AUTOMATIC VALIDATION OF UNION FLIGHT CREW LICENCES

Background

Following ramp inspections outside the territory of the Member States, when flight crew members were found to be operating aircraft registered in a Member State other than the Member State that had issued their pilot licences, International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) amended Annex 1 to the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation in order to facilitate the automatic validation of licences through Regional Safety Oversight Organizations' agreements.

The ICAO Amendment 174 to Annex 1 -Personnel Licensing- enables, within a group of States, the automatic validation of licences issued by any State of the group when those States are party to a formal agreement under common licensing regulations. Such formal agreements can be implemented in various regions and improve the mobility of licensed personnel.

Agreement for automatically rendering valid pilot licenses in EU region has been registered as required in the Standard 1.2.2.3.1. of Amendment 174 to ICAO Annex 1 on Personnel Licenses, ICAO Registration number is 5950 (https://cfapp.icao.int/dagmar/main.cfm).

Pilot responsibility

Based on above, a pilot intending to fly outside Union territory (where rules of Chicago Convention apply, Article 32) on an aircraft registered in a Member State other than the one that issued the flight crew licence shall carry, in print or in electronic format, the latest issue of the ICAO attachment, which includes a reference to the ICAO registration number of the agreement that recognizes the automatic validation of licences, as well as the list of States which are party to this agreement.

Endorsement of remark in flight crew licence

CAA-SI shall issue the licence with the remark on the licence item XIII:

‘This licence is automatically rendered valid as per the ICAO attachment to this licence', and provide the holder of the licence with the ICAO attachment.

ICAO attachment can be found on EASA website.

Remark:

In this context ‘‘automatically validated' means the acceptance without formalities, by an ICAO contracting State listed in the ICAO attachment, of a flight crew licence issued by a State in accordance with Annex I to the Chicago Convention.