Bring my N-reg TR182 to France or not?

1. No, not really not a big issue
2. At LFMD, no problem certainly. It is one of the „GA epicentres“ of Europe, with lots of „high value“ GA, and therefore many many N-regs
3. there will always be solutions. The most simple one (if it can still fly somehow) is to just fly to it to where you have a mechanic. The other one is to repair it yourself (to flyable condition) and then get it to a place with an A&P. The third is to get an A&P there, but almost nobody does that, as it costs a lot of money.
4. No. Just get a „local“ insurance company. If you are lucky, this will cost less than in the US.

These are likely not your main problems. The „problem“ of people like you (many similar cases here in the last 8 years) is that often they come here and expect the flying to be just like in the US. But it is not. People have to „relearn“ most of what they have previously learned about flying (except the stick and rudder stuff) and be ready to do that. Most fail on that and get frustrated with all the restrictions and costs of flying here.

Welcome to EuroGA, johnh

As bosco says, N-reg in Europe is generally ok.

If you are “based in” the EU (the terminology of this EU reg is not well defined, and there is no enforcement, currently) then you need EASA papers, as well as the FAA ones. Thread here.

Flying in Europe, especially under IFR, is not that different from doing it in the US. ATC services differ a lot though.

The “ground stuff” will probably differ more; Europe has a lot less GA and thus a lot less GA services and a lot less expertise in many areas. So you need to make sure you have a good “team” available, and most N-reg owners fail in this and use the services of a company (often a FAR145 one) and then they pay a lot more than if they used a freelance A&P/IA (like I do). All work on an N-reg must be done by, or under the supervision of, an FAA A&P, but there is a fair number of these around Europe. IAs are a lot fewer.

A search of EuroGA for e.g. “N-reg” (with the quotes) digs out many previous discussions.

I’ve been N-reg since 2005. Some notes on ownership are here, more on N-reg here, and some trip writeups which show European flying are here. The last one is not bad an example of how it works here.

French airspace and ATC is a lot better than in most other places in Europe and especially the UK which now has many new issues. The main issues in Europe are badly managed airports, plus a lot of uncontrolled airspace which makes “IFR” ambiguous at times.

Always feel free to ask any questions. We have many experienced pilots on EuroGA.

I’m not a US citizen, so I would have to transfer the plane to a trust

In that case you must have needed a trust in the US also, to “own” the plane.

Hi John,

I’m Mickael, based in Cannes Mandelieu, i don’t have my own plane but i rent a TB21 turbo who is “N” registered and about the mechanics i’m not able to give you advices now but there are others planes in “N” registration also. They usually use a freelance like Peter say. I can give you names if needed.

In Cannes hangar are on waiting list and expensive, outside it’s about 2000€/year.

I will think also your questions opposite way:
What are you going to do in Nice region, do you plan to use your plane a lot ?

If you plan to buy another one when you arrive here there is maybe less choice for example if you want to find a good 182RG turbo to buy here.
https://www.planecheck.com/

So if you like your plane and think you will use it here, it’s worth it to bring it.
I’m not expert but you will have to pay the trip + VAT when the plane is staying more than 6 month in europe.

Don’t hesitate to contact me if you need more info on Cannes LFMD.

It’s a great place to fly !

@johnh, sent you a PM.

I used to rent out my TB20 and have previously written about the “experience” I’d say anyone who rents out a TB20/TB21 needs to be pretty confident in his customers. Of course this is possible (johnh sounds like an experienced pilot) but in reality there are exceedingly few such pilots in Europe. The GA community which actually goes places is very small and almost everyone who is current and especially if having a current IR has their own plane. So the owner has to either be very picky about who he rents out to, or is renting out some old heap.

Yes; good point about the US corporation and flying mostly in the US.

FWIW, a very experienced ferry pilot friend of mine does a Europe-US ferry for about 5k USD plus expenses, which works out at 10-15k USD. He doesn’t do many pistons nowadays though; mostly TPs and bizjets. So unless you fly it over yourself you are probably looking at 10k+.

Yes there is import VAT to pay, on the declared market value. No import duty. One previous thread is here.

@Peter John would be relocating from the US to EU so he would get the one time VAT exemption on the plane.

@johnh I learnt to fly in KPAO/KSQL and I brought back my aztec in 2017 (thread about it here). I wondered too it it was worth selling it in the US and purchasing something in France and decided to keep my trusty machine instead of rolling the dice one more time.

I got burned on the hangar question; I had to stay outside for a year and my rudder was destroyed during a storm. Fixing it turned out to be a nightmare even though the insurance paid for every expense.

@mktime is spot on, the key point is really the usage you’ll make of the plane (mktime how’s the TB21 treating you :)?). If you don’t fly it that much you might be better off selling your 182 and renting a nice Cirrus in Cannes. Conversely if you decide to invest the time to explore France/Europe by air having a reliable machine ready to go is a must.

Even in the US if I need to get somewhere I mostly fly commercial, I don’t have to worry about WX or spend days thinking of ways round all the things that can go wrong. So in reality we’d probably end up driving. Or to see my family in the UK, a stone’s throw from EGLK. But EZY or even BA is way cheaper, and avoids all the hassle.

So, bottom line is that I’d end up with a plane that is perfect for the kind of flying that I’ll barely ever do.

Then I don‘t see the point. You must be really passionate about the flying in order to accept it all. If it‘s a hassle for you already, then forget it. I Europe, flying somewhere is quite a bit more effort than just firing up FF and jumping into the plane.