Covid situation after 3 April 2021 for microlight flights

Federation news2 April 20213 min read

News from 2 April 2021. Last updated on 16 April 2021: some information may have changed. Latest news

COVID SITUATION AFTER THE PRESIDENT’S ANNOUNCEMENTS OF 31 MARCH 2021 FOR MICROLIGHT FLIGHTS

Many of you are still contacting us daily about how flying is affected by the new Covid situation following the President of the Republic’s speech this Wednesday 31 March 2021.

Having read the latest government decrees as we write, here are the clarifications provided by the French Microlight Federation, in agreement with its legal adviser, Me Serge CONTI, regarding the possibilities for flying.

The instructions that originally applied to "départements subject to reinforced measures", as we communicated them to you on 26/02/2021, will now, from Saturday 03 April 2021, apply to all départements of metropolitan France on the following terms.

RULES NOW APPLYING TO THE WHOLE OF FRANCE

Recreational flights

Recreational flights, solo or with a person from the same household, are permitted between 6 am and 7 pm within a radius of 10 km of the pilot's home. Note: the right of access within a 30 km zone (professional purchases and home deliveries, house moves and authorised gatherings that could possibly have been carried out by microlight) was withdrawn by the government on 20 March 2021.

Instruction flights

The instructor may travel without any distance limit because this is a training activity; the same applies to their student, provided, and only provided, that the flight is an instructional flight, that is, a flight carried out under the control and responsibility of an instructor. To make things more formal, the instructor may send their student an email setting a training appointment.

Both instructor and student should carry the "exemption travel certificate between 6 and 19" and tick box 6 (training) on the "daytime" exemption travel certificate, in particular to travel to the airfield if it is more than 10 km from their homes.

Flights permitted other than instruction beyond the 10 km

For a flight that is not instructional, the pilot and their passenger must state on their certificate:

a professional reason for travelling
travelling to sit an exam
travelling to a workshop for maintenance or repair of their aircraft
travelling to an administrative summons.

Apart from instructional flights, flights of a professional nature or purpose, or justified flights, every pilot is subject to the 10 km rule around their home between 6 am and 7 pm.

You must of course be able to justify the legitimate reasons for the flight or flights through the daytime exemption travel certificate.

Introductory flights and trial flights

In the current, particularly difficult health situation, with the pandemic growing strongly, and out of a sense of collective responsibility, we can only strongly advise against introductory and trial flights, even if the required conditions for a flight are met, namely: Both the pilot and the passenger – where neither falls into the category of permitted flights – must not travel more than 10 km from their respective homes (proof of address or box 1) between 6 am and 7 pm.

In general

It goes without saying that all health protection measures and barrier gestures must be strictly applied, both in our facilities and in our aircraft, and for flights with 2 people on board, particularly in closed cabins, we recommend that you keep the passengers' contact details to ensure traceability in case of infection.

In any event, we confirm that the air insurance cover applies in the event of an accident for members insured through FFPLUM.

Whatever the reason, we do not think it advisable to fly during curfew hours (7 pm to 6 am);

All these recommendations are given subject to updates to these provisions following the publication of new government measures.