Within Europe, flight crews historically were authorised to undertake a specific operation by demonstrating that the pilots comply with the operational requirements laid out in that specific certification standard.
In April 2016, the European Commission regulation (EU) 2016/539 came into force and introduced changes to pilot training, testing and periodic checking for PBN. As of 25 August 2018, all instrument rated pilots are required by EASA Aircrew Regulations to hold PBN privileges to fly PBN routes and procedures.
The Commission provided a sunset clause that permitted pilots who flew routes and procedures not requiring PBN to
continue to operate on such conventional routes until 25 August 2020. Today, all Instrument Rated (IR) pilots are required to hold a PBN privileges endorsement on their licences.
All Approved Training Organisations (ATO) provide appropriate PBN training and a pilot qualifying for an IR licence today will automatically be granted PBN privileges. This common PBN training and endorsement covers the majority of the navigation specifications; however, special approval on top of standard PBN training is required for RNP 0.3 and RNP (AR) APCH operations.
A PBN endorsement is granted after the pilot has successfully completed:
- a course of theoretical knowledge including PBN.
- flying training including PBN.
- either a skill test or a proficiency check.
The completion of all requirements shall be entered in the pilot’s logbook or equivalent record. An equivalent record for pilots who do not record their flight time in an individual logbook but rely on the operator’s records for this purpose may use an extract of this record.