Katamarino wrote:
I thought there was no VAT if you’re moving to the EU and bringing an already owned vehicle with you…Also, fly it across! I flew my C182 over and it was great.
Thats what I did although I landed at Wick. Afterward before final destination I toured France, flew to Germany and ended up in Hungary. Look at all the stress I saved by being ignorant and luck not to have been stopped in France. Although, I did make sure that I would have an exemption for the VAT in Hungary.
I thought there was no VAT if you’re moving to the EU and bringing an already owned vehicle with you…
Also, fly it across! I flew my C182 over and it was great.
Antonio wrote:
You are supposed to import the goods upon entry into the EU, with the exception of transits to a different final EU destination, which should be declared under “T1” .
Exactly. And one pays the VAT in the country of import; unless you have the right paperwork, that is (assuming they catch you there) the first landing in the EU.
Snoopy wrote:
Is it ok to import the plane using the country with lowest VAT?
Yes, but then you either have to do the first EU landing there, or have good papers arranged for all intermediary landings (the rumour says this is a T1 form).
In case you haven’t seen this presentation it is helpful and no nonsense
Silvaire wrote:
My experience in installing wings is that the best thing you can have is a fair number of people.
Absolutely. And a stack of old truck tires.
Ultranomad wrote:
For Cessnas it’s a trivial thing. Cessna wing attachment bolts are inserted into cylindrical steel bushings with an eccentric hole. By rotating this bushing within the attachment lug, you can change the wing incidence. The standard procedure is to orient them in a default neutral position, then adjust them if the aircraft flies wing-heavy.
That’s interesting, a neat system and repeatable as long as any off-center positioning of the eccentrics is recorded at disassembly. The method I’ve been exposed to on other metal wing planes involves adjusting the flap stops independently, which is not ideal. Otherwise I’ve seen fixed trim tabs on the ailerons.
I’ve hardly ever had anything to do with Cessnas, not really my thing as a plane to own, but when on occasion I’ve compared their detail design and manufacturing to that of some other planes it’s apparent that their high volume production allowed them to refine a lot of little details, good designs but still cheap to make.
My experience in installing wings is that the best thing you can have is a fair number of people.
Many thanks for all the info so far! Thanks to someone on here it looks as though I’ve found an A&P/IA/CFI at Mandelieu who can do it – and a great many other things besides once I get myself installed.
EuroGA is an amazing resource!
My very first technical work on an airplane was taking part in reassembly of a Cessna shipped in a container, and it was a bastard one to boot: a fuselage from a 150 and a wing from a 152. It’s a fairly simple procedure if you know what you are doing and the guys at the other end also knew what they were doing and did not take apart too much. If I remember correctly, we completed it in a day, or maybe two.
Peter wrote:
I have heard it said a number of times that some planes get reassembled incorrectly, and you need only 1mm twist on the wings and it will never fly straight – as well as flying a lot slower.I don’t know to what extent this is possible – aren’t wing attachment bolts a very precise fit?
For Cessnas it’s a trivial thing. Cessna wing attachment bolts are inserted into cylindrical steel bushings with an eccentric hole. By rotating this bushing within the attachment lug, you can change the wing incidence. The standard procedure is to orient them in a default neutral position, then adjust them if the aircraft flies wing-heavy.
Some fabric wing planes do use v-struts to twist the wing intentionally with adjustable fittings on the strut, this being used for washout and roll axis trim adjustment. In this case it’s possible to mis-rig when reassembling after shipment but with an aluminum skinned wing made in a jig, none of the above is true and rigging adjustments are limited to the flight controls. I’m not familiar with how much rigging may or may not be lost on a Cessna when the wing and flight controls are removed, but it’s not that big a deal regardless. Ground bolts and reamed holes are used so that is not an issue.
My plane has wings that can be removed easily without disconnecting the flight controls or flaps. They then reconnect automatically without any adjustment when you reinstall the wing. The most time consuming part is draining the fuel.
I have heard it said a number of times that some planes get reassembled incorrectly, and you need only 1mm twist on the wings and it will never fly straight – as well as flying a lot slower.
I don’t know to what extent this is possible – aren’t wing attachment bolts a very precise fit?
For sure many planes do not achieve their book numbers and while this is probably more likely due to other things (duff instruments, perhaps) it could be due to poor rigging.
This is one reason why more valuable planes tend to be flown across the Atlantic rather than containerised.
