Happy Christmas

We would like to wish all our members a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

It's been fairly Quiet in aviation circles over the past months with the Forums and the Magazines having little to report. There are times that your committee would relish some peace and quiet too but that will have to remain a pipe dream for now. So what have we been up to????? Well.....

Airworthiness

We will shortly be in a position to issue the first of the 3 year permits. Thanks to Jim Corbett and Ruth Bagnell of the IAA for all their help and patience on this one. So how will it work?

The IAA will issue the permit as normal but for the life of the aircraft. They will also issue a 3 year validation certificate on completion of your annual inspection. You will still be required to have your inspection as normal every year but the NMAI Tech Office will be authorised to extend the validation of your permit annually for the next 2 years untill the certificate is due for renewal where the IAA will issue one for another 3 years. Sound complicated? It's actually quite simple. The NMAI Tech Office will issue everyone with the procedures for it. So what does it mean for the NMAI?

The €100 per permit will be payable to the IAA for the issue of the certificate but there will be no fees due to the IAA for the next 2 years when we extend the validation. This will provide much needed funds for the running of the organisation and will allow us to operate in a more efficient and professional manner and may lead to reduced permit fees or reduced membership fees in the future so it's a great shot in the arm for YOUR Association.

Licencing

Ongoing as normal but we have been meeting with Kevin Humphreys in relation to the training of our Flexwing Instructors. We have also been discussing the possibility of the NMAI looking after the administration of microlight licencing. So where are we with this one?

The IAA are currently looking over documentation which we submitted relating to the administration of microlight licencing and have promised to revert back to us with a solution. They are saying that at this stage that they cant see any reason why a solution cant be found to enable this to happen. Watch this space.

On the training of Instructors:

It was agreed that foreign Flight Instructors/Examiners, following 5 hrs ground school in Irish Air Law, would be validated to train our instructors and pilots in Ireland. If they already hold an Irish licence then they would be validated without the requirement for the 5 hours.

Instructors returning with Instructor ratings issued by another CAA would be issued with Irish Instructor Ratings if they already hold an Irish licence without the requirement for the 5 hours ground school.

If you are a Flexwing pilot with asperations of becoming an Instructor please let us know and we can help you to achieve your goal.

We already have 1 Flexwing pilot training in the UK for his Instructor rating and would hope to have another Flexwing school up and running early in the New Year.

So it's been quiet in aviation circles! Not for us.......we're knackered. We're still at it on Christmas Eve. Thanks very much from everyone on the committee for all your support over the past year. Long may it continue.

Time to switch off now though for a couple of days so, as it says at the top, Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Prosperous New Year. It all starts again very soon.

All the best
Paul