Since all legally registered aircraft must be “certified” in one Category or another, calling them “non-certified” is mis-leading.
I suggest the forum’s name be changed to “Amateur built” and/or micro-light aircraft.
“Non-certified” is merely a contraction of “non-TYPE-certified”, which does not coincide with amateur-built, nor with microlight.
Well if doesn’t coincide with amateur-built nor microlight, then what DOES it coincide with ?
I understand it to coincide with any/all aircraft which do not have an internationally recognised Certificate of Airworthiness (CofA).
Non-CofA aircraft in the UK issued with a Permit to Fly by the LAA are required to display a sign in the cockpit with the following wording… This aircraft has not been certificated to an International Requirement.
Certification as a regulatory concept applies to the design, not individual aircraft. Aircraft flying in several legal categories worldwide are built to entirely non-certified designs, including for example FAA E-AB, US ultralights and UK SSDR, and others are built to designs approved by non-government organizations that have no internationally recognized certification authority.
Individual aircraft having Certificates of Airworthiness has nothing to do with design certification. For example many homebuilt aircraft worldwide have a C of A, with nationally defined Experimental Category operating limitations. I think best description of aircraft built to non-certified designs is simply ‘non-certified’, as per the name of this sub-forum. What aircraft flying in non-certified categories have in common for discussion within this Forum area is relative freedom in design, maintenance and modification, and more challenging requirements for many international operations.
We did consider this at the time and could not think of a better name.
Non-certified in this case means not having an ICAO CofA.
There are many possible classifications but the biggest dividing line of all is whether you can just jump in, start up, and fly internationally without having to get permits. And that needs an ICAO CofA.
I know the majority of pilots never fly internationally but this is a European forum, and one of the objectives behind setting it up was to encourage people to fly a bit further.
All all planes that don’t have an ICAO CofA and are not “microlights” amateur built? Are there no factory built ones? What about this?
Peter wrote:
There are many possible classifications but the biggest dividing line of all is whether you can just jump in, start up, and fly internationally without having to get permits. And that needs an ICAO CofA.
Well, I actually CAN (legally) jump in my homebuilt, start up, and fly internationally to most (not all) european countries without having to get a permit. Sorry for nitpicking 
We have a Search function here, and a term like
homebuilt privileges
produces enough reading, with references, for anyone interested in researching that avenue.
Maybe we will see you at one of our fly-ins, europaxs?
Is there any input on #6? It doesn’t change the thread title debate but it is an interesting point. This is a good one but it doesn’t address it.
Yes, EDTF in May maybe. I’d try to make everything in a circle of 300NM around EDLE for a daytrip. So we can also meet at Shoreham 
Microlights are in some parts certified. In Germany they have a CofA issued by the DAeC or DULV. (Although both seem not to take the certification very serkously. Hence the constant findings by the BFU)
