Training microlight instructors
The federation's text
How the training courses fit together
Training for the microlight instructor rating takes place in three steps:
- An assessment,
- Initial training,
- Training as a trainee instructor.
- A final exam.
Assessment
An entry assessment judges the candidate’s level: general knowledge and aptitude for teaching.
It determines the amount of instruction they must receive from their trainer.
The level of flying will be checked and, where necessary, supplemented.
Initial training
A compulsory step before becoming a trainee instructor.
The candidate takes the microlight instructor theory pre-assessment during this initial training (if they have not already taken it as a private candidate).
The in-flight teaching programme will ensure they can handle the aircraft from the instructor’s seat, with every attention paid to safety.
The instruction includes lessons on:
• Teaching and communication,
• Human factors,
• Theory: microlight technology, legislation, regulations, meteorology, flying technique, and in-flight instruction, which teaches the whole standard flight training programme for a student pilot.
The lessons must be given to the candidate by the trainer. The candidate must then re-present the lessons to ensure the course is fully absorbed, along with the interpersonal skills and teaching know-how needed to pass on knowledge (about forty hours).
Training as a trainee instructor.
The candidate has received initial training and passed the theory pre-assessment.
This training is the putting into practice of their knowledge and know-how in real teaching conditions.
The number of hours of lessons given to student pilots must be at least 30 hours of classroom lessons and 20 hours of flight lessons.
Schools that train and test instructors, DGAC information:
https://www.ecologie.gouv.fr/pilotes-dulm
https://www.ecologie.gouv.fr/iulm
The basic regulatory texts
- Order of 24 November 2017 on the training of ultralight motorised aircraft (ULM) pilot instructors, repealing as of 1st January 2021 the order of 17 October 1994, as amended, setting out the approval arrangements for microlight pilot instructor training.
