If you’re a fan of this blog, you know that I stopped flying after leaving Geneva for Frankfurt. I don’t regret the move, life is much better now, even if all is not yet stabilized. I already have plans to resume flying in August, when I’ll be back to Geneva for a couple of days, and I will also visit a friend who is instructor in London.

Longer term plans are not clear now. I’ll have to find a club here in Frankfurt. I already identified some, but this will all depend on budget. The objective is still to keep my SEP and IR valid, and this is exactly why I won’t fly before August: I need 12 hours after the 5th of August to renew my SEP. If you want to read more about my strategy, click here, here and there.

My last flight took place on the 14th of March (slightly after the one mentionned in the last like above), so a critical point in time passed by last week: my SEP privileges are suspended ! According to the JAR-FCL regulations, no one can act as pilot in command if he / she did not flew within the last 90 days.

The actual text is slightly more detailled and complex, but here’s the fact: I’m no longer current. My license and ratings are valid, but I can’t fly as pilot in command without flying with an instructor. Some clubs impose stronger rules, depending of aircraft type, pilot experience, but all have to respect the bottom line defined in by the JAR-FCL.

The currency regulation is one of the things that will always make flying different from driving. Anybody with a valid driving license can jump in any car, and go. Not only pilots need type specific training, but also recent experience. However, there is no real control at private level. Rental pilots are somehow controlled by their school / club / FBO, but not before each flight. The control over owners is even less, nearly inexistent.

It’s only during periodical flight checks that examiners make sure that pilots still meet what is required by regulations, including medical certification. Despite all of that, there are some outlaws… I don’t know any exact numbers, but I know of some accidents involving pilots with no valid license, or with no valid medical certificate.

I won’t become one of them.

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