What do you need to do to maintain a Private Pilot License (PPL) CAAM PPL and FAA PPL

If you have been following my medium post, you will know that I currently hold the private pilot license (PPL) from Malaysia (CAAM) and also a piggy-back license from FAA.

In this post, I will like to share what it takes to maintain both licenses as getting the PPL is just the start of the journey.

1. CAAM PPL

Based on CAAM regulation, a pilot is required to perform the following in order to maintain the validity of their PPL:

• They need to have an up to date medical (super important), without a valid medical, your license is invalidated.
• If you achieve below a rating of 6 for your English test (which means you get lifetime validation), you will need to renew your English exam.
• You will need to have 5 hours of flying annually prior to your Certificate of Test (CoT)
• Perform a CoT with a CAAM Examiner annually
• Get your license sent to CAAM in KL for renewal

And if you are flying with passengers, you need to ensure you have 3 take-offs (TO) and landings that you are the PIC and sole control of the plane. If this is lapsed, you can either choose to get an instructor to do the 3 TO/Landing or do it Solo.

2. FAA PPL (Piggy-back)

For FAA, there’s only 3 requirements:

• You need to do a biannual flight with a FAA Flight Instructor (FI) to maintain your FAA PPL
• You need to ensure your primary PPL which you used for the Piggy-Back — in our case, it’s our CAAM PPL, is valid.
• If you are carrying passengers, you still need to fulfill the 3TO/Landing requirement

As you can see, getting the PPL is just the start of the journey as you are required to maintain the same level (or better) proficiency annually. Both the FAA Biannual and the CAAM CoT exercise is similar to a full Check-Ride when you first obtain your PPL.

Happy Flying!