Thank you Silvaire, it’s interesting that there is a real body of knowledge supporting the type.
JasonC wrote:
There are no import duties but you will have to pay VAT on the value of the aircraft to import into the UK. Has nothing to do with the registration.
3 years ago I imported a “vintage” (1968) Piper Twin Comanche. I was expecting to pay 0 Import duty and 20% Vat . The customs agent thought so too and I recieved a Pro-Forma accordingly.
The French customs came back and told that since it was >30 years old, the import duty was 5.5% and VAT 0.
That’s what I paid. Later I sold the plane and the buyer did not believe the story so I had to go back and get the legal text from the customs.
I would think that a 50s Cessna 195 would qualify for same rate.
Michael, now you are talking. 5.5% sounds very reasonable!
The 195 with standard 76 usg useable has a 700 nm and a bit, approximately, no reserves range. Iqaluit to Sondre Stromfjord is 490 nm, and Nuuk is around 170 nm to the south. PNR for Iqaluit is 300 nm, and you would need to divert to Nuuk after around 400 nm. Electronic ignition replacing the old distributor improves SFC somewhat, but in short you need a high confidence VFR forecast for destination and alternate. Some ferry pilots depart Iqaluit in marginal conditions, but in a 70 year old vintage radial being able to return safely seems a part of the planning.
Iceland to Scotland from the east coast of Iceland, is probably only comfortable with Vagar or Sumburgh as solid alternates.
This assumes no icing!
I am not aware of any VAT exemption for vintage aircraft.
As you say Sondrestrom has good weather typically but you need to be able to return to Iqualuit.
Michael perhaps your aircraft had been imported before 1993 into a member state and is a pre 1985 type? In this case it is presumed it is free circulation as long as it has been domiciled in a member state.
We had some threads on the UK VAT amnesty but all I can find right now is this. IIRC, you have to show it has been imported before some date and then show (presumably via journey logs) that it has been in the EU continuously since then. However I thought that VAT amnesty was a UK-only (not EU) thing. What Michael encountered might be yet something else, and may be French-only. These national VAT concessions can continue indefinitely. Anyway the UK amnesty would apply only to imports completed somewhere in th 1980s, IIRC, not to any new imports.
RobertL18C wrote:
With electronic ignition assume 14 gph and 140 KTAS. The Jacobs like to be flown 65% plus, preferably 70-75% which might take you to 150 KTAS and 15-16 gph. They can use mogas.
What would be considered a “short field” for the 195? Would you take it to 600m grass strip? How about 500m?
In theory landing distance required over 50 feet is 450 metres. But if you add a safety factor for grass (dry) and some safety factor as a nod to public transport you probably are more comfortable at 700 metres. Your approach speed is 80 mph and all up weight is 3350 lbs so not a STOL machine. One uses Derby, but isn’t based there, and that has a LDA of around 500 metres plus on 17, and he finds that a bit tight.
Nice article in Plane and Pilot.
http://www.planeandpilotmag.com/article/cessna-195-getting-down-to-business/#.WrfWEVrTWhA
What descent angle does this landing distance assume from the threshold to touchdown? The 3 degrees usual today, or something steeper?
Because that angle assumes touchdown 300 m after the threshold, and anyone doing that on a 500m runway would be a bit foolish.
I would look into landing roll and if the obstacle situation allows me to touch down on or shortly after the threshold, rather than landing distance based on a long-runway technique more suitable to an IFR arrival. A factored landing roll, assuming touchdown in the first 100m, would be safe enough.
Not sure what slope manufacturers use when calculating the glide path from the 50 foot obstacle. The POH says 41% is ground roll, so Pythagoras would suggest a slope of around 3.2 degrees? The 195 has split flaps, not semi-fowler like the 180/185, and a higher stall speed (63 IAS mph vs 55 IAS mph on the 185), so the approach is likely to be shallower than a 185.
The New Zealand CAA AFM for the Super Cub has a factored landing distances required of 1200 feet, which is very un-Super Cub like.
