Snoopy – you may as well ask for proof of [lack of] extraterrestrial life.
Killer argument ;)
We are not debating extra terrestrial life but N-reg vs. EASA reg maintenance practices.
I think it is not as clear cut as saying “N-reg is more flexible” etc.. due to the major changes (improvements) that EASA Part-ML brought for private owners.
I wouldn’t say one is superior to the other, both have different pro’s and con’s.
https://www.euroga.org/articles/misc/easa-part-ml-pilot-owner-maintenance
I was referring to the difficulty of getting people from around Europe to discuss their experiences in a representative way.
It simply isn’t going to happen, in an open forum.
One has to ask why EASA sabotaged that “without Form 1” concession. Ask who would have an interest in making GA life harder. Answers on a post card, as they say 
I can think of two options:
It is obviously the latter
Antonio wrote:
We see a lot of mechanic-bashing even in this mostly civilized forum.I would say having an excellent relationship with whoever maintains your aircraft is in the top-two list for ownership success.
Reading myself again, I could be read as ranting without proposing an action. In my experience the best GA mechanics are those who also fly. Perhaps we could do better at promoting GA amongst those who maintain our aircraft…
Every now and then we do some GA fostering by inviting someone or even groups to fly like here but,
When was the last time you invited your non-flying mechanic to fly with you on his free time?
Antonio wrote:
When was the last time you invited your non-flying mechanic to fly with you on his free time?
This is a great idea. My shop owner does fly, but inviting the actual mechanics to fly is a great suggestion.
Make sure to tell him that you’ll invite him right after he’s done some (heavy) maintenance on your plane 
Snoopy wrote:
Who in Netherlands, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, France etc.. has “limited options” due “airfield political factors”?
Hangar spaces are a sought after commodity with waiting lists of up to 10 years or more, often not at one’s home base but far away. Hence, it is relatively easy to invoke rules and regulations which are stricter than they have to be, particularly where hangars are not single spaces but full with other people’s airplanes. The same goes for many rental garages, I don’t know many in which you are allowed to do maintenance and other stuff on your car either.
I doubt that this has to do with explicit policies e.g. such as to assure work for the local maintenance but rather with minimizing risks and keeping the hangars half ways orderly. In many places, if you ask, you can do quite a lot which does not correspond to the rules but which, with prior agreement, can still be done.
Antonio wrote:
I would say having an excellent relationship with whoever maintains your aircraft is in the top-two list for ownership success.
100% agreement. Without that, ownership is bound to be a very more expensive undertaking unless you are a qualified mechanic and also have the space to do everything yourself. And even then, a 2nd pair of reliable eyes would be a big advantage.
The A&P IA I work with most nowadays is German, single and often hungry, in particular for German food. My wife is an excellent cook…. This is a good contribution to a win-win relationship and we really enjoy having him over for dinner occasionally. Prompt payment in cash also helps – I stop at the bank and get crisp new $100 bills
People are both the problem and the solution. Reducing people to cogs in a ‘maintenance machine’ makes them more problematic and less helpful – you also become part of the machine.
Incidentally, all the IAs I’ve worked with are better pilots than me. The first one also taught me to fly and is to this day a much better pilot than me. I watched him wheel land a Cessna 180 the other day and it was as if the plane were on rails. When I bought my first plane our first task was to clean up a fuel tank installation that had been done improperly. He then test flew the plane, and then we started flying together.
I just had a deep look into renting out again. Did part of my IR hours on a rented aircraft. You just don’t get that plane on weekends.
That made my training lessons quite more expensive, because I couldn’t work in the meantime. And the days have to be planned weeks in advance.
If I’d calculate that flexibility against the costs of owning the calculation does get a lot better in my case.
Anyhow. Deciding on a Saturday morning that it’s now all good to fly, go to the airfield, pull out the plane and just go flying is totally invaluable. This is not about the costs. I wouldn’t do the flying I’m doing without owning. It’s just not possible to rent out to fly out over a weekend, at least where I live.
What a silly debate you guys are having. And here I am with my EASA license, no easy way to get and maintain an FAA license, just desperately wishing and yearning for the opportunity to have a hangar at my home airport, which is basically impossible, and to be able to buy basically anything decent. Yes I would buy EASA reg, in a heartbeat, and just deal with EASA maintenance, if I had some space to put it in.
You know there’s all this talk about GA being on the ropes and dying in Europe but really I’m starting to find that it’s the current stake holders, from old geezer that only let their friends in their hangars to fields that would prefer to rake in millions by operating CAT only to regulators who’d like to write a million rules and wouldn’t mind if all of the training is done in the sim and only CAT flying for real. The demand is there, but it’s the most simple barriers that are the problem. Hangars and reasonable airports. So disgusting makes me want to quit after just 3 years.
