NPPL(A) with SEP and TMG: privileges and recency

An NPPL(A) with an SEP or TMG class rating lets you act as pilot in command of single-engine piston aeroplanes or touring motor gliders of 2,000 kg MTOM or less, provided no more than four people are on board including you. Passengers need the ANO "recent experience condition" (three take-offs, approaches and landings in 90 days), and cost sharing is allowed through the licence's "excepted flights condition".

The NPPL(A) is an ANO 2016 licence, set out in Sch. 8 Pt 1 Ch 3. CAP 3155 says that from 1 October 2025 the CAA will only issue the NPPL(A) and the Part-FCL PPL(A) for aeroplanes, and notes that the NPPL is a sub-ICAO licence. The microlight class rating has its own page: NPPL microlight class rating.

Privileges

ANO 2016 Sch. 8 Pt 1 Ch 3 says the holder is entitled:

"(a) in accordance with the remainder of this paragraph, to fly for the purposes of non-commercial operations as pilot in command of any aeroplane for which a class rating is included in the licence provided that the total number of persons carried (including the pilot) does not exceed four, and the maximum certified take-off mass of the aeroplane does not exceed 2,000 kg;

(b) with the permission of the competent authority for the airspace in which the aircraft is being flown, to fly such an aeroplane outside the United Kingdom; "

Paragraphs (1)(c) and (d) allow commercial operation for instruction and examining (microlights and TMGs) or "where the excepted flights condition is met". Paragraphs (1)(e) to (h) cover passengers, night, IFR with an IMC rating, and pay for instruction under the "remuneration condition". Paragraph (2) bars public transport, other commercial operation and other remuneration "unless authorised to do so by the CAA".

SEP and TMG ratings

Under Sch. 8 Pt 2 Ch 2, an SEP class rating "entitles the holder to act as pilot in command of any single engine piston aeroplane". It is issued for land or for water, and in an NPPL(A) "the maximum take-off mass of the aircraft must not exceed 2,000 kilograms". You need differences training before flying an aeroplane with a tricycle undercarriage, a tailwheel, a supercharger or turbo-charger, a variable pitch propeller, retractable gear or pressurisation. On an NPPL(A) you also need it for an aeroplane with a maximum continuous cruising speed above 140 knots IAS. The SEP rating "includes the microlight class rating", subject to microlight differences training.

A TMG class rating "entitles the holder to act as pilot in command of any TMG". If the certificate of revalidation for either rating is endorsed "single seat only", you're limited to single-seat aircraft.

Deeming of SSEA and SLMG

"An aircraft rating endorsed on a licence as 'SSEA' prior to 1st October 2025 is deemed to be an SEP rating except that the SEP rating is deemed limited to aeroplanes designed to operate from land unless the holder— (a) had, prior to 1st October 2025, completed appropriate differences training relating to take off and landing on water; and (b) has passed the Private or Professional Seamanship examination."

"An aircraft rating endorsed on a licence as "SLMG" prior to 1st October 2025 is deemed to be a TMG class rating."

The CAA's NPPL page says an ANO PPL(A) or NPPL(A) holder "with a valid SSEA/SEP or SLMG/TMG class rating(s) can now also fly a UK (G) registered Part 21 aeroplane or motor glider".

Carrying passengers

Para (1)(e) lets you carry passengers if "the recent experience condition is met" or "the recent experience exception is met". Sch. 8 Pt 1 Ch 1 para 1(2):

"The condition is that the holder of a licence must not operate an aircraft carrying passengers—

(a) as pilot in command or co-pilot unless the holder has carried out, in the preceding 90 days, at least three take-offs, approaches and landings as the sole manipulator of the controls of an aircraft of the same type or class or a full flight simulator representing that type or class; and

(b) as pilot in command at night unless the holder— (i) has carried out in the preceding 90 days at least one take-off, approach and landing at night as the sole manipulator of the controls of an aircraft of the same type or class or a full flight simulator representing that type or class; or (ii) holds an instrument rating."

The exception (para 2(2)) is narrow:

"(a) the intended flight will carry a single passenger who is also qualified to act as pilot in command on that flight; and (b) the holder of the licence has informed the intended passenger that the holder does not meet the recent experience condition."

Unlike Part-FCL, the ANO wording requires you to be "the sole manipulator of the controls". Dual circuits where the instructor handles the controls don't count.

Keeping the licence valid

CAP 3181 (CAA guidance), para 1.4, says the NPPL(A) "is issued with a lifetime validity", but ANO art. 157(1) says you can't use a rating unless the licence includes a valid certificate of revalidation for it. Under Sch. 8 Pt 3 Ch 2 para 4(3), each certificate of revalidation runs for 24 months.

Sch. 8 Pt 3 Ch 2 para 4(2) sets the revalidation by experience. Within the validity of the current certificate, you must have:

"(a) flown at least 12 hours which includes at least 6 hours as pilot in command;

(b) completed at least 12 take-offs and at least 12 landings;

(c) flown at least six hours in the 12 months preceding the expiry date of the rating;

(d) undertaken at least one hour of flying training in an aeroplane with an instructor entitled to give instructions on aeroplanes of that class."

If you meet everything except (d), a certificate "may be issued but must be endorsed 'single seat only'" (para 4(2A)). The alternative is an NPPL General Skill Test with an authorised examiner (Table A, row 2). Under para 4(3), a test passed more than 3 months before expiry starts the new 24 months from the end of that month.

Once the rating has expired, renewal needs an NPPL General Skill Test. If the last certificate expired five years or more ago, you also need an oral theoretical knowledge examination (Table A, rows 3-4).

Night, IMC and other ratings

• Night: para (1)(f) allows night PIC "where the licence includes a night rating (aeroplanes)". CAP 3181 para 4.66 says it may be endorsed "if the applicant holds a valid SEP or TMG class rating". You need to be colour safe, complete Exercise 18c (radio navigation) and do five hours of training, three of them dual. Para 5.24: "The privileges of the Night rating do not expire."
• IMC: the IMC rating allows IFR "except— (a) in Class A airspace; or (b) when the aeroplane is taking off or landing at any place where the flight visibility below cloud is less than 1,500 metres" (Sch. 8 Pt 2 Ch 2). CAP 3181 para 5.18 says it is "valid for 25 months".
• Aerobatics: under ANO art. 153A, an NPPL(A) "first issued after 30th September 2025" needs an aerobatic rating before you act as PIC during aerobatic manoeuvres.

Medical

ANO art. 163(2) lets an NPPL holder use an art. 161 medical certificate, a Part-MED certificate "including one which is valid for a Light Aircraft Pilot Licence", or a medical declaration under art. 163(3). On a declaration, art. 163(5) limits you to 5,700 kg MTOM, "not more than three passengers on board", day or night rating, VMC or IMC rating, and the UK unless you have permission. For night flying, art. 163(7) adds the MED.B.075 colour vision requirement. The CAA's PMD guidance also sets a 2,000 kg criterion (ORS4 No.1629), which matches your NPPL mass limit.

Getting the licence

CAP 3181 sets a minimum age of 17. It requires "at least 32 hours flight time as pilot, appropriate to the class rating sought, in aeroplanes (excluding the skill test)" (para 2.1), with "ten hours supervised solo flight time" including "at least four hours of solo cross-country flight time" and a solo cross-country of at least 150 km (80 NM) (para 2.3). You pass the five NPPL(A) exams or the nine Part-FCL PPL(A) exams, and apply through the LAA. CAP 3155 says a PMD "will be acceptable for the initial issue of the NPPL".

What changed in 2025 and 2026

SI 2025/850 (from 1 October 2025) substituted the NPPL(A) privileges and renamed SSEA to SEP and SLMG to TMG, with the deeming rules above. It added the microlight-included SEP rating and the IMC and aerobatic rating entries, and it replaced the old revalidation Table B with para 4(2). The aerobatic rating requirement in art. 153A applies to licences first issued after 30 September 2025. CAP 3155 says "A standard minimum of 6 hours as pilot-in-command now applies to both PPL and NPPL holders." CAP 3181 Version 2 was published in August 2026.

The CAA plans further PMD changes, but none was law on 17 October 2026, and no 2026 SI amending Sch. 8 was shown.

Cost sharing on this licence

Para (1)(d) allows commercial operation "where the excepted flights condition is met", defined in Sch. 8 Pt 1 Ch 1 para 3(2) as "a flight of the type mentioned in article 6(4a)" of the Air Operations Regulation. Cost-shared flights are one such type. NCO.GEN.102 applies on Part-21 aircraft and ANO art. 13 on non-Part-21 aircraft.

• Persons: at most four, including you. That's lower than the six-person cap (six-person limit).
• Equal share: no passenger pays more than the direct costs divided by the number on board, pilot included (NCO.GEN.102(c); art. 13(2)(c)).
• Declarations: each passenger is told the flight doesn't meet CAT (or PT) safety standards, and signs before the flight. Records are kept 6 months. A passenger who holds or has held a pilot's licence needs no signed record (AMC1 NCO.GEN.102(g)). See passenger declarations and records and giving a passenger briefing.

Split My Flight collects those declarations online before departure. For other licences, see cost sharing by licence.