Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka has organized a Personnel Licensing (PEL) Initial Course in collaboration with COSCAP-SA in order to provide a proper training for personnel licensing, operations, and airworthiness inspectors to maintain uniform skills and knowledge to conduct specific safety oversight functions related to Personnel Licencing. The training commenced on the 20^th of March, is conducted by an ICAO Chief Technical Advisor for Gulf States who is also an ICAO OPS/PEL expert Ms. Nadia Konzali with the participation of two Nepali Licencing officers. The training program would be concluded on the 7^th of April which includes On-the-Job Training.

This 15-day course is designed for CAA licensing office staff such as: flight crew licensing operations inspectors, maintenance licensing inspectors, and licensing officers or administrative licensing staff. This course is intended for CAA’s involved in developing or upgrading its own state licensing or PEL system. The course is intended to be taken as a group composed of personnel assigned to a CAA’s PEL office. Participants are taught how to establish and maintain a CAA PEL office. Participants will be instructed on how to develop knowledge tests for a licensing system and how to ensure the test’s validity. Participants will learn the licensing process from application to issuance of a license, in addition to procedures for validation or conversion of a foreign license and suspension or revocation of a license. Classroom exercises will provide practice in how to determine if an applicant is eligible for the license sought, and if the license applicant successfully completed the demonstrations required for a license. The course is based on the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs), Model Civil Aviation Regulations (MCARs) and technical guidance.

The training was initiated and coordinated by the Director General of Civil Aviation & Chief Executive Officer, Mr. P. A. Jayakantha who was assisted with the formalities by Mr. Rayhan Wanniappa as the National coordinator for COSCAP-SA.

The course was arranged by COSCAP-SA on this request being open for the South Asian states for participation and such Personnel Licencing (PEL) course is done for the first time in Sri Lanka.