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Is someone who holds a current EASA PPL(A) allowed to operate an FAA "November" registered aircraft in Europe? Of course I'm talking about a type of aircraft and of operation he or she would be allowed to conduct with an, for example, German-registered aircraft.

Danny Beckett
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Falk
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  • Hehe, that's the reason why I'm asking :D – Falk Jan 16 '14 at 22:15
  • You're specifically referring to Germany in your question. Is your question limited to Germany or anywhere in Europe? – Philippe Leybaert Jan 16 '14 at 23:18
  • Thanks for your edit Philippe. I'm a German, but in this question Germany is only used as an example. I was not happy with replacing this last part with the word operation, but if you like we can use Europe instead of Germany. – Falk Jan 16 '14 at 23:29

2 Answers2

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This is regulated by the FAA in FAR 61.3 and local regulations specific to each country

(a) Required pilot certificate for operating a civil aircraft of the United States. No person may serve as a required pilot flight crewmember of a civil aircraft of the United States, unless that person:

(1) Has in the person's physical possession or readily accessible in the aircraft when exercising the privileges of that pilot certificate or authorization—

(i) A pilot certificate issued under this part and in accordance with § 61.19; (ii) A special purpose pilot authorization issued under § 61.77;

(iii) A temporary certificate issued under § 61.17;

(iv) A document conveying temporary authority to exercise certificate privileges issued by the Airmen Certification Branch under § 61.29(e); or

(v) When operating an aircraft within a foreign country, a pilot license issued by that country may be used.

To operate a US-registered aircraft you either need an FAA license or a pilot license issued by the country where the aircraft is operated in. This also means that you are not allowed to fly into another country, unless you also have a license issued by that country. Even if individual countries allow foreign registered aircraft to be operated by a license holder of another (non-FAA) country, it would still be a violation of FAR 61.3.

Bottom line: if you want to fly a N-registered aircraft without an FAA pilot license in Europe, you need a pilot license issued by every country you're flying into. For example, if you plan a trip from The Netherlands to Portugal you would need 5 different EASA PPL licenses issued by The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain and Portugal.

Philippe Leybaert
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  • I would agree, the whole purpose of EASA issued licenses was to have one license across Europe. I'd be surprised if you couldn't take an N-Reg from Germany to the Netherlands with a PPL-A EU-FCL. – SentryRaven Jan 17 '14 at 07:50
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    @SentryRaven Sadly, that's not how it works, whether it makes sense or not. The FAA regulations are pretty clear about that. – Philippe Leybaert Jan 17 '14 at 13:49
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    This answer is not correct. As @Qantas94Heavy pointed out, the text of (a)(v) says "may." The FAA does not require a foreign license. FAA-certificated pilots routinely fly FAA-registered aircraft through, into, and back from (to name one particularly common example) Canada, and do not require a Canadian pilot's license. I'm not as familiar with EASA regulations, but I very much doubt that a license from each of the countries in your last paragraph is required in your example (and certainly would not be required by the FAA). – TypeIA Apr 21 '14 at 19:15
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    @dvnrrs The answer is correct. I said that you "either need an FAA license or a pilot license issued by the country". So if you don't hold an FAA license, you need a license of the country you're flying in. In your example about Canada: the pilot has an FAA license (as you specifically said), so there's no issue. I will clarify that again in the last paragraph. – Philippe Leybaert Apr 21 '14 at 21:17
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    @PhilippeLeybaert Because EASA didn't exist when 61.3 was written I think this is a case where the wording of the regulations don't seem to match their intent (to the extent that I'm actually going to draft a letter the FAA counsel's office and see what they have to say). I would interpret 61.3 to mean that "An EASA license is valid in any country that issues/recognizes EASA licenses", otherwise the EASA license is kind of useless - but while I think that's what it means as you point out that's not what it *says*. – voretaq7 Apr 21 '14 at 21:48
  • @PhilippeLeybaert NO, the answer is not correct. There is no requirement to have a Dutch license for flying a US registered aircraft in the Netherlands for exemple. A US license suffices. This is different from flying a Dutch registered aircraft, this is illegal in the Netherlands with a US license. Which is where your confusion probably stems from. The Netherlands for that reason contains a number of US registered aircraft, specifically for rental to people who have a US license and thus can't rent a Dutch registered aircraft. – jwenting Apr 22 '14 at 14:32
  • in fact, if your reasoning is correct, it would be illegal for anyone to fly in any country other than the one he got his license without taking flying lessons there first and getting a local license. This is patently silly of course. – jwenting Apr 22 '14 at 14:34
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    @jwentling Did you actually read the question and my answer? It's about flying an N-REGISTERED aircraft WITHOUT A US PILOT LICENSE in Europe. "WITHOUT". I specifically said that you need either an FAA license (U.S. license) or a license issued by the country you're flying in. – Philippe Leybaert Apr 22 '14 at 14:40
  • @jwenting; the (correct I might add) reasoning is that you can take your US license and fly an N-registered aircraft anywhere you want (where your license is accepted). However, you can't take a Chinese or Russian license and fly an N-registered aircraft anywhere but within China or Russia. I don't know for certain if you're allowed to fly an N-registered aircraft throughout the EASA-area or not on an EASA license though. It used to be like is described here, but it might have changed since EASA got underway. I don't know if you can even have more than one EASA license. – falstro Apr 22 '14 at 14:56
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    @PhilippeLeybaert Just to follow up, I heard back from the FAA and they've confirmed that your interpretation is correct - 61.3 and the Chicago Convention render the EASA license invalid once you leave the issuing country (unless the state of registration of the aircraft & the state issuing the license are the same). That could mean collecting a lot of licenses in Europe if you're flying an N-registered aircraft :-) – voretaq7 May 24 '14 at 02:03
  • The solution you are proposing with multiple national licences is problematic, as EU1178/2011 FCL.015 c) states: "A person shall not hold at any time more than one licence per category of aircraft issued in accordance with this Part." effectively barring from holding EASA Part-FCL licences in multiple countries. Similarily JAR-FCL 1.065 e) states/stated: "An applicant shall hold only one JAR– FCL licence (aeroplane) and only one medical certificate at any time." – Waked Apr 13 '15 at 22:13
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Regarding EASA regulation 216/2008 and 1178/2011 (EU). Since April 8, 2015, the EU laws also require pilots who live in Europe, and fly a foreign registered aircraft (for example an N-registered aircraft) that they also have to have the EASA license. There will be a postponement of this regulation by one year, i.e. until April 8, 2016, that the EU intends to publish in the coming weeks. Until 2016, there will be a bilateral agreement between the EU and the USA, providing a simple mutual recognition of licenses, stand-alone licenses. This will make it much easier to get a FAA stand-alone license.

Federico
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Detlef Heun
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    do you have any links to the actual regulations you are mentioning? – Federico Apr 11 '15 at 06:29
  • EU 1178/2011 http://easa.europa.eu/document-library/regulations/commission-regulation-eu-no-11782011 EU216/2008 https://easa.europa.eu/document-library/regulations/regulation-ec-no-2162008 – Waked Apr 13 '15 at 22:14
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    Can you please explain how it would change the process of getting a FAA license if you already have a valid European PPL license? As far as I know, the new EASA regulations won't make it any easier to get a standalone FAA license for European pilots. – Philippe Leybaert Apr 13 '15 at 22:39