Part-FCL is the EASA regulation governing flight crew licensing — the rulebook defining every pilot licence, rating, certificate and their training, testing and validity requirements in EASA member states. It is the European counterpart to the FAA's 14 CFR Part 61.
Part-FCL (Flight Crew Licensing) is the EASA regulation — technically Annex I to Regulation (EU) 1178/2011 — defining every pilot licence, rating and certificate in the EASA system: the LAPL, PPL, CPL, MPL and ATPL, class, type, instrument and instructor ratings, plus the training, theoretical knowledge, testing, revalidation and medical linkage requirements for each. It is the European counterpart to the FAA's 14 CFR Part 61, and the document every EASA training syllabus ultimately traces back to.
Part-FCL is dense with time-bound conditions: theory exam sitting windows and validity periods, training completion deadlines, rating validity and revalidation-by-experience criteria, and recency requirements. These interlocking clocks are what make EASA training administration genuinely harder than the flying.
Why it matters for flight schools
Every operational compliance question in an EASA school — can this student take the skill test, is this instructor's rating valid, does this pilot meet recency for passengers — is a Part-FCL question. The regulation's deadline structure means students and instructors silently fall out of compliance through pure passage of time, which is why mature ATOs track validity windows systemically rather than relying on individuals to watch their own clocks.
How FlightLogger handles it
FlightLogger encodes Part-FCL's validity logic — theory windows, rating expiries, recency, medical dates — and surfaces approaching deadlines automatically, so compliance is monitored by the system rather than remembered by the Head of Training.
Frequently asked questions
Is Part-FCL the same as EASA?
Part-FCL is one regulation within the EASA framework — the one covering pilot licensing. Training organisations are additionally governed by Part-ORA (organisational requirements), and aircraft by the airworthiness regulations such as Part-M.
Does the UK still use Part-FCL?
The UK operates its own retained version — UK Part-FCL — under the UK CAA. It is structurally similar but legally separate from EASA Part-FCL, so licences and approvals are not automatically interchangeable.