there is still nothing to say that this particular issue would be construed as a criminal offence
Well, nobody knows if something in this “operator” business is an offence or not, for sure, but if you do break some rule in FCL and it is determined that you did so, it is a criminal offence, no question.
The law of precedent? In the EU? You’re joking, right?
One UK barrister told me that EU law generally is rubbish, in the poor way it is drafted. The process used is sloppy. If a law is drafted in the UK, it is done by people who do it for a living and who know how people will try to get around it. So we end up with relatively few loopholes or ambiguities. Whereas e.g. EASA FCL is full of grey areas.
Could a US citizen living in the US, own and fly a non US aircraft on a non US license? Not to my knowledge.
Yes he could. I know a guy who kept a G-reg plane there for years. There are nowadays some TSA rules on movements however, and only a masochist would want to do this and land himself with finding Part M maintenance out there 
Peter wrote:
Yes he could. I know a guy who kept a G-reg plane there for years.
Without a license issued by the FAA? I highly doubt that. Also, was he a US citizen? I know I could take my own aircraft to the US and stay there for some time and fly around, but that that is a different situation.
Peter is correct LeSving and not only that there have been a number of European reg Commercial Operators based on and off in the US over the years, and none of their crew had FAA certs.
Well Martin, you state that the boss of this forum has confirmed the derogation criminal law etc and yet his stance was somewhat different a while back when he wrote in 2012 ‘This stuff is too vague to be easily enforceable as criminal law’
https://www.euroga.org/forums/hangar-talk/301-easa-fcl-and-faa-cpl-ir-pilots-conversion
But you go ahead and keep convincing yourself if you wish
the boss of this forum
No idea who that is. I am not the “boss” here. I am mod+admin and I just keep the place neat and tidy
FWIW my view has not changed. It is ambiguous and my view is that this is deliberate (i.e. FUD). But that does not mean it should not be discussed because getting oneself informed means that one can take action according to one’s attitude to risk, etc.
Peter wrote:
One UK barrister told me that EU law generally is rubbish, in the poor way it is drafted.
It’s drafted similarly to national law on “the continent”. It’s quite different from what you’re used to in the UK. Spirit being very important. Part-FCL for sure contains errors. Sometimes it’s not clear what was the intent. For me the bigger issue is that you’re dealing with two levels where EASA AIUI can’t enforce common interpretation. If people at your NAA are twisting the rules on purpose to accomplish whatever they want (or just don’t understand the rules as well as they should), you’re in a bad position. AIUI people there typically work with the translated regulations and translation is known to introduce errors.
Phobos wrote:
Well Martin, you state that the boss of this forum has confirmed the derogation criminal law etc and yet his stance was somewhat different a while back when he wrote in 2012 ‘This stuff is too vague to be easily enforceable as criminal law’
It’s one thing whether they could successfully hang you on it, it’s another whether it would be considered criminal offense. And Peter confirmed I got the issue at hand correct, no conclusions were involved.
Phobos wrote:
there have been a number of European reg Commercial Operators based on and off in the US over the years, and none of their crew had FAA certs.
Commercial yes. I am wondering about a US citizen, living in the US, with a non US aircraft flying om a non US license.
Yes, you can. This is how ICAO works, with certified aircraft and pilots with ICAO compliant licenses/ratings.
The control you presumably refer to is a limit on long term parking. Only the 3rd World doesn’t allow this, and in Europe only a few countries seem to limit it with non-EU-reg planes (Denmark and Norway AFAIK).
Do you have a reference to the FAA that say you can? ICAO means nothing in this respect. It is not even a part of their scope.
Do you have a reference to the FAA that say you can?
Do you have a reference to a law saying I am allowed to wear pink underpants while riding a bike?
Everything not prohibited is permitted.
Let’s say you have a G-reg TB20. You sell it to somebody in the USA. You could fly that G-reg TB20 to the USA right now. Shoreham – Wick – Iceland – Greenland – Newfoundland – USA.
So the only issue is long term parking (with flying, obviously – sitting in a shed is fine even with an N-reg in Somalia). As I wrote earlier, there are some TSA restrictions. The info on these (with references) is hard to find because (for the reasons posted earlier) almost nobody is silly enough to do this. And the buyer for that G-reg TB20 will put it on the N-reg instantly, for many reasons. God knows how you would maintain a G-reg SEP in the USA.
Peter wrote:
Do you have a reference to a law saying I am allowed to wear pink underpants while riding a bike?
Flying an aircraft is not a human right, there are tons of requirements to fulfill. The US airspace is governed by the FAA, and the FAA don’t let anything up there unless it is OK by the FAA.
I hear what you are saying, but in this respect it is not automatically so. The FAA is free to put any restriction on their airspace they whish, and that is what they do, particularly regarding foreign licenses and foreign registered aircraft.
