Flight schools in Europe that focus on training private pilots now can operate under simplified rules released by the European Aviation Safety Agency last week. The new rules create two types of flight schools—Declared Training Organizations, or DTOs, which can train private pilots, and Approved Training Organizations, which focus on training professional pilots. DTOs now need to provide authorities with a document outlining the training programs they will provide, and then can immediately begin to do so, with no need to undergo a certification process. The flight schools can begin the process as early as next month, and are required to declare their intentions by next April.
The previous rules required all applicants who wanted to operate a flight school to undergo a comprehensive certification process, during which detailed compliance with all applicable requirements needed to be demonstrated to the regulator. Applicants also needed to develop and present a series of documents, including an operations manual and training manuals for each course, and had to set up a management system, including safety management and compliance-monitoring functions, before they could provide any sort of flight training. EASA recognized that most of the demands were justified when dealing with schools that train professional pilots, but listened to the call from the GA community to make the process simpler for those who wish to fly for personal reasons.
