PROF PHILIPPE-JOSEPH SALAZAR
LE AG LE E AG LE:
Converting your South African licence to an EASA licence EASA, do you have a licence for this monkey? With the decline in SAA and the shrinking of job opportunities young pilots are looking abroad to get a career going. There has been an enormous upturn in interest in how to convert a South African licence to a European one. LEFT: There is a whole book on how to get an EASA licence - but Prof Salazar breaks it down to simple steps for us in Africa.
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N The Return of the Pink Panther, Inspector Clouseau asks a street musician in Paris, “Doo yoo ’ave a leeseunce for yeur meunkee?” A young pilot with whom I enjoyed a nav to Graaff-Reinet FAGR put
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on a Clouseau accent and asked me: “Can I get a leeseunce for this meunkee? ” – he meant his CPL. He knew my PPL/NR has been ‘validated’ by the French. He called it a conversion. It’s not quite a conversion – even with a French accent. So how do you convert your South African licence to a European (EASA) one? Step by step, let us follow the Pink Panther’s trail of a “conversion” by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). Step #1: Aircrew Regulation: EASA pilot licensing is framed by (full rich) the COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) No 1178/2011 of 3 November 2011 laying down technical requirements and administrative procedures related to civil aviation aircrew pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 216/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council. Lean title: Aircrew Regulation, or R1178/2011 (as at 5/3/2020) (references below are to this doc). It sets EASA “common requirements” for licensing but only Member States of the EU (plus Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway, Switzerland) are “competent” to deliver licences. Not EASA. Step #2: Part-FCL: Annex I of Aircrew Regulation deals with pilot licences, or “Flight Crew Licences” (FCL) (pp. 17106, plus 9 Appendices about syllabuses, training exercises, exams, tests etc., pp. 107215). Europeans refer to “Part-FCL” as we do to “Part 65” of our CARS. Step #3: “Acceptance” of your SACAA
licence (PPL, CPL, ATPL, and ratings). Because South Africa has Third Country status, Member States “may accept” your ICAO compliant licence (Article 8.1, p. 10) according to specific rules (Annex III, A and B, pp. 224-228). This is the part that matters to you! National rules may differ a bit (“derogations”). In short, you will apply to a Member State CAA to have your licence “accepted”. But not to EASA. Step #4: “Acceptance” by the UK CAA: the UK became a Third Country on 31/1/2020 but she is “treated” as a Member State until 31/12/2020 only. So, from 2021, when the UK gains full Third Country status, what may happen to a UK CAAissued EASA validation or conversion is unclear. Call Boris. Step #5: “Acceptance” covers two different procedures: “validation” and “conversion”. Step #6: Conversion. Whether you hold a SACAA PPL, CPL or ATPL, what you’ll get is an EASA Part-FCL PPL with a singlepilot class or type rating (Annex III, B, 1, p. 227). See boxed text. In short: you’ll fly private. Sorry for the monkey. Let’s call it the basic conversion. Step #7: Validation is set by Annex III, A, 1-7 (pp. 224-227) and allows you to use your home PPL, CPL or ATPL either for “non-commercial” (private) or for “commercial activities”. Validation sounds grand but beware!
