This appeared recently in a UK training industry mag. No mention of the SRG2140/2142 business.
I had to do one of these as part of my FAA to EASA PPL conversion (which I may report on at some point if I find the time). I sent in the paperwork in early August. I called about a month later to see how things were going. The CAA had received whatever they needed from the FAA at that point. No word on whether the FAA people were laughing; I hope this gave them an opportunity.
Flying IFR with N-reg in Europe
This topic regularly comes up, but there seems to be a lot of conflicting information.
Does anyone KNOW the current status, preferably with links to the regulations?
Europe based N-reg, EASA PPL with IR, FAA piggyback for PPL (assuming this will not give me FAA IR unless I undertake additional steps/exam?).
G
This all still works, but you may like to check that your country does not ban N-reg long term parking (reportedly Denmark and Norway do). The 61.75 piggyback PPL won’t give you an FAA IR unless you take the foreign pilot exam.
You need the EASA medical but if you don’t have any standalone FAA licenses then you don’t need an FAA medical.
If you see conflicting info posted here on EuroGA, please point it out, because it should not be here. What has been changing is the derogation climate but if you have all the EASA papers that doesn’t affect you.
GaryStorm wrote:
Flying IFR with N-reg in Europe
Actually it is not about flying IFR.
Basically EASA requires that all pilots who reside in a member state of the European Union shall hold the ratings and privileges that are required to act as PIC for the aircraft at hand. The EASA regulations open up for a derogation until the 8th April 2019 (?), and many EASA member states have chosen to apply that derogation, but an increasing number have chosen not to, and the UK have chosen to do their own thing.
The derogation applies to the airspace of the member states – not to the certificates issued by derogating member states. So although you may be OK to fly with a US certificate in France, the same does not apply to Spain or Italy who have not applied the derogation.
GaryStorm wrote:
Europe based N-reg, EASA PPL with IR, FAA piggyback for PPL (assuming this will not give me FAA IR unless I undertake additional steps/exam?).
In that case you are OK to fly your N-reg all over Europe VFR. You may fly it IFR within the airspace of the state of issue of your EASA PPL. In order to be able to fly it IFR outside the state of issue you need the FAA IR, iow you need to pass the foreign IR pilot written exam (or whatever it is called)
The derogation applies to the airspace of the member states
That’s one interpretation only. Nothing that makes sense has been published on this.
By the way, there is a (rather annoying) German guy on a Swiss forum (making lots of absurd statements quite regularly) who says that it is legal to fly an N-reg. within EASA airspace even if you only have an EASA license. The reasoning being that EASA-FCL does not restrict its privileges to EASA registered aircraft, that they (EASA) have the say on what is allowed in EASA airspace and that the FAA has no say on what is allowed or not within EASA airspace…
Peter wrote:
That’s one interpretation only. Nothing that makes sense has been published on this.
I base that interpretation on the contents of correspondence from the UK CAA that has been posted here.
Edit: My bad. It seems like the statement was not posted here. Refer to post 212
Aviathor wrote:
In a statement by the CAA posted on another forum, it explicitly says that the UK requirement for US certificate validation concerns pilots flying in the UK airspace. This tells me that the CAA interprets the Article 12(4) opt-out as an airspace requirement as opposed to a license requirement.
I base that interpretation on the contents of correspondence from the UK CAA
The UK CAA has absolutely zero, zilch, none, nowt, nil authority to express an opinion on the right of a non G reg plane outside UK airspace.
Even inside the UK, the SRG2140 initiative is on dodgy legal grounds. I have a list of about a dozen points from one ex CAA licensing specialist, but won’t post it because one day it might come in handy. The people behind it haven’t got a clue.
And the reason why Italy (and a bunch of other countries) didn’t apply for the derogation is prob99 because they cannot decipher the 1,000 page EASA regs and their often conflicting meaning. There is simply no interest there in what Brussels or Cologne get up to – unless there is a few billion €€€€ coming from Brussels in which case they get VERY interested, just like all the rest of southern Europe 
But, who knows?
By the way, there is a (rather annoying) German guy on a Swiss forum (making lots of absurd statements quite regularly) who says that it is legal to fly an N-reg. within EASA airspace even if you only have an EASA license. The reasoning being that EASA-FCL does not restrict its privileges to EASA registered aircraft, that they (EASA) have the say on what is allowed in EASA airspace and that the FAA has no say on what is allowed or not within EASA airspace…
He’s probably right in a practical sense from the POV of getting prosecuted in Switzerland – because (assuming he has Swiss-issued pilot papers) he is committing no crime there.
But his insurance is void, as soon as he crosses the border. And that is true, or potentially true, in many other aviation scenarios for which you will never get prosecuted.
BTW a similar view has been expressed by bookworm in years past. I guess it is not a totally clear-cut argument, although personally I am 100% sure that the State of Registry does have the final call… but then I am not a lawyer, so… 
Anyway, I think the answer to today’s Q is fairly clear
Exactly. IANAL either, but FAR §61.3 is quite clear:
§61.3 Requirement for certificates, ratings, and authorizations.
(a) Required pilot certificate for operating a civil aircraft of the United States. No person may serve as a required pilot flight crewmember of a civil aircraft of the United States, unless that person:
(1) Has in the person’s physical possession or readily accessible in the aircraft when exercising the privileges of that pilot certificate or authorization—
(i) A pilot certificate issued under this part and in accordance with §61.19;
[…]
…and so on, which then also includes the famous
(v) When operating an aircraft within a foreign country, a pilot license issued by that country may be used.
which of course helps only within the country that issued that foreign license, and not within the whole EASA airspace….
But yes, slightly off-topic….
