Changes

The European Commission Regulation (EU) No. 1178/2011 (the "Aircrew Regulation") is binding and directly applicable in all EASA Member States since 8 April 2012.

Conversion requirements for (existing) national licenses of Member States are regulated by Annex II; and the acceptance of those from third countries (under which the UK falls after a "No Deal"-Brexit) are regulated by Annex III.

</ref> In order to act as a pilot-in-command of an "EASA aircraft" as specified in the Regulation, it is a regulated requirement to hold a pilot license according to Part-FCL, in principle. However, due to the burdensome requirements for organizations - such as gliding clubs - for training towards such a pilot licence (non-commercial), Part-DTO (Annex VIII) was introduced by Commission Regulation (EU) 2018/1119<ref name="cr-2018-1119">[https://www.easa.europa.eu/document-library/regulations/commission-regulation-eu-20181119 Commission Regulation (EU) 2018/1119]</ref> of 31 July 2018 to promote more flexibility within General Aviation.

Hence, currently, there is still no requirement to hold a (Part-FCL compliant) pilot license while flying a sailplane in the UK, yet. In fact, there is no legal requirement in the UK, at all, to hold a license as a glider pilot for non-commercial operations.

<ref>[https://www.easa.europa.eu/document-library/opinions/opinion-no-012019-b Opinion No 01/2019 (A) & (B)]</ref>

COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) No 1178/2011 requires in Part-MED, Section 2 ("Requirements for medical certificates"):

"MED.A.030 Medical certificates

(h) A licence holder shall not at any time hold more than one medical certificate issued in accordance with this Part."

Though, it has to be taken into consideration that most BGA training in the UK currently is formally NOT (directly) towards an EASA Part-FCL license (SPL or LAPL(S)). The grant of such a license does not fall under the (immediate) purposes of BGA gliding training - and in the UK, hence, BGA gliding student pilots are not considered as applicants to an EASA Part-FCL license. Nonetheless, upon conversion to an EASA Part-FCL license, MED.A.030 does apply to the license holder indeed - and a valid and relevant EASA Part-MED medical is then also required to be held.

The LAPL Medical is required for a Light Aircraft Pilot License - such as a LAPL(A) for aeroplanes, a LAPL(H) for helicopters, a LAPL(B) for balloons or a LAPL(S) for sailplanes.

Its validity period is 60 months until the license holder reaches the age of 40 - or 24 months if the license holder has already reached the age of 40.

This Medical has sub-ICAO standards; but the idea of the LAPL Medical is - without compromise to EASA aviation saftey standards - to foster General Aviation by also allowing people to fly accross the European Union (and the EEA) who would otherwise not be able to meet ICAO medical standards.

[Requirements, Medical Examination]

The Class 2 Medical is required for the PPL, BPL and SPL licenses - which are issued to ICAO standards.

[Requirements, Medical Examination]

The Class 1 Medical is required for the CPL, MPL, ATPL licenses - which are issued to ICAO standards.

Its validity period is generally 12 months - and only 6 months once the license holder reaches the age of 60 (or the age of 40, if they are involved in commercial passenger transportation).

This medical is usually irrelevant to glider pilots who do not also fly other aircraft categories commercially.

[Requirements, Medical Examination]

The particular national circumstances also have to be taken into consideration:

On the one hand, Part-MED - insofar applicable - only stipulates the minimum medical requirements within the EEA. Member States principally might impose even more confined restrictions, though. For example, in Germany, LuftPersV § 16<ref>https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/luftpersv/__16.html</ref> paragraph (2) no 2 makes it necessary to hold the Part-MED Medical even at the beginning of the flight training (also for sailplanes/gliders) - even though MED.A.030 (a) only makes it a requirement to hold a medical for the first solo flight. So, all flights within Germany - before such a medical is held - can only be passenger flights. Consequently, to not be caught off guard, the relevant national requirements should be reviewed before flight training in another country is planned and conducted.

Due to UK CAA General Exemption E 4825, on the other hand, up until April 2020 no Part-FCL license needs to be held to fly sailplanes. Respectively, no training towards a Part-FCL for flying gliders is necessary - which renders Part-MED not applicable for all BGA training whose (immediate, direct) purpose is not the grant of a Part-FCL license. [National Regulations? probably not for gliders in the UK... have to look into ANO.] Though, nonetheless, for flying within BGA clubs, obviously BGA requirements needs to be adhered to, too.

Generally, for BGA dual instruction flights, there are no specific medical certificates the glider pilot student is required to hold. Often club membership application forms ask to make a declaration on the medical conditions, though.

* EASA Part-MED Medical of Class 2 or Class 1 standard (ICAO-compliant)

* third country ICAO-compliant medical certificate (subject to general recognition by UK CAA)

as well as (as of March 2019):

* if temporarily resident in the UK only: non-EU medical certificate (not ICAO-compliant)

* (Air Cadet gliding medical certificate or NATO military aircrew employment standard)

Currently, the bold options are the most commonly used evidences accepted for gliding within BGA clubs. Below the age of 25, a self-declaration simply suffices. From the age of 25, people usually hold a UK/EU driving license. Otherwise, the least complicated option is probably to visit and ask their GP for the NPPL Medical.

Qualified pilots who exercise their Part-FCL licence privileges necessarily have to hold the relevant and valid EASA Part-MED Medical for the privileges in question.

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