Screenshot of spreadsheet
(I have emailed you – not sure if you got it… tried to save it but it is HTML, with many files linked to)
Does this mean that an IFR approved homebuilt can fly
UK – France – Switzerland – Italy – Croatia – Greece
under both VFR and IFR, without having to get permissions?
It CAN fly IFR for sure, but is it allowed to do so – I have doubts as well.
There are some odd regulations, e.g. a N-reg Homebuilt is allowed to entry Germany for 180 days per year (and one has to apply for it seperately but is allowed to fly IFR if the operating limitations state so), an ECAC-homebuilt has a general entry-permission (AIP GEN 1-17) but is limeted to day-VFR. Does this make any sense – but do we talk about sense in that context anyway?
I’ve read accident reports, saying “the owner of Homebuilt didn’t apply for an entry permit” although he didn’t need to. So in conclusion even the oficials sometimes don’t have a clue of their own regulations….
This stuff is all buried in national legislation, in the local languages.
LeSving – how did you compile that table?
I’ve read accident reports, saying “the owner of Homebuilt didn’t apply for an entry permit” although he didn’t need to. So in conclusion even the oficials sometimes don’t have a clue of their own regulations….
True, but if you find this kind of comment in an accident report, it does suggest that keeping below the radar may not work for insurance purposes, after an accident.
There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Flying abroad VFR with a homebuilt is bearable in Central Europe and often (e. g. in the Netherlands) regulation on those aircraft is liberal. I think that, when the insurance comes into play, you’re better off knowing exactly, what is legal. Finally it all melts down to risk management.
I wrote an e-mail to the investigation board BFU in Germany concerning the mentioned report. They answered, LBA told them, the owner (of the czech – ECAC – registered homebuilt) neglected to apply for the entry-permission. In Tannkosh I met an RV-owner (PH-reg) who attended with another aircraft since the LBA – guess what – told him, that he needed to apply for an entry-permission for his new bought plane…etc.
Authorities often don’t know, but the Insurance will find the (missing) gap.
The entry permit requirements are normally in the AIP (and the LAA doc covers them pretty well) but the “long term parking” regs (which is the main issue for somebody who has bought a homebuilt, or wants to park it somewhere for more than a few days) are not in there. They are buried in national-language laws.
For example where is the 28-day N-reg homebuilt limit for the UK? It should be in the ANO but a search turns up nothing.
And I bet you they are vague… how do you phrase a regulation to catch an aircraft which sits inside a hangar for a year? The last 337 days will be illegal, but how can a lump of metal sitting inside a private hangar be “illegal”? It’s nonsense. It would become illegal once pushed outside and the engine started for the purpose of going for a flight. Or upon the filing of a flight plan? One could draft a framework which requires relocation outside the country’s borders for x days a year (and this has been done for the UK foreign domicile stuff on taxation) but it isn’t trivial, and it continues to generate plenty of work for domicile experts.
Peter wrote:
This stuff is all buried in national legislation, in the local languages.
Not exactly, only the regulations regarding a locally built/imported homebuilt is, not the regulations regarding visiting homebuilts. Homebuilds are not an EASA thing.
Peter wrote:
Does this mean that an IFR approved homebuilt can flyUK – France – Switzerland – Italy – Croatia – Greece
under both VFR and IFR, without having to get permissions?
Yes, that is exactly what it means (considering IFR in an homebuilt is approved in the UK, and registered in the UK)
europaxs wrote:
I wrote an e-mail to the investigation board BFU in Germany concerning the mentioned report. They answered, LBA told them, the owner (of the czech – ECAC – registered homebuilt) neglected to apply for the entry-permission. In Tannkosh I met an RV-owner (PH-reg) who attended with another aircraft since the LBA – guess what – told him, that he needed to apply for an entry-permission for his new bought plane…etc.
Looks more like you are mixing stuff together here. The Czech republic has never implemented the ECAC recommendation, are you sure this was not a microlight? The RV looks like it was an import case.
No, I don’t mix things up. The accident happend in Jena/Germany. The Czech Republic is an ECAC-memberstate. ECAC-registered homebuilts (like also the dutch registered RV) have general entry-permit in Germany and LBA told the BFU, the owner, who regretfully died in the crash made the mistake, not to apply for the permission.
That also didn’t make things easier for the bereaved.
europaxs wrote:
The accident happend in Jena/Germany. The Czech Republic is an ECAC-memberstate. ECAC-registered homebuilts have general entry-permit in Germany
The Czech republic don’t have homeuilts as far as I know, except microlight (and some LSA?) which are not homebuilts in the ECAC sense (experimental amateur built aircraft). They are microlights and LSA no matter if they actually are built at home or not. Maybe some Czech member can elaborate (or set me straight 
)
It was a Europa, that IS a homebuilt. No LSA, no Ultralight.
But I’m not Czech, sorry 
Regarding insurance: our DR1050 is on an LAA Permit to Fly, but our insurance covers most of Europe. (Excluding Faroes, Iceland, Greenland, and Svalbard, but not Jan Mayan.)
Regarding night and IFR with UK Permit to Fly aircraft: permission is issued to individual aircraft.
