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Swiss homebuilt, what permissions do I need to fly in Europe?

Hi everyone,

I realize there are similar threads around, but the discussions are a bit over my head. Could someone ELI5 (explain me like I’m five) what I need to do if I want to fly my Swiss homebuilt around Europe? Which countries do I need special permissions and where can I fly without them?

I’m thinking about building a Carbon Cub which I’d like to take for trips around Europe…

Thank you in advance!

Kind regards,

Nick

The main thread is here and you will find some document links in there.

This thread details some recent developments in France and the UK. These appear to bring an improvement to those who want to just visit but screw those who want to remain there past 28 days.

Overall, the situation is not completely clear. Touring Europe in homebuilts is a bit of a grey area in some cases; sometimes because one cannot find the latest regs, or the ones found may not be current. Also a lot of wishful thinking gets posted on forums…

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

It is generally possible to fly a homebuilt around Europe under VFR but there is no universal agreement like the ICAO one for certified aircraft. Absent such a universal agreement you need the permission of each country on your route and they can impose restrictions like VFR only or insist on seeing your insurance or C of A in advance. However, there are standing agreements in place for most countries, which in practice means you don’t usually need to do anything different to what you would do if flying a certified aircraft when flying VFR. For IFR flight, more countries impose restrictions, so it gets more complex and, as Peter says, there is no definitive and current list of these agreements/restrictions.

I suggest you contact the Swiss Experimental Aviation club and ask whether they have any information on standing agreements. This UK document link [ local copy ] lists the standing agreements for UK homebuilts (it was prepared by the UK amateur aviation association, the LAA). It will give you an idea, although the situation with Switzerland will obviously be different in detail.

Top Farm, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom

Thanks for both your replies, I have a much better idea now. Will contact Swiss EAS for the details and report back.

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