General Aviation pilot licensing & training simplification
The project to simplify General Aviation (GA) flight crew licensing and training regulations commenced in 2022, involving multiple rounds of discussions with industry experts and public consultation.
The Aviation Safety (Amendment) Regulations No.2 2025 and The Air Navigation (Amendment) Order 2025 were laid before Parliament by the Department for Transport (DfT) on 16 July 2025. Changes related to Sailplanes come into force on 15 September 2025 and all other aircraft categories on 1 October 2025. The amendments are contained in:
- The Aviation Safety (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2025; and
- The Air Navigation (Amendment) Order 2025.
The CAA’s Aviation Regulatory Library has been updated to reflect changes that fall under Part-FCL to the UK Aircrew Regulation, the Balloon Regulation and Sailplane Regulation.
To support the revised regulations, associated Acceptable Means of Compliance (AMC) and Guidance Material (GM) has also now been published, following public consultation in Q2 2025. You can find changes on our ORS9 webpage and these have also been added to the CAA’s Aviation Regulatory Library.
You can read a summary of the changes related to UK aeroplane licences.
Wave 2 proposals
A smaller package of amendments to the UK Aircrew Regulation and Air Navigation Order are also planned for the summer of 2026. These consist of some items consulted on in 2024 but not included in the 2025 amendment, and additional proposals that have arisen from previous consultations and other sources.
The consultation addressing these additional amendments closed on 8 August 2025. We are now finalising our Opinion and Instruction (OID) document, setting out our recommendations to the Secretary of State for further changes to flight crew licensing regulations. The Department for Transport (DfT) will shortly begin drafting the statutory instruments that will enact these changes in the summer of 2026.
Balloon and Sailplane Pilots Licences
Changes outlined in the Consultation Response Documents do not affect the continued implementation of UK Sailplane Flight Crew Licensing (Part-SFCL) regulations and Balloon Flight Crew Licensing (UK Part-BFCL) regulations.
Holders of existing BGA certificates and balloon licences issued under the Air Navigation Order should convert to Sailplane Pilot Licences (SPL) and Balloon Pilot Licences (BPL) respectively, by 30 September 2025. Failure to do so in good time before that deadline may result in a disruption to licence privileges.
Existing PPL(Balloon and Airship) holders will be permitted to exercise limited privileges on Part 21 balloons after 30 September 2025, however the existing conversion report to the BPL will be discontinued.
Project history and background
Phase 1: Investigate the scope for simplifying the licensing architecture
In phase 1 we examined high-level issues, including implications for consolidating the UK Air Navigation Order and retained EASA regulations, compliance with ICAO standards and recommended practices, and the distinction between general aviation and commercial flight training.
Phase 1 concluded with the CAP 2335 consultation and associated CAA consultation response document in CAP 2532.
The following podcast episodes provide more information:
Help simplify private pilot licensing and training in the UK - CAA on General Aviation
Answering your questions on the GA licensing consultation - CAA on General Aviation
The role of the GA licensing working group - CAA on General Aviation
General Aviation pilot licensing and training simplification
Phase 2: Licences, ratings and certificates
In Phase 2 we examined the detail of licensing and training requirements for each aircraft category, working with internal and external stakeholders to develop proposed changes to the relevant regulations.
In March 2024 the CAA launched a 10-week public consultation seeking stakeholder views on proposed changes to licences and ratings across the GA aircraft categories:
The consultation received a total of 1,411 responses.
A summary of the responses received, the decisions made, and next steps can be found in the consultation response document and on the consultation page. In addition to the consultation response document, we have provided summary documents that detail the consultation responses by GA aircraft category:
- aeroplanes including microlights and consultation page
- balloons and airships and consultation page
- sailplanes and consultation page
- helicopters and consultation page
- gyroplanes and consultation page
The following podcast episode provides more information:
Project update on private pilot licensing and training in the UK - CAA on General Aviation
Phase 3: Rulemaking, transparency and simplicity
After reviewing the results of the phase 2 consultation, we drafted four Opinion and Instruction Documents (OID), setting out our recommendations to the Secretary of State for amending UK Regulation (EU) 1178/2011 (the “UK Aircrew Regulation”), UK Regulation (EU) 2018/395 (“the Balloon Regulation”), UK Regulation (EU) 2018/1976 (the “Sailplane Regulations”) and the Air Navigation Order 2016 (“ANO”).
Amendments to the regulations were laid before Parliament in July 2025. These come into force on 15 September 2025 for Sailplanes and 1 October 2025 for other categories. Associated changes to Acceptable Means of Compliance (AMC) and Guidance Material (GM) have also been published in ORS9 and integrated into the CAA’s Aviation Regulatory Library.
Alongside the changes to regulations, we are developing appropriate Acceptable Means of Compliance (AMC) and Guidance Material (GM). AMC sets out the more detailed means by which compliance may be achieved. GM assists in understanding the meaning and interpretation of a regulation.
We are taking the opportunity to extract guidance relating to the Instrument Meteorological Conditions Rating (IMC) and Flight Radio Telephony Operators Licence (FRTOL) from CAP 804 (currently a reference only document) and incorporate it into a new CAP that supports licences and ratings issued under the Air Navigation Order. These will be published in due course, prior to the amendments being implemented.