Flight Radiotelephony Operators Licence
| 31 January 2009
No person may operate an aircraft radio station in the air,or on the ground, unless they are in possession of a valid FRTOL, or are operating directly under the supervision of the holder of a FRTOL. The latter implies that the FRTOL holder is present in the aircraft. This applies equally to groundcrew and other persons who wish to operate radiotransmitting equipment licensed in accordance with, and operating on, frequencies listed in the Aircraft Radio Licence.
The FRTOL is a flight crew licence that may be issued to existing flight crew members and other persons who have a requirement to operate the Aircraft Radio Station in a UK registered aircraft, and may be issued as a stand-alone licence, or in conjunction with another flight crew licence.The requirement for flight crew to hold a FRTOL is detailed in the ANO, Article 26. In particular a number of exemptions are listed, including aircrew under training, and glider pilots when transmitting on frequencies specifically allocated for glider operation. The privileges of the FRTOL are detailed in Schedule 8 to the ANO (please refer to Section A, Appendix F).
The requirement for non-flight crew members to hold a FRTOL is detailed in the schedule to the Aircraft Radio Licence issued under the Wireless Telegraphy (WT) Acts of 1949 and 1998. This document forms part of the aircraft radio licence.
Holders of a PPL issued in accordance with ICAO Annex 1 may exercise the privileges of an ICAO FRTOL in UK registered aircraft, in accordance with the provisions of the UK ANO (Article 26). Provided that they hold a licence that includes radiotelephony privileges based on tests conducted in the English Language, they may operate the aircraft radio station.
Pilot Certificates issued by some States do not confer International privileges for the operation of an aircraft radio station. A FAA Pilot Certificate alone conveys no RT privileges outside the USA an must be accompanied by FCC Form 605-FRC to be valid.
No person may operate an aircraft radio station in the air, or on the ground, unless they are in possession of a valid FRTOL, or are operating directly under the supervision of the holder of a FRTOL. The latter implies that the FRTOL holder is present in the aircraft. This applies equally to groundcrew and other persons who wish to operate radiotransmitting equipment licensed in accordance with, and operating on, frequencies listed in the Aircraft Radio Licence.
The FRTOL conveys no privileges in relation to the installation or establishment of a Radio Station; it is simply an operator’s licence. The FRTOL does not entitle the holder to operate a radio statio which is installed anywhere other than in an aircraft. All Aeronautical and Aircraft Radio Stations require a Radio Station Licence issued by the CAA in accordance with the Wireless Telegraph Acts of 1949 and 1998. The holder of a FRTOL is responsible for ensuring that the aircraft radio station they operate has a valid radio station licence. Failure to do so will render them liable to prosecution under the WT Act.
The FRTOL issued by the CAA meets the requirements of the Flight Radiotelephony Operator’s (Restricted) Licence defined in the General Radio Regulations to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) (Article 37).
The privileges of the FRTOL are limited to VHF only (specifically to frequencies above 60 MHz) where the holder has not passed an examination in HF radio theory. Holders of UK or JAA professional pilot licences do not have this limitation.
UK radiotelephony procedures are detailed in CAP 413 The Radiotelephony Manual. This document is edited in parallel with CAP 493 The Manual of Air Traffic Services Part 1.
- The Flight Radiotelephony Operators Licence (FRTOL) issued prior to April 1998 contain the word ‘Restricted’, this is often mistaken for a ‘VHF Only’ limitation which, if applicable, will be endorsed on the reverse of the licence (the frequencies that will be used by a General Aviation aircraft are almost exclusively VHF, the ‘VHF Only’ limitation will not therefore be likely to cause any difficulties). In the UK the term ‘Restricted’ referred only to the type of equipment that may be operated (see ANO Schedule 8). Older radio equipment designed for use by specialist radio operators who were ‘Unrestricted’ is no longer in use, therefore the word ‘Restricted’ has been eliminated from the FRTOL. The privileges however remain unchanged.
