The UK’s exit from the EU and EASA has changed engineering licensing requirements, particularly in relation to what licences are needed to certify a UK registered aircraft from the 1 January 2023.
Maintenance organisations and aircraft engineers are reminded that:
- For a maintenance organisation based in the UK, certifying a UK registered aircraft, an EASA Part 66 licence is no longer acceptable.
- For a maintenance organisation based in the UK, certifying a UK registered aircraft, an EASA Part 66 licence is no longer acceptable as the basis of a UK Part 145 maintenance organisation authorisation issued under UK.145.35 (b).
- Organisations may continue to use EASA Part 66 staff within the EU if the supporting Part 145 qualifies them as per Appendix IV - to 145.A.30(j)(2)).
All Licensed Aircraft Engineers (Part 66) will be required to hold a CAA issued Part 66 Licence to continue to certify in the UK and maintain UK registered aircraft from 1 January 2023.
The applications window to transfer from EU to UK Part 66 closed on 31 December 2022.
Gaining a UK licence from 01 January 2023
If you previously held a UK issued Part 66 Licence, which was subsequently transferred to an EU member state prior to the UK EU Exit date, you can apply to reactivate your UK Part 66 licence.
All other applicants will need to follow the normal route to apply for a UK Part 66 aircraft maintenance licence.
Acceptance of EASA Part 147 Certificates of Recognition
The UK is unable to accept any EASA Part 147 Certificate of Recognition dated after 31st December 2022.
The end of the Withdrawal Agreement on this date, removed the legal basis for these certificates in the UK, therefore the CAA has no legal power to accept any certificated dated after this date.
Basic module and basic course certificates will continue to be accepted up to 10 years after their issue date, when issued before 31st December 2022.
Type rating certificates will continue to be accepted up to 3 years after their issue date, when issued before 31st December 2022.
Any certificate dated after 31st December 2022, must have been issued by a UK Part 147 Maintenance Training Organisation which can be found located internationally.
Air-Tech Bildung GmbH
The approval of the maintenance training organisation Air-Tech Bildung GmbH with the approval number DE.147.0014 was revoked by the German Federal Aviation Authority. Following the decision by the German Federal Aviation Authority to consider all certificates issued by Air-Tech Bildung in the years 2023 and 2024 as invalid.
The UK CAA has no method of validating any certificates issued by Air-Tech Bildung therefore, the CAA is not able to accept these certificates in support of a licence application regardless of the date of issue.
OJT completed outside the UK
OJT completed outside of the UK can only be accepted where it was completed by a UK approved Part 145 organisation, who has been approved by the UK CAA to complete this training within the Maintenance Organisation Exposition. This will include procedures and a logbook that comply with UK Part 66 Appendix III found here. Aircraft type training and examination standard
Further guidance can be found here. Apply for a Part 145 OJT approval for Part 66 | UK Civil Aviation Authority
OJT completed before 31 December 2022 in an EASA 145 and was started within 3 years at time of application, may be acceptable until 31 December 2025 where the CAA is able to validate that the OJT was completed in accordance with Part 66 Appendix III by an approved organisation.
OJT completed with the organisations below will not be accepted by the CAA.
OJT completed with Adria Tehnika, Job Air Technic or Magnetic MRO
Adria Tehnika, Job Air Technic or Magnetic MRO
Apply for a UK issued Part 66 Aircraft Maintenance Licence with an EU Part 66 licence
The European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, as amended and supplemented by the Aviation Safety (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 included some regulatory arrangements that allowed for the recognition of EASA approvals and licences for a period of two years from the 31 December 2020 when the UK left the EU.
During this two-year recognition period, licence holders could apply to the UK CAA to obtain a UK Issued Part 66 licence on the basis of their EU Part-66 Licence.
This application closed at midnight on 31 December 2022 and is no longer available.
From 1 January 2023, the UK can no longer recognise EASA-issued certificates, approvals or licences for the operations and/or maintenance of UK registered aircraft.
Gaining a UK licence from 01 January 2023
If you previously held a UK issued Part 66 Licence, which was subsequently transferred to an EU member state prior to the UK EU Exit date, you can apply to reactivate your UK Part 66 licence.
All other applicants will need to follow the normal route to apply for a UK Part 66 aircraft maintenance licence.
Issuance of an Part 66 licence utilising a licence from another state
The UK CAA has no mechanism to accredit any licence from outside of the UK to exempt an applicant against any of the criteria of UK Part 66.
All applicants will need to meet the basic requirements detailed in the regulation Part 66 - Aircraft Maintenance Licence
Experience gained outside of a UK Part 145 organisation
Experience gained from outside the UK may be accepted provided it meets the requirements of 66.A.30 Basic experience requirements and follows the guidance on the recording of experience provided by the CAA.
It must be possible for the CAA to validate the authenticity of experience records with the maintenance organisation responsible for the completion of the maintenance recorded.