Peter wrote:
The UK proposal ran for a year, causing quite a number of N-reg owners to sh*t themselves
I know one UK pilot who reacted in the very same way (which I’m not going to paraphrase) to the EASA license requirement for N-reg, basically doing a full EASA IR instead of waiting for the dead easy conversion path 
Peter wrote:
Not really possible with cars, because short of killing somebody they cannot get you for traffic offences done abroad, whereas under the ICAO framework each contracting state is required to persecute a pilot on behalf of another state.
You can actually drive your car in virtually all countries, the equivalent to ICAO is the Convention of Vienna You can be punished for traffic offences no matter where your car is registered. If you speed in Germany, they would charge you double fine because they cannot add points to your license and revoke it. ICAO is a non binding set of rules, nobody can be prosecuted based on ICAO rules. There really is no significant difference between cars and GA aircraft, we just got lucky with the aircraft and now it’s not feasible to undo it.
I know one UK pilot who reacted in the very same way (which I’m not going to paraphrase) to the EASA license requirement for N-reg, basically doing a full EASA IR instead of waiting for the dead easy conversion path
Not exactly… there has always been a huge difference in the implementation of airframe certification and long term parking limits, and a dual pilot licensing requirement. In the end, yeah, the CB IR turned out easier than expected but nobody could have foreseen that.
You can be punished for traffic offences no matter where your car is registered
How? Only for on the spot penalties, but countries with a proper justice system have a court hearing option, and if by then you left the country… It is extraditable offences that will always get you.
Peter wrote:
you cannot collect road tax on foreign reg cars. No parking tickets, etc. Foreign reg cars would cause havoc because you could just park anywhere, drive at any speed, and stick your finger up. It would be a priceless advantage.
There are legal limits on how long a foreign registered road vehicle can remain in the EU, mainly motivated I think by promoting importation VAT payment by EU residents. The same rules apply to vehicles owned by foreign residents, but for them enforcement is virtually impossible – if asked, you can simply produce your green card for one months insurance, which is easy to buy locally BTW, a paid-up and current overseas vehicle registration (no problem), plus current overseas and international driver’s licenses (also no problem). I know a guy and vehicle for whom that has worked since 1998, with continuous registration maintained in country of origin. If the guy is not resident in an EU country he can’t register the vehicle locally anyway, which has always struck me as odd. Other non-residents register their EU based vehicle in a local friend’s name as a different work around.
It does work very well with automatic speed cameras, particularly those in Switzerland or so I’m told
Hello Bookworm, when is the BASA IPL being released ?
Peter wrote:
Also you cannot collect road tax on foreign reg cars. No parking tickets, etc. Foreign reg cars would cause havoc because you could just park anywhere, drive at any speed, and stick your finger up. It would be a priceless advantage.
Not quite true. At least not in all countries. Countries in Europe are increasingly exchanging information. Now if you get a parking ticket, or a speeding ticket in one country, the country of registration can actually provide the information about the owner to their foreign colleagues. So a German speeding in France can be in for a surprise. Likewise a Frenchman getting a parking ticket in Italy (ask me how I know )
All of this anti N reg, FAA, Third Country licence / Operator residence etc is a disgrace. There is no valid reason for the requirement of EASA papers to fly N reg, M, VP etc. There most be some form of legal challenge to all of this. Reading the article below the best I can make of it is that you can challenge a Directive if you are directly affected by it.
Yet still, nothing is popping up in these terms (info about people taking the EU to court for this).
There was a theory put forward that FAA CPL holders could not be forced by the EU to get the EASA papers, because the CPL is a license which allows you to work commercially, and there is a “right to be able to work” in some EU regs.
I doubt there is any mileage in that but in any case it would cost a fortune to push it. A good UK barrister is about €10k for the first day’s work (to be fair that includes a bit of homework) and this stuff is very specialised.
I suspect that come April next year if nothing changes then there will be legal challenges and publicity. I mean for example especially for Pilots employed for the last 17 years or so flying in Europe on non EU licences with no accidents or incidents during that time. Private aircraft registries will likely start to fail if this bile starts to take jobs. Businesses will vote with their feet.
Are they (EASA) really stupid enough to believe that non EU licenced Pilots will just walk away from their jobs ? EU discrimination at it’s finest, so a claim will be filed by these pilots for the x number of years of salary remaining in their careers at the very least.
The precedent of the the last x number of years flying in Europe has already been set. They will not just give it up and let someone with an EU licence who has most likely just learned an online question bank take their career.
It’s worth noting that the EASA FCL anti-N-reg provision (refs here) uses the term “operator”, so if e.g. you are a paid pilot flying around the owner of an N-reg plane, internationally, you could likely avoid the issue.
It’s particularly feasible for a business operating say a bizjet to set up a non-EU “operator”.
At the other end of the job spectrum, somebody flying for a living is likely an AOC operation so the licensing will be as per the AOC approval already.
Also, subject to enough hours etc, you can convert an FAA ATPL to an EASA ATPL by sitting the 14 exams and doing an LPC in a sim. I know one pilot doing that right know. Of course the 14 JAA ATPL exams are full of crap and a waste of a life but that’s one aspect which nobody has found a reliable way around.
So there are various routes worth exploring.
