24 November 2020
The European Union and the USA have expanded their bilateral aviation safety agreement to cover pilot licences and flight simulators.
“A new Annex means that pilots residing in the EU fly aircraft on the basis of licences and ratings issued in accordance with EU regulations, under the oversight of EU Member States,” said EASA. “It will also ensure that they maintain and develop their qualifications via EU training organisations.”
The objective of the new Annex is to convert certain US pilot licences into EU Part-FCL licences and ratings, while taking account of the similarities between the US and EU regulatory systems. EASA expects ‘several thousand EU pilots are expected to take advantage of the new provisions and complete the conversion of their FAA pilot licences and ratings’.
The second Annex, on flight simulation training devices, will allow for the reciprocal acceptance of the recurrent evaluation and qualification of EU- and U.S.-based full flight simulators, avoiding duplicate evaluations (and costs) by EASA and the FAA.
A third decision allows technicians certificated by all EU aviation authorities to perform maintenance on civil aeronautical products.
The UK withdraws completely from EASA on 1 January 2021, so this will not have a direct effect here.
