Personnel Licensing (PEL) is a department within the Directorate of Aviation Safety, Security and Regulations. (DASSR). The Manager Personnel Licensing (MPEL) reports to the Director Aviation Safety, Security and Regulations and is responsible for the oversight of ICAO Annex 1 requirements in Ethiopia. To discharge its responsibilities, the PEL Department has to carry out many functions/tasks which are normally organized around five major functional areas:
The Personnel Licensing department conducts written examination for issue of licenses to Pilots, Flight dispatchers and Engineers.
PEL conducts examination as per the Examination Schedule published at the beginning of every year. The examinations timetable for the year 2023 is available here
Below are some general guidelines on booking and payment of examinations:
Licensing tasks cover the routine tasks associated with the physical issuance and maintenance of personnel licences and include:
Training tasks cover the activities related to the certification, approval and surveillance of training organizations (or schools) and training programs. These tasks include:
Regulatory tasks cover the development and maintenance of the regulatory support of personnel licensing and include:
Administrative tasks include:
The following types of licences and certificates are issued by ECAA;
v The Examination Tasks
The examination tasks of the PEL office are essentially the flight crew, cabin crew, aircraft maintenance, flight operations officer and air traffic controller. Because of such specialized high-level skills, the ECAA uses staff from the operations, airworthiness and air traffic control departments and designated examiners to carry out examinations, in particular practical skill examinations and supervision. The tasks related to the examination function include:
1. Designing the written examinations of flight crew members, aircraft maintenance personnel, air traffic controllers, and other ground operation personnel who intend to issue/ renew licenses or add new ratings and authorizations;
2. Reviewing, evaluating, and marking written tests;
3. Carrying out oral examinations of different categories of license, as required;
4. Carrying out flight tests and simulator tests and generating the required test reports
5. Carrying out different types of skill tests for the different categories of license and generating the necessary test reports;
6. Carrying out the necessary medical tests, and issuing the appropriate medical certificates.
A. The Licensing tasks cover all of the routine tasks associated with the physical issuance and maintenance of personnel licenses, ratings, certificates, authorizations and include:
(1) Drafting detailed procedures for licensing staff;
(2) Evaluating the foreign licenses, ratings, certificates, authorizations and take appropriate action;
(3) Reviewing the flight crew, cabin crew, maintenance personnel, flight operations officer, air traffic controllers limitations and recent experience, and take the necessary action upon it;
(4) Reviewing and studying the application for a license, ratings, certificates, authorizations and related documentation and recommend actions to be taken from appropriate sections; and
(5) Issuing and renewing different licenses, ratings, certificates, authorizations, as applicable.
v The Training Tasks
A. The training tasks of the PEL office covers the activities related to the certification and approval of training school and training programs and include:
1. Studying the PEL training standards and making the necessary recommendations for improvement of in-country and abroad training issues;
2. Developing and executing plans for the surveillance of the different aviation training activities;
3. Studying and surveying training curriculum and programs submitted for approval and take appropriate action;
4. Certifying the different training sections at operators and maintenance organizations, air traffic control units, as well as manufacturers and other approved agencies, if any;
5. Establishing and maintaining personnel training records.
(1) The drafting and amendment of Rules and Standards relating to the training and licensing of aviation personnel;
(2) The enforcement of licensing laws and Rules and Standards; and
(3) The development of procedures and guidance material.
The administrative tasks of the PEL office include:
Providing an efficient and secure record system which maintains up-to-date records of licensing and certification actions;
Provisioning of necessary PEL office supplies, equipment and facilities;
Ensuring that all regulatory material and PEL documents held by staff are kept updated;
Drafting and promulgation of examination schedules;
Printing and collating examination papers, and distribute them in order to meet the published scheduled times;
Handling routine correspondence in respect to requests for study guidance material, dates of examinations, application forms, and examination fees;
Dealing with the public when necessary on matters related to:
Scheduled examinations;
Requests for explanatory pamphlets and any queries related to examination administration; and
All matters appropriate to license or rating or examination applications;
Handling routine correspondence in respect to applications for licenses or ratings, flight tests or any other routine clerical matters requiring action;
Processing all license applications;
Completing license forms and prepares licenses for official signature.
Open, maintain and destroy license holder file.
The first step in gaining any Pilots License is the Student Pilot License. This license is majorly used for training purposes. This license can also be used to gain the required hours to be qualifying a pilot to renew their license in case their other license e.g. PPL, CPL or ATPL has expired.
Requirements for application of an SPL
To be eligible for issue of Student Pilot License, an applicant shall;
Application Requirements
Renewal of Student Pilot’s License requirements
Upon expiration of a Student Pilot license, the applicant may apply for renewal.
The Private Pilot Certificate, internationally referred to as the Private Pilot License (PPL), allows students to obtain the foundational knowledge and skills for all future aircraft pilot training. As a Private Pilot, you can fly an airplane day and night (if one has a Night Rating) in visual flight conditions and carry passengers (friends, family, co-workers, etc.). You cannot fly for paid compensation or hire. The PPL is your foundation course on a pathway to a Commercial Pilot’s License.
Requirements for Issue of a PPL
An applicant for a Private Pilot License shall;
This will prove that the student is ready for PPL Practical test or GFT (General Flight Test)
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