ILAS Meeting with Roger Hopkinson, Chairman of the LAA and President of EFLEVA (European Federation of Light, Experimental and Vintage Aircraft).

Recently, Roger Hopkinson visited Ireland following a long standing invitation from our colleague Peter Gorman to engage with ILAS on a number of current aviation issues of mutual interest.

Coincidentally, on the previous Friday the IAA & CAA jointly announced that a ‘mutual recognition’ agreement had been reached on the ‘free movement’ of permit aircraft between Ireland and the UK, including North/South movements on the island of Ireland. Roger Hopkinson played a significant role wearing his LAA hat and by his lobbying of the CAA in support of ILAS efforts over a number of years, which was an important factor in securing this agreement.

The scope of our meeting was set out in the course of a wide ranging agenda, covering extension of the mutual recognition process, EASA FCL implications for operators of Annex II aircraft, airworthiness & safety, airspace erosion, LAA engineering resources and EFLEVA issues.

Roger responded with a comprehensive presentation which addressed our agenda and also provided an overview of EFLEVA structure, current activity and ongoing objectives. In addition, the history & specification of LSA type aircraft was covered, leading to a discussion on the status of the proposed European ELA equivalent.

A lively debate followed on EASA Pilot Licensing, including the LAPL, which was timely as ILAS is due to participate in a series of IAA workshops on the subject, with the first session kicking-off on Monday 14^th May. Confirmation of the CAA position on FCL and associated Annex II issues is now to hand and will serve as a useful briefing document.

A meeting was also arranged with the IAA to introduce Roger and a useful exchange of views took place with Jim Corbett and Ruth Bagnell.

A large number of ILAS members hold dual membership of the LAA and the possibility of a closer association between our two organisations, particularly the use of LAA Engineering services was discussed.

Noel Maher.