Peter wrote:
in the past, if you lived there, you could put a “little plane” on M (I know a guy who did)
Their website stays you still can.
in the past, if you pulled some tricks like setting up an IOM company, you could put a “little plane” on M without living there (I know a guy who did)
Ah yes. Why/how did I not think of that(!)
once on the M, they won’t (AFAIK) force you to de-register even if the plane or you were nowhere near the IOM
Oh. That’s more surprising. Would be significant.
As understandable running N-reg is, it is clearly a way to circumnavigate European (before local) rulemaking.
Europe has grudgingly tolerated this primarily because they did not find a legal way to put a stop to it by the looks of it. They have tried to stop the practice but never really succeeded even though they managed to strike one decisive blow by requiring dual licensing.
But actually there are not that many fields in which you can get away with using someone else’s laws within the country or area you live. You could not run a car like that, yes you can probably run a boat but you can’t use US building code in the UK or elsewhere, just because it is more convenient. Or banking laws or whatever.
Clearly, the consequence of unpracticable or uncomfortable legislation may be that people vote with their feet. But this does something quite counterproductive: It takes the “pain” of the laws off the people who otherwise would be more inclined to make an effort to see them changed. When, like in France for instance, the majority of the fleet is in a foreign registration, it means the regs are so atrocious that they need changing. But as a majority actually doesn’t care because they use foreign register, there is no pressure to do so.
So while I sympathize I also can see the point of view of the regulators who are clearly miffed with people laughing in their faces. But as clearly as I can see that, it doesn’t mean that this possibility now simply can be ruled into illegality after having been accepted albeit grudgingly for so long. But the premis that it is actually not legal or at least a grey zone is not totally out of this world.
Europe needs to make their own rulemaking more attractive for owners here and the problem will go away.
Peter wrote:
in the past, if you lived there, you could put a “little plane” on M (I know a guy who did)
Not in the past – you still can. The Isle of Man Government takes the view that Isle of Man residents have the right to use the various IOM registries for aircraft, boats, cars etc. for anyone who is legally resident here. The aircraft and ship registry is a bit of a special case because normally our registries wouldn’t be available for anyone except Isle of Man residents.
