Personnel licensing: CPL issue, privileges, ratings, recency, medical standards
Issue and privileges
A PNG CPL is issued under CAR Part 61 after the applicant meets the minimum age, holds a Class 1 medical, passes the required knowledge examinations, completes the prescribed flight experience and passes a flight test. The CPL permits the holder to act as PIC or co-pilot in aircraft for commercial purposes, subject to ratings, type/class endorsements and the operator’s certificate. It does not by itself authorise instructing, which requires an instructor rating.
Ratings, recency and medical standards
Ratings such as instrument, instructor or type ratings extend privileges only after the specified training, testing and experience. Recency is separate from licence validity: passenger-carrying requires recent take-offs and landings, and instrument privileges require recent instrument experience or a proficiency check. The Class 1 medical must be current for CPL privileges; a lapsed medical suspends those privileges even if the licence card is unexpired.
Worked example
A CPL’s Class 1 medical expired yesterday. Today the pilot plans a charter flight with passengers. The licence and type rating are current, but the medical is not. The pilot cannot exercise CPL privileges. The operator must replace the pilot or delay the flight; a self-declared feeling of fitness is irrelevant.
Traps
A CPL is not an instructor licence. A current licence does not prove current recency. A Class 2 medical is not sufficient for CPL commercial privileges. Do not assume a foreign CPL is automatically valid in PNG; validation or conversion is required.