If the training is being, or will be treated as having been, done in accordance with that approval then you will be able to apply to the competent authority of an EASA member state for the issue of the CPL. The application must be made within six months of passing the skill test (FCL.015). You do not need to acquire an EASA Part-FCL private pilot licence.
Written exam passes will be carried over so there is no need to repeat these. Regulation (EU) 2019/494 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 March 2019:
Article 5
Carryover of training modules
By way of derogation from Commission Regulations (EU) No 1178/2011 and
(EU) No 1321/2014, the competent authorities of the Member States or
the Agency, as applicable, shall take account of the examinations
taken in training organisations that are subject to oversight by the
competent authority of the United Kingdom but which have not yet led
to the issuance of the license prior to the date of application
referred to in the second subparagraph of Article 10(2) of this
Regulation, as if they had been taken with a training organisation
subject to the oversight of the competent authority of a Member State.
Refer to topic 2 in EASA Guidance Bulletin for the Aircrew Domain—End to UK Transitional Period. Issued: 19 November 2020 (pdf link).
2.1 General considerations
With the end of the transitional period the UK regulatory system will be considered as a system of a third
country and, accordingly, any certificates and other documentation attesting completion of training, tests or
examinations and issued by UK CAA or by legal and natural persons regulated by UK CAA will not be valid
anymore in the EU as of 1 January 2021.In this respect attentions of EU27 Member State competent authorities is drawn to the fact that with the
entry into force of the EU-UK withdrawal agreement on 1 February 2020, Regulation (EU) 2019/494 of the
European Parliament and of the Council of 25 March 2019 on certain aspects of aviation safety with regard
to the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the Union ceased to
apply, including its Article 5 on the ‘Carryover of training modules’.In view of the above, this guidance addresses the following typical scenarios:
- Students who already completed training, tests or examinations in the UK and intend to apply for an
EU27 pilot license, associated rating or certificate before 1 January 2021;- Students whose training in the UK is still ongoing and who will not be able to apply for an EU27 pilot
license, associated rating or certificate before 1 January 2021;- Pilots who hold theoretical knowledge examination certificates issued by UK CAA and who would like
to rely on those certificates in EU27 Member States after 31 December 2020.The pre-requisite of all the above mentioned scenarios is that the student/pilot changes his/her competent
licensing authority to a EU27 Member State competent authority as explained in Chapter 1 of this Guidance.
Qalupalik wrote:
If the training is being, or will be treated as having been, done in accordance with that approval then you will be able to apply to the competent authority of an EASA member state for the issue of the CPL. The application must be made within six months of passing the skill test (FCL.015). You do not need to acquire an EASA Part-FCL private pilot licence.
Thanks, this is reassuring.
So this means that I should do the CPL skills test at my ATO in England, and then use this skills test to apply for an EASA CPL with Spain for instance? I won’t need to transfer the PPL first, I can directly apply for a CPL with them? Would I have to transfer the medical records first?
Will I be able to apply to both a UK and a Spain CPL?
I’m just saying Spain because I’m Spanish, but don’t really care which EASA country it is.
And if it counts for anything, I did my initial Class 1 medical in Spain, so they will hold those records (although they transferred those to the UK in 2017 and I have held UK medicals since)
Check the revised post – specifically this bit from the linked document:
Students who are currently undergoing training at a UK ATO or UK DTO may, until 31 December 2020, transfer
that training to an ATO or DTO under the oversight of an EU27 Member State competent authority or EASA
in accordance with the provisions of Commission Regulation (EU) No 1178/2011 in order to be able to rely
on that training also after 31 December 2020 for the purpose of applying for a pilot license, rating or
certificate from an EU27 Member State competent authority.
So;
Which exams do you mean? The ATPL theory exams?
That would be a huge nightmare. I sat those 14 exams as part of EASA and I would have to sit them all over again?
Yes, the ATPL theory exams. Unfortunately EASA no longer recognises the exams you sat as EASA exams. You need to speak with your ATO and find out if your training was transferred to a member state before the deadline. I don’t know if this was possible without your involvement, I hope it was for your sake. If this has not been done then you are facing the same problem as myself with the prospect of re-sitting exams if you want an EASA licence based off your UK one.
Pirho wrote:
If this has not been done then you are facing the same problem as myself with the prospect of re-sitting exams if you want an EASA licence based off your UK one.
Hey Pirho, thanks for the reply.
Since we seem to be on the same boat, what are you planning on doing? Just wait and pray for EASA to issue some kind of easy validation route for UK licence holders?
No problem, it is a real mess the way it has turned out I think (leaving aside the politics of it).
Yes, for now I am just waiting and hoping. I am lucky to currently be employed in the UK but with the current global situation I wanted to get an EASA licence back as some insurance policy for the future. Re-doing the exams is not practical for me at the minute, so we will wait and see and hope that something develops.
One thing just to clarify from your post, licence validation is a separate thing from conversion. Conversion actually results in you holding an EASA licence. Validation I don’t know a great deal about but I believe is supposed to be a temporary recognition of licence/rating based upon your non EASA licence.
Pirho wrote:
No problem, it is a real mess the way it has turned out I think (leaving aside the politics of it).
It is, it feels like a nightmare.
I am also currently employed in the UK as an aerospace engineer, just as you I have been getting my licences as insurance for the future and to have more options.
I started my PPL in 2016 shortly after the referendum. I couldn’t ever imagine in my wildest dreams that the UK would leave EASA. And even if it did leave EASA, there would be some mutual recognition agreement. Leaving EASA like this and having UK licence holders screwed over so hardly was such an incredibly remote possibility…
This has been an important life lesson for me: if thigns can go wrong, they definitely will go wrong. (edit: just noticed that I misspelt “things”, the irony of it…)
Out of curiosity, how difficult would it be for someone who recently did their exams, to redo them under EASA? I know that would be a pain but it would open up the option of both an EASA and UK ATPL allowing maximum job opportunities.
Would it be particularly expensive? Would you need to redo all the course work to be allowed to sit the exams?
Or are they done over a long period, meaning that the acquired exam knowledge is largely lost and you’d need to do a lot of studying?
Is the problem with resitting them time, money or regulations?
No judgement implied! I’ve never done these exams, so am just curious to learn what’s involved (and no, I’d not like to have to resit my accountancy exams 26 years later!).
I don’t think it’s right what has happened to you. But I’m just wondering what would be involved in you being able to fix it in a way that is under your own control rather than relying on EASA or your school to fix it?
I think the important lesson has always been to look at the politics underneath something.
I have always said that moves against N-reg are politically hard. Then, against my judgement, I spent many thousands and huge amounts of hassle doing the JAA IR conversion, and sure enough I need not have done it… well, thus far. And even if I had done it but later I could have done the CBIR route which avoids the seven written exams which – like the 14 “ATPL” exams – are ~90% crap. My own political assessment of the brexit stuff was that Brussels must screw the UK as hard as it can (to prevent others getting the same idea, and there are other “leave” candidates out there) and that is exactly what it did.
However I still think there will be some conversion route.
I wonder what happened to that 12 month validation, for FAA license holders? It meant you could fly an N-reg for an extra year provided you were working towards the EASA stuff. Not the same thing I know, but sort of similar.
Re-sitting the 14 exams would require all the revision and computer-QB practice to be done again. Probably a few weeks of hassle.
Out of curiosity, how difficult would it be for someone who recently did their exams, to redo them under EASA?
Presumably you would need to find a friendly ATO to let you sit the exams without going through ground school revision, and then there are the exam fees, e-books, etc
Not counting the time, soul scarring, it sounds like a cost of EUR2-3k. Trivial compared to the thousands of successful UK small businesses that have seen their EU exports become untenable due to admin costs.
Isn’t there an EASA FCL requirement to do residential ground school?
OTOH, there is the 100hr PPL conversion route, and there is the CBIR IR conversion route… total about 2 of the PPL exams? The CPL I don’t know about. That however doesn’t get you a CPL/IR which can later be converted to an ATPL via the European “500hrs MP” route, and that would be true even if you did the 13 CPL exams!
I disagree with the main drift of that BBC article, BTW; they just picked a couple of people who don’t know even the basics of how to send stuff abroad, but that’s for the “other thread” 
