Part-NCO: Rules for Private Flights in the EU

Part-NCO is the rulebook for private flying in the European Union. It is Annex VII to Commission Regulation (EU) No 965/2012, the Air Operations Regulation, and it covers non-commercial operations with other-than-complex motor-powered aircraft: the club Cessna, the owner's Piper, a light helicopter flown for pleasure. Where commercial air transport puts its rules into an operator's approved manuals, Part-NCO places most of them directly on the pilot-in-command, who is often the operator as well.

The rules are short by commercial standards but are examined in EASA PPL, CPL and instrument rating theory. New fuel/energy, alternate and all-weather rules took effect on 30 October 2022, so older textbooks mislead. This article covers airplanes; helicopters have parallel rules with their own figures.

Where Part-NCO applies

Article 5(4) of the regulation sends operators of other-than-complex motor-powered airplanes and helicopters in non-commercial operations, specialized ones included, to Annex VII. Training organizations follow it with such aircraft, and so do gyroplane operators on non-commercial VFR flights. Balloons and sailplanes are outside the regulation.

Whether an aircraft is complex depends on its certification and engines, not on how it is flown. A complex motor-powered aircraft is:

• an airplane with a maximum certificated takeoff mass above 5,700 kg, or certificated for more than 19 passenger seats, or for a minimum crew of at least two pilots, or equipped with one or more turbojets or more than one turboprop;
• a helicopter certificated for more than 3,175 kg, more than nine passenger seats or a minimum crew of two pilots;
• a tilt-rotor aircraft.

Everything else that is motor-powered is other-than-complex. A company flying its own business jet, a complex aircraft, works under Part-NCC instead (see EASA regulatory framework), but under Article 6(8) complex turboprop airplanes of 5,700 kg or less fly non-commercial operations under Part-NCO.

Article 6(4a) keeps some flights involving payment under Part-NCO: cost-shared flights by private individuals, if all occupants, pilot included, share the direct costs and no more than six people share them; competition flights and displays within cost-recovery limits; and, on conditions, introductory flights, parachute dropping, sailplane towing and aerobatic flights by a training organization or an organization promoting aerial sport or leisure aviation. An introductory flight starts and ends at the same aerodrome and is flown under VFR by day (NCO.GEN.103; see commercial and private operations).

The competent authority is normally that of the State of registry (NCO.GEN.100). The rules below come from the subparts on general requirements (NCO.GEN), operating procedures (NCO.OP) and instruments, data and equipment (NCO.IDE).

Pilot-in-command responsibilities

NCO.GEN.105 makes the pilot-in-command responsible for the safety of the aircraft and of everyone and everything on board, and for the initiation, continuation, termination or diversion of the flight. A flight may only begin if the pilot is satisfied that:

• the aircraft is airworthy and duly registered;
• the instruments and equipment required for the flight are installed and working, unless an MEL permits otherwise;
• the mass and center of gravity are within limits, and all equipment, baggage and cargo are properly loaded and secured, with an emergency evacuation still possible;
• the flight manual limitations will not be exceeded at any time;
• any navigation database required for PBN is suitable and current.

The pilot must not fly when incapacitated by injury, sickness, fatigue or psychoactive substances, nor continue beyond the nearest weather-permissible aerodrome when fatigue, sickness or lack of oxygen has significantly reduced the capacity to perform. In flight the pilot keeps the belt fastened, stays at the controls unless another pilot takes them, reports hazardous weather to ATS and, in an emergency, may deviate from rules in the interest of safety. Defects are recorded in the journey or technical log, and an accident causing serious injury, death or substantial damage is reported by the quickest available means.

With passengers or cargo on board, NCO.OP.180 forbids simulating situations that call for abnormal or emergency procedures, or flight in instrument meteorological conditions, except on a training organization's flights with student pilots.

Documents and information to carry

NCO.GEN.135 lists what must be carried on each flight, as originals or copies unless stated:

• the flight manual or equivalent document;
• the original certificate of registration and certificate of airworthiness;
• the noise certificate and the list of specific approvals, if applicable;
• the aircraft radio license, if applicable, and the third-party liability insurance certificate;
• the journey log or equivalent;
• details of the filed ATS flight plan, if applicable;
• current and suitable charts for the route and for any reasonable diversion;
• the procedures and visual signals for interception;
• the MEL or CDL, if applicable, and any other document the States concerned require.

On a flight that takes off and lands at the same aerodrome, or stays within an area set by the competent authority, the documents from the certificate of registration to the journey log may stay at the aerodrome; the flight manual may not. Electronic copies are acceptable if accessible, usable and reliable (GM1 NCO.GEN.135).

The pilot's own documents come from the aircrew rules: under FCL.045, the license, a valid medical certificate and photographic identification. The pilot's logbook need not be carried (see aircraft registration and documents).

Flight preparation, fuel/energy and alternates

Under NCO.OP.135 the pilot checks that the facilities the flight needs, navigation aids included, are adequate. For a flight away from the vicinity of the departure aerodrome, and for every IFR flight, preparation includes the current reports and forecasts and an alternative course of action in case the weather prevents completion. Under NCO.OP.160 a VFR flight starts or continues only if the route and destination weather will be at or above VFR minima, and an IFR flight only if the destination, or at least one destination alternate, will be at or above its operating minima at the estimated time of arrival.

NCO.OP.125 no longer contains figures. It requires enough fuel/energy and oil for the flight, allowing for weather, delays and reasonable contingencies, and a planned final reserve. AMC1 NCO.OP.125(b) gives the airplane figures:

The reserve is not contingency fuel. On a controlled flight, NCO.OP.185 calls for MINIMUM FUEL when the pilot is committed to one aerodrome and any delay may mean landing below the reserve, and MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY FUEL when the fuel predicted on landing at the nearest suitable aerodrome is below it (see fuel and energy planning for general aviation).

View full schematic

An IFR flight in an airplane needs at least one destination alternate in the flight plan unless, under NCO.OP.140, the forecast for the destination from 1 hour before to 1 hour after the ETA, or from departure to 1 hour after the ETA if shorter, gives a ceiling at least 1,000 ft above the DH or MDH of an available instrument approach and a visibility of at least 5,000 m. Part-NCO has no takeoff alternate requirement and, since 2022, no isolated aerodrome exemption.

Under NCO.OP.142 an alternate may be chosen only if an approach not relying on GNSS is available at the destination or an alternate, or a set of SBAS conditions is met. NCO.OP.143 sets the forecast it must meet over the same window:

The FAA differs: under 91.169 no alternate is needed if an instrument approach is published and the forecast for 1 hour either side of the ETA gives a ceiling 2,000 ft above the airport and 3 statute miles. An alternate without published alternate minima needs, at the ETA, 600 ft and 2 statute miles for a precision approach or 800 ft and 2 statute miles for a non-precision one.

Aerodrome operating minima for IFR

With no operations manual to supply them, the pilot-in-command establishes the minima for each departure, destination and alternate aerodrome of an IFR flight (NCO.OP.110), reflecting among other things the aircraft and its equipment, the runway and its aids, the obstacle clearance height, climb-out obstacles, State-published minima and the pilot's competence and experience. Takeoff minima should leave enough guidance to control the airplane after a rejected takeoff or an engine failure after rotation.

For an approach, NCO.OP.111 sets the DH or MDH at no less than the highest of the obstacle clearance height for the aircraft category, the published DH or MDH, the flight manual minimum and the system minimum of the aid: 200 ft for ILS, GLS and LPV; 250 ft for LOC, LNAV, LNAV/VNAV, LP and VOR/DME; 300 ft for VOR and NDB/DME; 350 ft for NDB and VDF. A circling MDH is at least 400, 500, 600 or 700 ft for Categories A to D, with minimum visibilities of 1,500, 1,500, 2,400 and 3,600 m (NCO.OP.112); Part-CAT (AMC7 CAT.OP.MPA.110), Part-NCC and Part-SPO give Category B 1,600 m instead.

The State's published departure and approach procedures are used where they exist (NCO.OP.115). An approach may always be started, but under NCO.OP.210 it may not be continued past 1,000 ft above the aerodrome, or into the final approach segment where the DH or MDH is higher, if the controlling RVR (touchdown, else midpoint) is below 550 m; with neither reported the ban does not apply. For Part-CAT and Part-NCC airplanes the ban applies instead whenever the reported visibility or controlling RVR is below the applicable minimum. If the required visual reference is not established at the DA/H or MDA/H, a missed approach is flown, and if it is lost after them, a go-around is flown promptly (see aerodrome operating minima).

Instruments and equipment (NCO.IDE)

Under NCO.IDE.A.105 a flight may not start with a required instrument or item inoperative unless an MEL, if one has been established, or a permit to fly allows it. An MEL is optional under NCO.GEN.155; without one, required equipment must simply work (see technical log, MEL and deferred defects).

The flight instruments build up with the operation:

• Day VFR, NCO.IDE.A.120: a means of measuring and displaying magnetic heading, time in hours, minutes and seconds, barometric altitude and indicated airspeed, plus Mach number where speed limits are expressed in Mach.
• VMC at night, or whenever the airplane cannot be held on its flight path without further instruments (NCO.IDE.A.120(b)): a means of displaying turn and slip, attitude, vertical speed and stabilized heading, and of showing when the power to the gyroscopic instruments is inadequate; in the second case, also a means of preventing airspeed indicator malfunction from condensation or icing.
• IFR, NCO.IDE.A.125: magnetic heading, time, barometric altitude, indicated airspeed, vertical speed, turn and slip, attitude, stabilized heading and outside air temperature, the gyro power indication and protection of the airspeed system against condensation or icing, in practice a heated pitot.

At night the airplane also needs anti-collision, navigation and landing lights, instrument lighting and a portable light for each crew station (NCO.IDE.A.115). Every airplane carries a first-aid kit, and all but ELA1 airplanes a hand fire extinguisher. An ELT is required, automatic if the airplane's first CofA was issued after 1 July 2008, but an airplane certified for six passenger seats or fewer may instead carry a survival ELT or a personal locator beacon; all must transmit on 121.5 and 406 MHz (NCO.IDE.A.170; see emergency beacons). A single-engine landplane needs a life-jacket for each person beyond gliding distance from land, and every airplane beyond 30 minutes at normal cruising speed or 50 NM from land suitable for an emergency landing, whichever is less, where the pilot also decides on life-rafts after assessing the ditching risk (NCO.IDE.A.175).

Oxygen and passenger briefing

NCO.OP.190 starts from the pilot's judgment: crew on duties essential to safe operation use supplemental oxygen whenever the pilot determines that a lack of it might impair them, and oxygen is made available to passengers when a lack of it might harm them. When the pilot cannot determine that, two firm cases apply: those crew use oxygen for any period over 30 minutes with the cabin between 10,000 ft and 13,000 ft, and all occupants use it above 13,000 ft. The FAA's 91.211 uses 12,500 ft, 14,000 ft and 15,000 ft (see supplemental oxygen requirements). The AMC also asks the pilot to watch for early symptoms in flight.

In an unpressurized airplane, NCO.IDE.A.155 requires installed or portable equipment for the oxygen NCO.OP.190 calls for. A pressurized airplane carries oxygen under NCO.IDE.A.150 for all crew and, by cabin altitude, for 100 percent of passengers above 15,000 ft (at least 10 minutes), 30 percent between 14,000 ft and 15,000 ft and 10 percent beyond 30 minutes between 10,000 ft and 14,000 ft; above 25,000 ft it also needs a loss-of-pressurization warning (see hypoxia and hyperventilation).

Under NCO.OP.130 the pilot-in-command ensures that passengers receive a passenger briefing on emergency equipment and procedures before or, where appropriate, during the flight. AMC1 NCO.OP.130 has it cover seat belts and, where fitted, emergency exits, briefing cards, life-jackets, oxygen equipment, life-rafts and other individual equipment, and the location and general use of the main collective emergency equipment. Regular passengers are briefed too. All passengers wear secured belts for taxi, takeoff and landing (NCO.OP.150), and an airplane is never refueled with AVGAS while passengers are embarking, on board or disembarking (NCO.OP.145).

Library articles are written for study and exam preparation. They do not replace your aircraft's approved documentation, your operator's procedures or the regulations themselves.