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BFCL.145  BPL – Practical skill test

Regulation (EU) 2020/357

(a)     Applicants for a BPL shall demonstrate through the completion of a skill test the ability to perform, as PIC on a balloon, the relevant procedures and manoeuvres with competency appropriate to the privileges sought.

(b)     Applicants shall complete the skill test in the same class of balloons in which the training course has been completed in accordance with point BFCL.130 and, in case of hot-air balloons, in a balloon that represents group A of that class.

(c)      To take a skill test for the issue of a BPL, the applicant shall first pass the required theoretical knowledge examination.

(d)     Pass standards

(1)     The skill test shall be divided into different sections, representing all the different phases of a balloon flight.

(2)     Failure in any item of a section shall cause the applicant to fail the entire section. If the applicant fails in only one section, he or she shall repeat only that section. Failure in more than one section shall require the applicant to retake the entire test.

(3)     If the applicant needs to retake the test in accordance with paragraph (2) and fails in any section, including those sections that have been passed at a previous attempt, the applicant shall retake the entire test.

(e)     If the applicant fails to achieve a pass in all sections of the test within two attempts, he or she shall receive further practical training.