Light Aircraft Association

Dear all,

this is my first post so please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Roland and I'm from Germany. I bought a used Europa XS Trigear in January 2011 in the UK (saved money for many years like I think most of us did to turn a dream into reality) and - as recommended by my british Europa friends - soon joined the LAA as a full member.

I initially planned to keep the aircraft on the british register (not possible to register it here in Germany when it's not built here) but since my mechanic is dutch, some of my Europa friends are dutch, I live only 50 miles away from the dutch border and registration there was easy, the transfer on their register was an obvious choice for me.

Nevertheless I remained a full LAA-member, because I wanted to go on supporting them and what they do for "our" form of aviation, I don't understand dutch and still UK is the "home" of the Europa. Just call it solidarity.

Okay I no longer beat around the bush: I've learned from other LAA-members abroad who still have their machines registered in the UK, that they received a letter from the LAA, basically saying, that it is not in the best interest of the organisation to continue to administer the Permit to fly for those aircraft based abroad and that the LAA will be unable to accept a renewal application and "one wishes further happy flying".

That is pretty steep in my opinion, especially, since in some countries (like Germany) it's merely impossible to register. I wonder, if the LAA is aware of the trouble they put their members abroad into? What is the reason for that strange approach? As for my knowing there haven't been any difficulties in the past with aircraft abroad. It's ironical, that I got on very well with the UK-CAA and isn't it normally the authorities we have our difficulties with? I also have no Information, that the CAA who AFAIK delegated the administration of the PTF-aircraft to the LAA has anything to do with this new pace of the LAA.

BTW: I asked the LAA-office essentially the same questions a week ago and have no response yet - so still in anticipation.

Please don't get me wrong, I only try to understand that and of course ask myself, why I should renew my membership, if they don't want aircraft/members abroad showing us the door?

I would be very much interested in your opinion about that.

Regards
Roland

Hi Roland,
Welcome to LAA HangarChat . I am very sympathetic to your cause and realise that we probably are quite fortunate in the UK with the homebuilt aircraft situation and having the LAA to fight our corner for us.
I actually have no knowledge of how a UK registered Permit to Fly type of aircraft would fare in other parts of Europe. I wouldn't have thought that a person living in mainland Europe with a UK reg'd PtF type aircraft would have a problem , if the aeroplane had it's maintenance carried out in the UK by an LAA approved Inspector . Although somebody more knowledgeable may well prove me wrong.

The real stumbling block for you is that your Europa is now on the Dutch register , which will go against the LAA's national approval from the UK CAA , when it comes to releasing the a/c back into service again after maintenance.
Remaining a member of the LAA is definitely a good idea for many other reasons .
Don't interpret the expression 'Happy Flying' as meaning that the boys and girls at Turweston are trying to poke fun at you , as I'm sure that is not the case. It is just administratively not possible though for them to oversee your aeroplane.
Hope you get it sorted out. [ and happy flying mate ]

Hi Roland

I understand that your query was answered in more detail in an e-mail to you from our Chief Inspector, Ken Craigie, but to clarify for others, the Light Aircraft Association is only authorised to approve aircraft which are on the UK register. We have no authority to approve aircraft under the jurisdiction of the Dutch, German or indeed any other national aviation authority.

In order to operate be a British-registered aircraft, the owner has to be based in the UK. While some LAA permit aircraft may spend time overseas, the assumption from an administrative point of view remains that their primary base is in the UK, allowing us to maintain them under UK jurisdiction.

In your case Roland, as your aircraft is on the Dutch register, there is nothing that we can directly do to assist. So saying I hope you agree as a centre of expertise, we are always on hand to offer advice, either to yourself or to any Dutch airworthiness inspectors with whom you are working. As one of our engineering team is a former Europa design engineer, we certainly have in-depth knowledge available.

In addition, looking to the future, we are working with EASA via Europe Air Sports, to ensure greater uniformity between the different European airworthiness bodies. Here's hoping that sometime in the future the term 'Single European Skies' will have added meaning for us!

Best regards

Steve Slater
CEO
Light Aircraft Association