Affordable Mallorca | Brexit Helicopter Licence Chaos

Brexit Strips Pilots of Right to Fly in Europe #

One of the consequences of BREXIT is the status of licences for driving, flying and other forms of transportation used for Brits living in Spain. When the Brexit transition period ended on 31 December 2020, the UK ceased to form part of the EU Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). UK-licensed pilots have been placed in the frustrating position of only being able to fly UK-registered aircraft.

A Brief Background #

According to Mallorca’s Aviation Centre, “Although the Civil Aviation Authority will now assume all of EASA’s functions, it doesn’t solve the geographical restrictions imposed on UK-licensed pilots,” says Stewart Jones, Owner of The Aviation Centre based at Son Bonet Aerodrome in Palma. “When the UK was part of EASA, pilots were able to fly any European-registered helicopter. Now the UK is considered as a ‘third country’, that door is now firmly closed. Licences issued by the UK will no longer be valid in EASA member states, forcing pilots to go through a conversion process with additional training and exams.

Chief Flight Instructor Neal Spurrell and Owner Stewart Jones PHOTO The Aviation Centre 1

The Solution #

“Naturally, we saw this coming and, thanks to an affiliation with Transport Malta, we are fully authorised to host private and commercial training here in Mallorca - for new pilots and those who need to do a conversion in orderBy to fly a European-registered helicopter. Requirements depend on the hours held, but they include passing ground exams, an EASA medical examination, an IACO English language proficiency test and additional flight training. The Aviation Centre can handle all of this. And, once qualified, our students can go and fly anywhere in Europe," Jones continues.

The Aviation Centre Fleet at Son Bonet Aerodrome Palma PHOTO The Aviation Centre 1

More About The Aviation Centre on Mallorca #

With over 25 years experience, The Aviation Centre upholds the highest standards of safety. Within the core team of four instructors, they have in-house UK/CAA Flight Examiners and Commercial Pilots for both fixed wing and rotary licences; and, they have a fully qualified Radiotelephony examiner.

The Aviation Centre has a partnership with Bristol Ground School, Europe’s leading provider of modular distance learning courses for EASA Airline Transport Pilots Licence (ATPL).

Not only can we give you the flying and ground school course that you need, we can also offer ICAO English Courses and the Official Test, right up to the maximum level 6. We have built a reputation throughout the aviation industry and have English assessors throughout Europe. ~ The Aviation Centre

With five helicopters at their disposal, and a warm friendly team of multilingual instructors, The Aviation Centre is among a very small handful of establishments who can do the PPLH, Type Rating Conversion, Air Transport Pilot Licence ground school (as the Spanish satellite of Bristol Ground School), CPLH exams, and CPLH flying course - all in the same place.

Meanwhile, Mallorca offers incredible scenery, favourable flying conditions and is, under normal circumstances, directly accessible from dozens of major European airports. For more on the Palma airport and destinations, click here >> Palma de Mallorca Airport.

For more information, Contact The Aviation Centre on 00 34 638 603 197 or email [email protected].

They are on Facebook www.facebook.com/aviationcentremallorca/ and Instagram www.instagram.com/centreaviation/.