The National Private Pilot’s Licence (NPPL) is a UK specific pilot’s licence developed in 2002. To obtain a NPPL with a Microlight Class Rating you must complete flight training with a UK Civil Aviation Authority authorised flying instructor entitled to instruct on microlights.

 

Age Limits

 

The minimum age at which you can start your flying training towards the NPPL(m) licence is 14 years. The first time you can fly solo is 16 years and a licence may be granted from the age of 17. There is no maximum age limit.

 

Flight Training Requirements

 

The minimum flight training required for the grant of a NPPL with a Microlight Class Rating Without Operational Limitations is:

 

• Minimum total flight time under instruction 25 hours 

• Minimum flight time solo 10 hours 

• Minimum total navigation flight time 5 hours 

• Minimum solo navigation flight time 3 hours

 

As part of your flight training you must take and pass a test with an authorised flight examiner to demonstrate your ability to fly a microlight through all the manoeuvres that you will have learned during training. The test is called a General Skills Test (GST). The flight time of the GST can count towards the minimum total flight time required to obtain the NPPL but not towards the solo minimum time.

 

To ensure that when your licence is issued your skill level and knowledge is current you must have completed the minimum solo flight time, all the navigation flight training and the GST within the nine month period immediately prior to applying for your licence.

 

Ground Training Requirements 

The Microlight syllabus lists the subject matter that an applicant for a Microlight Class Rating must understand. There is no minimum requirement for training by an instructor to achieve this knowledge but the applicant must have demonstrated a knowledge of the subject matter by passing examinations. 
 
There are written examinations in five subjects: Meteorology, Navigation, Aviation Law, Human Performance and Limitations and Aircraft Technical subjects. The examinations must have been passed within the twenty four months immediately prior to applying for your licence. 
 
There is one further examination to complete your demonstration of knowledge of the aircraft type that you have used to complete your GST. This examination is an oral examination and must be conducted by a flight examiner entitled to examine in microlight aircraft. It is usual, but not required, that the examination is conducted at the same time as the GST by the same examiner. The ground oral examination must have been passed within the nine months immediately prior to applying for your  licence. 

 

To view the full NPPL(m) syllabus, click here.