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LAPL(A) vs PPL(A): Privileges, Limitations and Which Licence Actually Fits

It comes up in almost every first conversation at a flight school: LAPL(A), or go straight for the PPL(A)? On paper the two licences are separated by 15 training hours and a handful of paragraphs in Regulation (EU) No 1178/2011. In the cockpit they decide how many people you can take with you, whether your licence means anything outside Europe, and how often you sit in the aeromedical examiner’s chair.

The confusion is understandable, because the rules have moved. Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2076 rewrote the upgrade path from LAPL(A) to PPL(A), among other things. Plenty of flight school websites, forum threads and comparison lists still quote the old numbers. This article works from the consolidated text of the regulation in force, and it ends with a straight answer about which type of pilot is better served by which licence.

LAPL(A) and PPL(A) in one sentence each

The LAPL(A) — Light Aircraft Pilot Licence, aeroplane category — is a European licence for non-commercial flying on small single-engine aeroplanes up to 2,000 kg maximum certified take-off mass, with no more than four people on board. It is deliberately leaner: fewer training hours, its own medical certificate, and a rolling recency rule instead of a class rating.

The PPL(A) — Private Pilot Licence — is the ICAO-compliant private licence. It carries no weight or passenger ceiling of its own; the only limits are the class and type ratings entered in it. It is also the entry ticket to everything that comes afterwards: instrument flying, multi-engine types, and the commercial training path.

Side by side: LAPL(A) vs PPL(A)

This is where the decision is actually made. All figures follow Regulation (EU) No 1178/2011 (Part-FCL and Part-MED) as consolidated.

  • Minimum age for the licence — LAPL(A): 17 (FCL.100) / PPL(A): 17 (FCL.200)
  • Minimum age for first solo — both: 16 (FCL.020)
  • Minimum flight instruction — LAPL(A): 30 hours / PPL(A): 45 hours, of which up to 5 may be in an FSTD
  • Of which dual instruction — LAPL(A): 15 hours in the class used for the skill test / PPL(A): 25 hours
  • Of which supervised solo — LAPL(A): 6 hours, including at least 3 hours cross-country / PPL(A): 10 hours, including at least 5 hours cross-country
  • Qualifying cross-country flight — LAPL(A): at least 150 km (80 NM) with one full-stop landing at a different aerodrome / PPL(A): at least 270 km (150 NM) with full-stop landings at two different aerodromes
  • Theoretical knowledge exam — both: the same nine subjects (FCL.120 and FCL.215 respectively)
  • Aircraft you may fly — LAPL(A): SEP(land), SEP(sea) or TMG up to 2,000 kg MTOM / PPL(A): no limit from the licence itself, only from the ratings you hold
  • Passengers — LAPL(A): maximum 3 passengers, never more than 4 people on board / PPL(A): no limit from the licence itself
  • Waiting period before your first passenger — LAPL(A): 10 hours as PIC after licence issue / PPL(A): none
  • Night flying — both: available with a night rating under FCL.810
  • Instrument flying (IR, BIR) — LAPL(A): not available / PPL(A): available
  • Medical requirement — LAPL(A): LAPL medical certificate (or Class 2) / PPL(A): Class 2 or higher
  • International validity — LAPL(A): only in states applying Regulation (EU) No 1178/2011 / PPL(A): ICAO-compliant, validated and converted worldwide
  • Staying current — LAPL(A): rolling 12 hours in 2 years (FCL.140.A) / PPL(A): SEP class rating, valid 2 years, revalidated under FCL.740.A
  • Route to CPL or ATPL — LAPL(A): only via a PPL(A) first / PPL(A): direct

What an LAPL(A) actually lets you do

The privileges, plainly stated

FCL.105.A allows an LAPL(A) holder to act as pilot-in-command of single-engine piston aeroplanes — both landplanes and seaplanes — and of touring motor gliders, provided the maximum certified take-off mass does not exceed 2,000 kg. No more than three passengers may be carried, and there must never be more than four people on board. All flying is non-commercial and without remuneration (FCL.105).

In practice that covers virtually the whole of a typical club fleet: C150, C152, C172, PA-28, Aquila A210, Robin DR400 and most touring motor gliders sit below the 2,000 kg line. A C182, a Cirrus SR22 or anything twin-engine is where it stops.

The 10-hour rule before your first passenger

Here is a detail that catches a lot of student pilots out. Under FCL.105.A(b), a newly licensed LAPL(A) holder may only carry passengers after flying 10 hours as PIC on aeroplanes or TMGs following the issue of the licence. If the whole point of the licence is taking the family up at weekends, budget for those hours from the start. Anyone who previously held a PPL(A), CPL(A), MPL(A) or ATPL(A) is exempt.

Night yes, instruments no

One misconception is remarkably persistent. The night rating under FCL.810 is explicitly open to LAPL holders; the only extra condition is completing the basic instrument flight training required for the PPL before the night portion of the course. What genuinely stays closed to the LAPL(A) is instrument flight: FCL.600 lists only PPL, CPL, MPL and ATPL holders for IFR operations, and the Basic Instrument Rating requires at least a PPL(A) under FCL.835. If IFR is anywhere on your horizon, you need the PPL.

Training: 30 hours versus 45 hours

The 15-hour gap is the most visible difference — and the one most often overstated. Thirty and forty-five hours are legal minima, not realistic expectations. Across the DACH region actual training time regularly runs higher, because weather, aircraft availability and training rhythm set the pace. Fly once every three weeks and you will spend hours re-learning, whichever licence you are working towards.

The syllabi differ less than the numbers suggest. The theory is identical: FCL.120 and FCL.215 list the same nine subjects word for word — air law, human performance, meteorology, communications, navigation, principles of flight, operational procedures, flight performance and planning, and aircraft general knowledge. The difference you actually feel is in the cross-country: 150 km with one landing away versus 270 km with two.

On cost, depending on the school, the club and the aircraft, the LAPL(A) typically lands somewhere around EUR 6,500 to 12,000 in the DACH region and the PPL(A) around EUR 10,000 to 19,000. Those ranges are market observation, not a regulatory figure — only a quote from your own flight school is binding.

Medical: LAPL certificate or Class 2

The LAPL(A) needs an LAPL medical certificate; the PPL(A) needs at least a Class 2. Under MED.A.040 both are issued by an aeromedical centre (AeMC) or an aeromedical examiner (AME). The much-quoted option of having a general practitioner issue the LAPL medical depends on the national law of the member state concerned — and Germany, Austria and Switzerland do not use it. Austro Control has published its decision not to do so explicitly. In the DACH region, in other words, the road leads to an AME either way.

Where the two genuinely diverge is validity (MED.A.045):

  • LAPL medical — up to age 40: 60 months, but a certificate issued before the holder’s 40th birthday ceases to be valid once the holder reaches 42; above 40: 24 months.
  • Class 2 — up to age 40: 60 months with the same cut-off at 42; between 40 and 50: 24 months, with a certificate issued before the 50th birthday ceasing to be valid once the holder reaches 51; above 50: 12 months.

For pilots past 50 this is the most tangible day-to-day difference: an annual examination on Class 2 against a two-yearly one on the LAPL medical. In both cases the renewal examination may be carried out up to 45 days before expiry without losing validity.

Upgrading from LAPL(A) to PPL(A): the new rules

This is the section to read carefully, because it was replaced outright by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2076. The familiar formula — “15 hours after licence issue, of which 10 at an ATO” — is no longer in the regulation. If you are still reading it somewhere, you are reading a superseded text.

Under the current FCL.210.A(b): an applicant who already holds an LAPL(A) and has at least 45 hours of total flight time on aeroplanes or TMGs sees the required flight instruction reduced from 45 to 40 hours, and the dual instruction requirement reduced from 25 to 21 hours. On top of that, the applicant must complete at least 5 hours of dual instruction with an instructor qualified to instruct for the PPL(A), plus the full PPL solo package — 10 hours of supervised solo including at least 5 hours cross-country and the 270 km flight with landings at two different aerodromes.

The good news is on the theory side. Under Appendix 1 to Part-FCL, point 1.3, the holder of an LAPL in the same aircraft category is fully credited for theoretical knowledge instruction and examination. The theory does not have to be repeated. The practical test does: FCL.235 requires a skill test for the PPL with no LAPL exemption. The training itself takes place at an ATO or DTO under FCL.210.

Cost-wise, an upgrade in the DACH region realistically sits in the region of EUR 2,000 to 5,000, heavily dependent on how much flight time is already in your logbook.

Recency: what you have to fly in order to keep flying

The two licences handle this differently, and here too the wording has changed. FCL.140.A requires an LAPL(A) holder, within the last two years, either to have completed at least 12 hours of flight time as PIC or flying dual or solo under the supervision of an instructor — including 12 take-offs and landings and at least one hour of refresher training with an instructor — or to have passed an LAPL(A) proficiency check with an examiner.

Two details are frequently reported incorrectly. The refresher hour counts towards the 12 hours; it is not an additional hour on top. And the proficiency check is an equal-ranking second route, not a fallback for pilots who missed the hours.

The PPL(A) works through the class rating instead. The SEP class rating is valid for two years and is revalidated under FCL.740.A(b)(1) either by passing a proficiency check within the three months before expiry, or by flying 12 hours in the class within the 12 months before expiry — including 6 hours as PIC, 12 take-offs and 12 landings, and at least one hour of refresher training with an FI or CRI.

On balance the LAPL rule is gentler on low-hour pilots, because it rolls across two years with no fixed expiry date to plan around. Fly 40 or 50 hours a year and you will barely notice the difference.

Common misconceptions

  • “An LAPL doesn’t let me fly abroad.” Wrong. Under Article 67 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1139, licences are valid and recognised in all member states without further requirements. The boundary is not a national border but the scope of Regulation (EU) No 1178/2011.
  • “An LAPL doesn’t let me fly at night.” Wrong. The night rating under FCL.810 is open to LAPL holders.
  • “The LAPL only covers landplanes and motor gliders.” Wrong. FCL.105.A explicitly includes SEP(sea).
  • “LAPL theory is the watered-down version.” The regulation does not support this: FCL.120 and FCL.215 list the same nine subjects, and LAPL theory is fully credited towards the PPL.
  • “The upgrade needs 15 hours, 10 of them at an ATO.” Superseded. Since Regulation (EU) 2024/2076 the structure is the 45-hour total, 40-hour instruction, 21-hour dual arrangement described above.
  • “I can convert my LAPL in the United States.” No. The LAPL is not ICAO-compliant, and conversion under 14 CFR 61.75 requires a foreign licence at private pilot level or above without an ICAO non-compliance limitation.

Which licence suits which pilot?

The LAPL(A) is the right call if several of these describe you:

  • You want to fly your club’s existing fleet, and the 2,000 kg ceiling never gets in your way.
  • You typically fly alone or with one other person, occasionally with three.
  • You are over 50 and a two-yearly rather than annual medical suits you.
  • You fly 20 to 40 hours a year, and a rolling two-year recency window fits your rhythm better.
  • You want to keep the budget and the time to your first licence as low as possible.

The PPL(A) is the right call if this sounds more like you:

  • You want to fly four-up regularly, or on heavier aircraft.
  • Instrument flying, multi-engine types or a later CPL are realistic possibilities.
  • You want to rent outside the EASA area or fly an N-registered aircraft.
  • You already expect to need well over 45 hours before the skill test — in which case routing via the LAPL rarely works out cheaper.

And there is a pragmatic middle path: take the LAPL(A) first and upgrade later. That is not a step backwards. The theory is fully credited and the hours you have flown count towards the 45-hour threshold. The price is a second exam cycle and a second skill test.

Conclusion

  • The real difference is not the 15 training hours. It is passenger numbers, the 2,000 kg ceiling, the IFR path and international validity.
  • Night flying is available on both licences; instrument flying only on the PPL(A).
  • In the DACH region the LAPL medical is issued by an AME as well; the genuine advantage is validity from age 50 onwards.
  • The upgrade path was rewritten in 2024 — any source quoting “15 hours” and “10 hours at an ATO” is out of date.
  • If you genuinely cannot decide today, the LAPL(A) costs you little: theory and flight time both count towards the PPL.

Whichever licence you choose, one thing does not change: recency evidence, cross-country flights, take-off and landing counts and medical deadlines all have to be demonstrable at any time. A properly maintained logbook — on paper or digital, for instance with cloudlog.aero — saves you the arithmetic in the week before a deadline runs out.

Sources

This article is provided for general information and reflects the sources consulted at the time of publication. It does not constitute legal advice or an authoritative statement by an aviation authority. The applicable laws, regulations, and the current guidance and decisions of the competent aviation authorities always take precedence.