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Licence Renewal or Revalidation at RAF Lyneham Flying Club

There are several criteria which must be met to have a class rating on a licence revalidated or renewed, these are described below.
 
The first thing which must be understood is the difference between a Licence Renewal and a Class Rating Renewal/Revalidation.  Your licence is either valid for life or 5 years depending on when it was issued.  To renew a licence is a paperwork exercise involving some payment to the CAA.
 
The second thing which must be understood is the difference between Class rating Revalidation and Renewal.  A revalidation is when the class rating has not expired and you have completed the necessary criteria to have the class rating revalidated by experience; the full requirements are listed below.  A renewal is when the class rating has expired, or the necessary experience cannot be demonstrated.
 
Licence Re-issue (only applicable to non lifetime licences)
You can apply for a Licence re-issue within a period of 60 days prior to the expiry date of the licence in order to have the licence re-issued by the CAA the holder must:
 
    1.    Hold a valid medical which is valid for at least the day of issue of the new licence.
 
    2.    Have held a valid Certificate of Test, Certificate of Experience or Certificate of Revalidation for any Type/class rating that has not expired by more than 5 years.

Anyone not able to comply with the second criteria should refer to LASORS (which can be downloaded from the www.caa.co.uk website by searching for "lasors")

Class Rating Revalidation
A revalidation is only for a class rating which has not expired. 
The revalidation can be done by test or by logbook demonstration of experience. 
 
By Test: If done by test  it can be done within 3 months prior to expiry of the class rating and the class rating will be valid for 2 years from the date of expiry of the previous class rating.
 
By Experience: Please don't ask an examiner to sign a revalidation for a class rating if the date is past its expiry, this is forbidden by the JAA.  In order to have a Class Rating (Single Engine Piston) revalidated you must have completed the following IN THE 12 MONTHS PRIOR TO THE EXPIRY DATE OF THE RATING:
 
        12 hours of flight time in SEP or TMG aircraft as appropriate to include;
        i. 6 hours as pilot-in-command;
        ii. 12 take-offs and landings;
        iii. a single training flight* of at least 1 hour’s duration with a FI(A) or CRI(A) who must countersign the appropriate logbook entry (see full details below).
 
            UK QSP only may undertake the instructional flight on a SEP or TMG with a UK Military instructor.
 
            *This training flight may be replaced by any other aeroplane proficiency check or skill test for an instrument, class or type rating (as defined by JAR-FCL) with a JAA qualified Examiner, or by a flight test for the issue/revalidation or renewal of a UK IMC rating.
 
    • If revalidating by flying experience, and providing the examiner signs the Certificate of Revalidation page within the 3 months prior to the rating expiry, the validity of the revalidated rating will be calculated from the date of expiry of the preceding rating.
 
    • If the licence contains both SEP (Land) and TMG ratings, revalidation requirements of both classes may be satisfied by completing the above requirements in EITHER a TMG or a SEP (Land) aeroplane (or a combination of both).
 
The Training Flight
 
The FI should make the purpose of the training flight clear at the outset. His function is to ascertain the applicant’s knowledge and skills, and interject if necessary to improve on these. If the primary purpose of the flight was for some other training then the FI must select suitable items of general handling to fulfil the purpose of the JAR-FCL requirement and brief how these will fit into the profile for the purpose of the applicant’s revalidation request. Where the aim is achieved the FI will sign the applicants logbook, append his/her licence number and identify the ‘Training Flight’ for the examiners purpose.
 
 
Currently at Lyneham we have 2 local examiners authorised to sign class rating revalidations by experience (Graham Stokes and Robert McPhee)
 
Class Rating Renewal
A renewal is what will be required if the class rating has expired. i.e. the date is after the "Valid until" date shown on the Class rating page.
 
Where licence holders have been unable to renew a SEP (Land) or TMG Class Rating for a period not exceeding 5 years from the date of expiry, they will be required to complete the following requirements:
 
    i. The CAA will require no mandatory additional training. Applicants should complete training at their own discretion sufficient to pass the Skill Test.
 
    ii. Complete the Skill Test with a JAR Authorised Examiner.
 
    iii. Pass an oral theoretical knowledge examination conducted by the Examiner as part of the skill test.
 
At Lyneham we have several people who can perform this test, the nearest is Graham Stokes.  Mike Grierson has also offered to perform tests here at Lyneham.
 
Lookout!