ratings that are provided for in the ANO - e.g. class ratings - then it can be re-printed as a national licence.

Important note - JAR-FCL has always specified that whenever a licence is re-printed (due to amendment or expiry) the replacement licence will show only the ratings that are valid on the day the new licence is issued. Expired ratings should be removed. If the licence holder subsequently renews a rating that is no longer on the licence the licence would have to be re-issued again to show the renewed rating. In the UK the CAA chose to administer this in a different way. UK-issued JAR licences always showed all ratings that had been entered in the licence. This enabled pilots to have the ratings renewed by examiners signing the authorisation page, without having to send the licence to the CAA to have the rating reinstated. This UK practice will have to cease from 17th September 2012. This is because Parts FCL and ARA contain the same requirement as JAR-FCL, but Parts FCL and ARA are legally binding and the CAA must comply with them. This means that, after 17th September 2012, if a licence is amended and re-printed by the CAA, the new/amended version will have only the current ratings included in the ratings section. We will print on the back of the licences a list of ratings previously held so that examiners will have the evidence of previous qualification in order to perform a renewal; but it will then be necessary to apply to the CAA to have the rating included in the licence again before it can be used.