Menu Sign In Contact FAQ
Banner
Welcome to our forums

ECAC Status for homebuilt / experimental (flight privileges within Europe)

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Overall, this suggests a general move to block “foreign reg homebuilts” while not blocking overflight and casual visitation.

That’s one way of saying it, I guess. However, the point is that if the aircraft is not “ICAO” or “EASA”, then it is national, and can only be flown according to national regulations. A foreign aircraft is allowed to visit for max 30 consecutive days, no explicit permission needed. If you want to stay longer, then you need a permission.

The elephant is the circulation
ENVA ENOP ENMO, Norway

Other related info on France is here.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

From here

This is just collated information from my trip planning as an aide-mémoire for myself, and answers the question “Can I fly with my Dutch-registered and -based RV-7 into your country without additional paperwork for a weekend or holiday trip, day-VFR?”

Initial sources:

EHRD / Rotterdam

A quick and dirty visualisation shows a quite decent situation (green: good to go, yellow: permit required, other: no information easily obtained or behind paywall).

EHRD / Rotterdam

Fantastic collection – very helpful! It may not be relevant for you as you are based in a country that does not allow it in general, but how about Night VFR and IFR (which is outside the ECAC recommendation)?

Biggin Hill

Reading it quickly the French one says VFR only IFR not allowed. It does not mention night VFR as far as I can see. And here comes an old debate. Night VFR has always been part of the French scene as part of a VFR activity with a night rating and subject to certain regulations in planning and routeing.
On the other hand UK pilots always used to say there was no such thing as Night VFR, and yet there was a night rating in the UK. I never quite got to understand the explanation.
But to answer your question, as it is not ‘interdit’ and is a VFR activity then night VFR in a ECAC registered homebuilt is permitted, providing the aircraft and pilot are suitably qualified.

France

Cobalt wrote:

IFR (which is outside the ECAC recommendation)

I don’t think that is correct. The ECAC recommended that states accept the aircraft without any restrictions other than those on the CofA or PtF. Of course, each state is free to accept the recommendation or not or impose restrictions, which is why it is such a mess.

Top Farm, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom

Reminds me of a Corona-map, only today it would be all red instead of green

Nice map indeed

which is outside the ECAC recommendation

It’s not “outside” the ECAC recommendation. It’s firmly inside.

The elephant is the circulation
ENVA ENOP ENMO, Norway

As discussed before many times the ECAC recommendation has mostly not been implemented. Various countries did bits of it.

IFR remains difficult; for example one UK pilot who got his RV approved managed to get permission from France but never got one from Germany. However, very few homebuilts in Europe are themselves legal for IFR; most have a VFR-only restriction on their permit. N-reg ones are usually unrestricted but very few countries allow them to be long term based there.

On top of that you have airspace restrictions on uncertified planes flying IFR; many previous discussions. These rules are difficult to dig out because they are not EASA or SERA; they are deep in national laws.

One previous thread is here and one for UK LAA ones is here.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom
Sign in to add your message

Back to Top