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PPL renewal (France)

I thought this would be an easy to find subject, maybe I did not look right.

My second year of my PPL Sep finishes soon and as I am not in the country where my license is from FRANCE I looked on the easa website and found a few

I have enough hours in my second year to have a revalidation by previous experience. It says I need to do a minimum one hour training with a easa FI or CRI. So far so good.
type of earoplane do I need to fly this training in. For a proviciency test it is clear it needs a easa tcdc plane, but what about the training can I do this in my own easa permit to fly plane.

As I just changed from a UK license to a French, can somebody tell me which form I need to fill in to renew my french PPL.
Do the french accept any easa FI or does it need to be a recognised by the french one, if so how can I arrnage this.

Hope that somebody can help me out as I can not be back in france before my licnse expires.

Marc

LF2433 rochebeaucourt france, Netherlands
Low-hours pilot
EDVM Hildesheim, Germany

I’ve recently renewed my SEP licenses with the DGAC, from Norway (done it few times already). you need to send them an email ([email protected]) with a scan of your log book, your total number of hours as well as the number of hours in the last 12 months, how many as PIC, and when was the flight with instructor. Since the instructor is probably not in their system, they will probably ask you for a scan of his instructor license.
They typically respond within one or 2 working days and then send the new license by post.

ENVA, Norway

Marcpa wrote:

can somebody tell me which form I need to fill in to renew my french PPL.
Do the french accept any easa FI or does it need to be a recognised by the french one, if so how can I arrnage this.

Amazingly, you can do it online:

https://www.ecologique-solidaire.gouv.fr/mon-espace-pilote-sigebel#e3

You need to sign up for SIGEBEL first. Then just look for a FI/CRI who will sign you off online. I can’t see a non-French licence holder having access to such a system, so regardless of the legal aspect you are effectively restricted to French instructors.

The checklist PDF attachment explains what you need to do in detail.

There is a link there to search for authorised FEs – there are none in the Netherlands but 3 in Belgium.

Marcpa wrote:

what about the training can I do this in my own easa permit to fly plane.

Yes, as long as it’s a SEP and not an ultralight – what’s your MTOW?

Last Edited by Berto at 18 Jul 20:41
EBZW

It is a sep, mtow 600 kg and will probably go on a restricted type certificate end of the year. Can you tell me where I can find that any sep is ok?

I am on cyprus at the moment, Imwill have a look if they have an authorised FE, but probably not. May be the “norway” way will work, I send them an email.

LF2433 rochebeaucourt france, Netherlands

Berto wrote:

I can’t see a non-French licence holder having access to such a system, so regardless of the legal aspect you are effectively restricted to French instructors.

The restriction to French instructor is only if you want to do the renewal online with SIGEBEL. Otherise, as I wrote in my previous post, it works well by email (although right now they might be slower to respond since it’s summer vacation time).

ENVA, Norway

I also have a French licence abroad. I did look at doing it with the UK CAA approx 2012, but they would have charged a lot more than a ferry ticket, not forgetting UK flying school rates. I easily had a ‘free’ holiday on what I saved by doing it in France

SIGEBEL is really good, as it saves going to a regional office to have your licence stamped, especially as a lot of the smaller offices were closed due to budget cuts. Unfortunately, it only works with DGAC-listed instructors: if you use someone else you need to visit to one of the offices. I didn’t know it could be done by email – this is really good to know. One of my friends has done it by post for the last ~40 years so this works too, but you won’t have the originals for a week or two.

I was a bit worried when I needed a new (physical) licence when it changed from JAA to EASA, but Beauvais were very helpful on the telephone and posted the new paper licence in a couple of days.

EGHO-LFQF-KCLW, United Kingdom

Thanks for your info, changing my license from CAA to DSAC went very efficient on the french side, so I will try this out per email.

LF2433 rochebeaucourt france, Netherlands

I have a French PPL and did my SEP renewal flight with a UK flight instructor.

After the flight I just scanned the relevant pages of my logbook, the instructor’s licence, and emailed it all to the DGAC in Bordeaux.

A week later they posted me a new licence with SEP printed on it.

LFCS (Bordeaux Léognan Saucats)

I’ve just revalidated my SEP by email as described by WingsWaterAndWheels so merci! The pilotes.prives mailbox is full, but Beauvais were helpful as always when I eventually spoke to someone (currently the office is only manned Tuesdays). Don’t leave it too late…

The contact details for the various offices are here https://www.ecologie.gouv.fr/bureaux-des-licences-en-regions-dsacir#e2 ; Tahiti isn’t on the list so I guess they do it all by post and email.

The list of French examiners based outside France is here https://www.ecologie.gouv.fr/en/non-french-part-fcl-examiners#e4 .

EGHO-LFQF-KCLW, United Kingdom
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