Reader's Question—Foreign licenses in France

James Kwong writes:

Dear Sue and the Francoflyers team,

I currently have an Australian PPL, and I am flying a G registered aircraft in the UK for hour building towards a JAA CPL.

I have always wanted to fly across the channel to France, and of course I know the weather is generally better there as well! However I am not sure about the legality of flying in France in a G registered aircraft with an ICAO (Australian) PPL. It is permitted here in the UK, but I am not sure about France. I have tried to contact the French CAA but find it difficult to communicate over the telephone with them about this fairly complicated matter.

What I do know is that if I wanted to fly a French registered aircraft I would have to get a temporary French license that costs around 70 Euros, and takes about a week to sort all the paperwork, however I must stress that I will be in a G registered aircraft and I believe it is this that complicates matters.

If anyone else has had experience with this problem, or knows someone who has flown in France on a non JAA license on a non French registered aircraft then please let me know what to do and perhaps who I could speak to about this problem. At the end of the day I don't want to break the law! But would love to fly to France and enjoy the flying there too!

Comments

[susan Virr]

Hi James

The French authorities will accept an I.C.A.O licence for day VFR. I have written about this problem on Franco Flyers in the past.I hope that this enables you to enjoy the wonderful flying which is available here in France.

[james Kwong]

Thanks for the info! Glad to here it isn't complicated for a change!

[Antoine]

Hi Sue,

Just found your flyingblog and also your corporate website. Well I am impressed with what you are doing in Limoges, that's great. I am myself a french dude who had to immigrate to the UK to pursue my dream of flying! I joined CTC Aviation and now just about to get on easyJet as F/O on the 319.

Quick question since I have got also an ICAO NZ PPL with SEP rating:

Would you confirm the fact that one can fly a G - Reg aircraft with an ICAO PPL in France, ie in french airspaces?

Well now it's not an issue anymore since I ve got my CAA CPL but I was just curious to see if that was possible.

Fly Safe,
Antoine

[Les King]

Antione

We have received extensive correspondence on these 'mix and match' licencing issues and we are trying to construct a 'generic' answer which will cover most situations.

It is always difficult to separate opinion from fact in these matters and more so when working across different languages.

I think that the authoritative answer to any of these questions comes from what the state in which the aircraft is registered will allow.

In our correspondence with sources at the UK Civil Aviation Authority, we have been advised that:

For UK-registered aircraft, any ICAO licence is valid in a G Reg aircraft anywhere in the World for private (unremunerated) privileges with the limitation of no IFR in controlled airspace; however Night flight is generally accepted as OK.

For French-registered aircraft, we have been advised, from sources in the DGAC, that any ICAO licence is valid for Day, VFR flights only though I suspect that further investigation may reveal an expanded definition of the rules.

Regards

Les King
Site Administrator