The GVC is closing. RPC-L1 is what replaces it.
The GVC stops being issued on 31 December 2027. Certificates already issued are accepted until they expire, so nobody is grounded overnight, but every operator has a conversion or a full course ahead of them. These are the three routes and who each one is actually for.
Training is booked with and delivered by COPTRZ. We take no part in the assessment.
Three routes to the same certificate
If you hold nothing for specific category work, this is the certificate you need. It replaces the GVC at a broadly similar level, and the theory is done around jobs rather than instead of them.
Book with COPTRZThe same certificate, taught in a room with an instructor in front of you. Worth the difference if that is how you learn, or if you would rather have the theory done inside a couple of days.
Book with COPTRZOnly for people who already hold a GVC. Yours stays valid until it expires, so this is a question of when rather than whether, and doing it early costs less disruption than doing it late.
Book with COPTRZPrices and course dates are COPTRZ's and they change. The classroom figure is a dated offer rather than the standing price, which is why it is shown as a "from". Checked against shop.coptrz.com on 5 September 2026.
What each certificate is for
An online theory test, and the first thing to hold. You must have a Flyer ID before you can get any other qualification.
The route to flying closer to people without an operational authorisation. It is an open category qualification, it is not affected by the GVC change, and from 1 January 2026 the subcategory it covers is called Near People (A2).
The specific category qualification most UK commercial operators hold today. Existing certificates are accepted until they expire, where the operational authorisation says a GVC is acceptable evidence of competence.
Broadly the same level of competency as the GVC, split into Part A for visual line of sight and Part B for BVLOS with visual mitigations. This is what an operator starting today should hold.
Higher levels for BVLOS work, each built on the one below and on logged hours in the specific category. The hours are a records problem before they are a training problem, which is the part we handle.
A certificate says the pilot is competent. UK SORA is how the operator applies for permission to run the operation, and it replaced the Operating Safety Case on 23 April 2025. That is a separate piece of work, and we do it with COPTRZ too.
A certificate is a document with an expiry date
An RPC-L1 runs five years, an A2 CofC five, and the higher levels three. Put it on the pilot record when it arrives and it is flagged before it lapses, carried onto the SOPs generated from that record, and there to hand over when a client or the CAA asks who flew.
Start free and put the record in orderWe do not sell training
COPTRZ are a CAA-recognised assessment entity and the course, the assessment and the certificate are entirely theirs. We point you at the right one and keep the paperwork afterwards. If a link here earns us anything, it earns it because you were going to need the course either way.