Everything you need to know about the new ULM regulations

A reform that must be read with the right timeline in mind

The first decree's thing to understand is the timeline. Since 1 July 2025, the general provisions applicable to all ULM aircraft have come into force, along with part of the chapter dedicated to specific activities. On 1 July 2026, the chapter relating to local flights for remuneration, the so-called VLO flights, will come into effect. Then, from 1 October 2026, the decree will apply in full, particularly to introductory flights (VLD). In other words, the reform is already here, but not everything is yet in force at the same pace.

This distinction is essential because it avoids a great deal of confusion. Legally, a local flight is a circular flight without a stopover, taking off and landing at the same site, without flying more than 40 kilometres from the departure point. An introductory flight, meanwhile, is a particular form of local flight for remuneration, operated by a non-profit organisation created to promote sport and recreational aviation. In plain terms, what many people still call a “first flight experience” is now governed by a far more precise definition.

More freedom, but less improvisation

The new decree begins by restating a simple rule: ULM flights must be conducted under day VFR. It also prohibits flying above a cloud layer without visual reference to the ground, as well as flying in known or forecast icing conditions. The regulations clearly tighten the framework around situations that leave very little room for error when something unexpected happens.

Safety also depends on equipment. All ULM aircraft must be fitted with a restraint system for every person on board. For local flights for remuneration, pilots of multiaxis aircraft (Class 3), gyroplanes (Class 4), and ultralight helicopters (Class 6) must also have a three-point harness fitted on the relevant front seats. For VLO flights, the text also requires the carriage of a fixed or portable distress beacon, either an ELT (a beacon that activates automatically upon impact) or a PLB (a beacon that must be activated manually). When flying over a body of water beyond gliding distance from shore, Class 4 and Class 6 aircraft must also be equipped with a system ensuring the flotation of both the aircraft and the occupants. Finally, when a recovery parachute is planned by the manufacturer, it becomes a key factor in determining whether certain remunerated or introductory flights may be carried out.

Higher standards for paid flights

One of the major turning points of the reform concerns pilots wishing to carry a passenger on a remunerated flight. From now on, it is no longer enough simply to have experience: that experience must be demonstrated.

For both VLO and VLD flights, a non-instructor pilot must, depending on the ULM class, be able to prove 50 flights in Class 1, 100 flight hours in Class 2, 150 hours in Class 3, 200 hours in Class 4, 50 flights in Class 5, and 200 hours in Class 6. On top of this, there is also a recent-experience requirement : before carrying any passenger, the pilot must have completed, within the previous 90 days, at least three take-offs, three approaches, and three landings on a ULM of the same class. A summary table is provided below.

The medical side has also been strengthened, although it does not apply in exactly the same way depending on the activity. For local flights for remuneration, a specific medical certificate becomes mandatory from the age of 40. For introductory flights, that threshold is raised to 60. Its validity is less than five years before the age of 60, less than two years before the age of 70, and less than one year from the age of 70 onwards. Here again, the objective is to align commercial or quasi-commercial operations more closely with a documented safety approach.

Introductory flights are still allowed, but under a tighter framework

The decree does not put an end to introductory flights, but it makes clear that they must remain a secondary activity. They may only be carried out by a non-profit organisation. Profits may not be distributed outside the organisation, pilots must be members of that organisation and act on a voluntary basis, and the flights may not be advertised for remuneration, marketed commercially, or offered in the form of gift boxes or vouchers. In addition, such flights may not exceed 8% of the total flight hours flown by the organisation during the previous year.

The operational framework is also stricter. Touch-and-goes, a manoeuvre in which the aircraft lands, briefly touches the runway, and takes off again immediately without stopping, often used for training, are prohibited in the context of introductory flights, as are formation flights. In mountainous areas, a pilot wishing to carry out a VLO or VLD from a site located above 900 metres must be able to prove at least six take-offs and landings at that site over the previous 24 months. These may seem like technical details, but they are precisely the kind of details that show how closely the regulations are trying to match real-world operational risks.

Passengers are now better informed and better protected legally

Another major development is the importance given to passenger information. For both VLO and VLD flights, the operator or organisation must provide a separate, clear and understandable document explaining the applicable safety regulatory framework. The text even requires explicit wording: the safety requirements applicable to ULM flights do not guarantee a level of safety as high as that of commercial flights in certified aviation, and neither the ULM aircraft, nor the pilot, nor the operator or organisation are subject to prior oversight measures comparable to those applied by the authority in certified aviation. Before the flight, the passenger must confirm in writing that they have read this information and accept the flight under those conditions.

This logic of traceability is also reflected in record-keeping. The passenger’s written acceptance must be kept for at least three months after the flight, while several operational documents, such as the activity declaration, activity manual or activity document, logbook, and operational records, must be retained for at least five years. In addition, there is an obligation to make an initial declaration, update it in the event of any changes, and submit confirmation of continued activity at least every 24 months for the activities concerned.

What the BEA is already reminding pilots

This tightening of the regulations did not come out of nowhere. In 2025, the BEA published 13 reports involving ULM aircraft and highlighted seven major safety themes. Among the concrete lessons the BEA points to is the trap of the back side of the power curve, a well-known risk in light aviation, particularly during take-off, go-arounds, or operations near terrain. In this situation, the pilot adopts too nose-high a pitch attitude, airspeed decreases, angle of attack increases, and the aircraft can find itself in an area where the available power is no longer sufficient to accelerate or maintain an adequate safety margin. The BEA stresses that this phenomenon becomes especially critical when performance is degraded by weight, heat, density altitude, or mountain environments. The reports also highlight activation of the emergency parachute, stall behaviour on certain high-performance ULM aircraft, in-flight structural failures, the limits of “see and avoid,” deteriorating weather, loss of control, and certain medical factors.

Ultimately, the BEA’s message is fairly simple : accidents do not happen only because of one dramatic mistake. They can arise from weather that is judged acceptable a little too quickly, a poorly anticipated stall, a turn-back attempt made too low after a power loss, a parachute that is not deployed in time, or insufficient vigilance in an environment that nevertheless feels familiar. The new regulations are rooted precisely in a reality where safety margins are won before the flight, not at the moment when everything starts going wrong.

The end of the carefree ULM era ?

For a long time, ULM flying has carried with it an image of absolute freedom. The image of an aviation that is more spontaneous, lighter, almost more instinctive. A minimalist cockpit, weather that can be read in the distance, a grass strip, and that rare feeling of taking off almost with bare hands, far removed from the heaviness of certified aviation. That is also part of its charm.

But that era of the “carefree” ULM is probably reaching its limits. Not because the passion is disappearing, nor because regulations are about to suffocate what makes this form of flying so deeply appealing. But because, as passengers are carried, certain activities become more professionalised, and the discipline is confronted with the reality of accidents, it becomes harder to rely solely on experience, habit, or assumed common sense.

Freedom does not remove the need for rigour. In fact, it demands even more of it. In the world of ULM flying, a forgotten detail, a poorly assessed margin, or excessive confidence can be enough to turn a flight upside down. What the regulator is framing today is not the pilots’ passion itself, but that fragile moment when passion must meet method.