I’ve just got this from a European pilot who is looking to buy various planes and one of them is an N-reg.
He contacted someone in EASA and was told the following, which I am posting with his consent, suitably dis-identified:
All the N airplanes operating in EU and stationing here are operating illegally because the FAA pretends that an N registered airplane stays in the US at least 6 months/year. Hence, the official said, also the insurance could, in case of an accident, not respond and assume the reponsibility. The official added that EASA is quite intensely working in order to obtain a mutual aknowledgment of the PPL license between US/EU and maybe this will be possible by 2020 but the IFR Rating is not under discussion at the present time.
This 6 month requirement is of course inaccurate generally but I do have a vague recollection that there are specific circumstances where there is a “6 months a year in the US” requirement, but it doesn’t apply to normal operation, with a US owner (or US trust) structure.
It is outrageous that an EASA official should be dishing out this kind of misinformation, but these events are illuminating as to the internal personal views of officials; one has had the same problem with national CAAs including the UK one.
Any views on Venice (Lido, on the island)?
According to this post we should be clear of the film festival. Yes, Venice is a crowded ripoff but we will be staying on the island, and people who want to see Venice city can pop over on the boat. I wonder if @AfricanEagle has any ideas for organisation? He was a great help on Elba 
If we can fix this venue, I will run a mailing to remind everyone. Unfortunately most will not receive it because they haven’t ticked the option
My son is in university; there is a flight school nearby and he’s mentioned a couple times that he’d like to start. Obviously, he can’t afford it himself. Now on the forum we often gripe about how flying seems like an old codgers’ club, but realistically at that age (unless from a wealthy family AND under control of some of that money) no one can afford it. So how should I answer?
The most obvious is that the anti N-reg attack in EASA FCL would be explicitly void – because the “operator” would be non EU resident. That would be great news for the foreign reg community (which makes up the bulk of the private IFR community) due to no more annual revalidations etc, and superb news for those who have not yet done the EASA IR.
