ICAO move will enable introduction of lower-cost training
The International Civil Aviation Organisation will, by 2006, introduce a commercial licence for co-pilots, subject to approval by the body's governing council.
ICAO expects the multi-crew pilot licence (MPL) to clear the way for lower cost training tailored to produce the skills required by pilots starting their careers as airline co-pilots. The move follows two years of work by ICAO on updating its standards and recommended practices for pilot licensing.
ICAO's chief of personnel licensing and training Paul Lamy says the principal components of the MPL will be:
training carried out in a multi-crew environment; more credit given to "synthetic flight" (appropriate simulator time); definition of core competencies (the skills required by a co-pilot).Training requirements are also set to become more flexible, says Lamy, mainly by providing the option of substituting airborne hours with appropriate simulator training. ICAO is proposing that the "flying" time required to commercial licence level would be about 240h, with up to 75% in simulators and only 60h of actual airborne time.
To gain the MPL, the pilot will have proved the solo skills required to hold a private pilot's licence, but the remainder of the training will be multi-crew with the pilot having to prove competence both as pilot flying and pilot not flying. The instrument rating (IR) qualification would also be issued as a multi-crew IR. At present, the only way to win an air transport pilot's licence (ATPL) is via a course that requires the pilot to demonstrate the ability to command and operate a multi-engine aircraft on their own, which in practice is required only of pilots who will fly commercial single-crew operations. Upgrade to a full multi-crew ATPL from the MPL would follow further experience and training. Still further training and tests would be required for transfer to a single-pilot commercial licence or IR.
Lamy anticipates the final draft proposals should be ready for presentation by the end of January 2005, adoption will take place in 2006 and the system would go into operation by the end of the same year. The MPL, he stresses, is an optional route. The traditional licences and methods of obtaining them would remain available,but the means of proving competency may become more prescriptive as a result of work on revising and updating ICAO Annex 1, which defines personnel licensing and training.
DAVID LEARMOUNT / LONDON
Source: Flight International
