The owner of an N-reg must always be in the US. That’s why they get put into trusts. And in any case, it would not change anything, since these regulations are about the pilot, not the plane.
If you fly in the EU for one day or one year doesn’t matter if the rules that Timothy wrote about come into force. It will only depend on the “residence” of the “operator”… (not that these terms were defined anywhere).
But don’t worry. If it happens, it will be such an unholy mess across Europe that you will be lost on the noise.
The owner of an N-reg must always be in the US
Negative… the ownership of an N-reg must be a US citizen or a Green Card holder, resident anywhere in the world.
If it is company owned then the shareholding needs to be at least 75% as above, IIRC.
Latest news I have is a 2 year extension, but voted on in EASA Committee so late (2 weeks from now) that it won’t be law by the April 2017 date. So it will need national exemptions to cover the gap.
Many thanks bookworm… I have amended the thread title.
Amazing… clearly they see no treaty coming anytime soon.
Peter wrote:
If it is company owned then the shareholding needs to be at least 75% as above, IIRC.
I wonder how they do that with publicly listed companies, the percentage of foreign shareholders will be changing all the time so one day they could be 75% US owned, the next only 74%. (Although I guess many publicly listed companies probably outsource their flight departments rather than owning the aircraft themselves). I’m guessing there must also be mechanisms in place to ensure that US airline stock isn’t owned by too many foreign shareholders.
Just bear in mind that the amendment still has to be approved in Feb EASA Committee.
The “US citizen” definition is in 47.2:
(1) An individual who is a citizen of the United States or one of its possessions.
(2) A partnership each of whose partners is an individual who is a citizen of the United States.
(3) A corporation or association organized under the laws of the United States or a State, the District of Columbia, or a territory or possession of the United States, of which the president and at least two-thirds of the board of directors and other managing officers are citizens of the United States, which is under the actual control of citizens of the United States, and in which at least 75 percent of the voting interest is owned or controlled by persons that are citizens of the United States.
It would be relatively straightforward to create a separate, Delaware style, corporation to “own” the aircraft.
Interesting… that doesn’t mention the Green Card. Is that implicit in “citizenship”?
Also interesting is that a partnership syndicate cannot have any non US citizen members, but a company can (up to 24.999%).
As regards big companies owning planes, they often own them in trust or via a separate operation, set up to keep the “rich mens toys” off their published accounts.
Notwithstanding the definition provided above for being a US citizen, you don’t have to be a US Citizen by that definition to register an aircraft in the US. You do generally have to be admitted to the US for permanent residence, which means a ‘Green Card’.
47.3 – Registration required.
(a) An aircraft may be registered under 49 U.S.C. 44103 only when the aircraft is not registered under the laws of a foreign country and is -
(1) Owned by a citizen of the United States;
(2) Owned by an individual citizen of a foreign country lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States;
(3) Owned by a corporation not a citizen of the United States when the corporation is organized and doing business under the laws of the United States or a State within the United States, and the aircraft is based and primarily used in the United States
