Consultation Hub

We asked industry and academia to apply to participate in three hydrogen working groups created as part of the Hydrogen Challenge:

• H2Wo(1) Hydrogen Propulsion Systems – hydrogen combustion, hydrogen electric and hydrogen fuel system.
• H2Wo(2) Hydrogen Aircraft Safety & Certification – standards as guidance, Special Conditions and Human Factors/Flight Ops.
• H2Wo(3) Aerodromes and Airports – infrastructure, fuelling/de-fuelling and airport safety

These will facilitate collaboration with industry and academia to improve understanding of hydrogen-related risks in aviation, identify gaps in regulations and policies, and propose new recommendations to develop net-zero regulations and policies.

We received a total of 117 applications to join the one or more of the three working groups.

All applicants were contacted and asked which groups they wanted to attend. Selected applicants will be sent invitations for the first meetings which we hope to hold in October 2024.

We ran a consultation, CAP2974G, from 13 March to 22 May 2024 asking the UK General Aviation (GA) community for their views on our proposed strategic direction for pilot licensing and training simplification - Gyroplanes.

The consultation covered the following themes:

• Differences training and whether to add these into the Air Navigation Order 2016 as requirements rather than suggested minimum hours.
• Crediting of theoretical knowledge (TK) and flight training towards gaining an NPPL microlight as previously allowed under CAP804.
• Relaxing the restricted Flight Instructor Gyroplane (FI(G)) supervision to also include the local area to allow some flexibility in allowing restricted FI(G) to be able to gain the experience to remove the restriction.
• Maintaining the privileges of the gyroplane rating and whether to align with the new suggestions in the Aeroplane consultation paper.
• ATO requirement for FIC and how this can be made more proportionate for FIC(G).
• Creating gyroplane specific TK examinations and moving them to the eExams system.

We received 20 responses to this consultation. All respondents answered the survey questions and some left detailed comments.

• Differences training: The vast majority agreed with the proposals to incorporate the differences training, currently in Standards Document 44 (SD44), into the Air Navigation Order 2016 as requirements.
• Crediting of TK and flight training towards gaining NPPL(M): Nearly all respondents agreed with both of these proposals with only 1 individual being undecided on the flight training proposal.
• Relaxing the supervision of restricted FI(G): 70% of respondents agreed with the new proposed wording to relax the supervision and include the local flying area.
• Maintaining privileges: Only 4 respondents had a view on this topic.
• ATO requirement for FIC: 50% of respondents agreed with our approach.
• Creating gyroplane TK and moving onto eExams platform: These proposals received mixed views from respondents.

We will be proceeding with the next phase of this project to develop and move forward with proposed changes:

• We will begin work on drafting the proposed amendments to the ANO, in co-operation with the Department for Transport. 
• We will begin work on updating Standards Document 44 to capture the changes.
• We will update the PPL(G) Air Law and Gyroplane Technical examination papers and reformat the NPPL(A) Microlight examination papers for gyroplanes. Once updated these will be sent to all Ground Examiners for Gyroplanes.
• We will commence a project to amend CAP1667, to align with the DTO requirements.

We have published our consultation response document, setting out these findings in more detail: CAP3032G

We ran a consultation, CAP2974F, from 13^th March 2024 to 22^nd May 2024 asking the UK General Aviation (GA) community for their views our proposed strategic direction in the second phase of the Licensing and Training Simplification project- Sailplanes.

The consultation covered the following themes:

• Adding the term ‘Gliding Club’ to the list of definitions in Article 2 of the Sailplane Regulations.
• Developing procedures and privileges to authorise student pilots who are following a training course to gain an SPL to exercise limited privileges without the supervision of an instructor, before they meet all the requirements that are necessary for the issue of an SPL.
• Propose changes to theoretical knowledge exams including the number of exams and the validity periods.
• Amend Acceptable Means of Compliance (AMC) for powered sailplanes to include partial engine failure.
• Develop a Basic Instructor privilege within SFCL similar to the current BGA Basic Instructor rating and make necessary amendments for aerobatic and self-launching for instructors.

We received 586 responses to this consultation. Most respondents answered the survey questions and a number also left additional comments. The consultation questions were worded in such a way to form a survey that could be quantitatively analysed. 

• We received significant support to add the term ‘Gliding Club’ to the list of definitions in Article 2 of the assimilated Sailplane Regulations UK (EU) 2018/1976, defining it as a club affiliated to the British Gliding Association (BGA), which is created with the aim of promoting aerial sport and leisure aviation.’
• We received significant support to develop procedures and privileges to authorise student pilots who are following a training course to gain a SPL to exercise limited privileges without the supervision of an instructor before they meet all the requirements that are necessary for the issue of an SPL.
• We received significant support to make changes to theoretical knowledge exams including the number of exams and the validity periods.
• We received significant support to amend Acceptable Means of Compliance (AMC) for powered sailplanes to include partial engine failure following an AAIB safety recommendation.
• We received significant support to develop a Basic Instructor privilege within SFCL similar to the current BGA Basic Instructor rating.

We received significant support to make necessary changes to amend the privileges of the Flight Instructor to remove the requirement for the Flight Instruction to hold advanced aerobatic privileges if instructing for basic aerobatic privileges as well as amending the privileges of the Flight Instructor to include self-launch in the launching methods.

We will be proceeding with the next phase of this project to develop and move forward with proposed changes.

• We will begin work on drafting the proposed amendments to the Sailplane Regulations, in co-operation with the Department for Transport.
• We are working towards a legislative slot in Spring 2025.
• We will also liaise with internal colleagues to ensure that our systems, internal instructions documents and all staff are ready for the implementation of these changes.

In some areas, we need to develop appropriate Acceptable Means of Compliance (AMC), Guidance Material (GM) and other CAA publications (CAPs) to support the planned changes to regulation. These will be consulted on, where necessary, in late 2024 or early 2025.

We have published our consultation response document, setting out these findings in more detail: CAP3032F