Importing Canadian aircraft into US

[Shad]

I see this subject was discussed on the list back in '99, but I was
wondering what people have been doing lately. I am purchasing a
Canadian registered 206 and am importing it into the US. The aircraft
just had an annual, but the owner doesn't have insurance on it, so the
option of having him fly it to the US isn't there. Can someone outline
the best procedures to "quickly" get it registered in the US? Here's
some questions:

How do I get it across the border? I believe that you cannot go across
with the temporary registration paperwork, but does that apply with an
aircraft that's being exported? Is the bill of sale sufficient? I've
got a Canadian license, so I can "legally" fly a C-numbered aircraft in
Canada.

Is there an option to deregister it in Canada and then get a ferry
permit to cross the border? It seems like this would enable me to get
the deregistration paperwork from Canada quicker.

Can someone elaborate on the rest of the steps and does anyone have
experience with the amount of time it has taken to do all of this?

Thanks,

Shad

[Robert M. Gary]

I don't think you can fly a Canadian registered aircraft in Canada
without a Canadian certificate. I believe you can get a Canadian
certificate on a temporary bases on your U.S. but you have to visit
their FSDO.
I would keep the existing registration and get a letter from the old
owner saying you are authorized to fly it in Canada. I would avoid
letting the customs people in the U.S. from knowing you bought it
because I believe there is a big import tax.

-Robert

[Frank Ch. Eigler]

"Shad" > writes:

> [...] I am purchasing a Canadian registered 206 and am importing it
> into the US. [...]

Both AOPA and COPA have some information online about the overall
process. I am told is FAR from painless, even if the airplane is
fairly new. I hope you found out about things like taxes and
import inspections before going through with this deal.

- FChE

[Steve Foley]

"Shad" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> I see this subject was discussed on the list back in '99, but I was
> wondering what people have been doing lately. I am purchasing a
> Canadian registered 206 and am importing it into the US. The aircraft
> just had an annual, but the owner doesn't have insurance on it, so the
> option of having him fly it to the US isn't there.

Where is it written that insurance is required to fly in the US?

[Frank Ch. Eigler]

Steve Foley wrote:

> > [...] Canadian registered 206 and am importing it into the US.
> > The aircraft just had an annual, but the owner doesn't have
> > insurance on it, so the option of having him fly it to the US
> > isn't there.
>
> Where is it written that insurance is required to fly in the US?

Unless the airplane is already sitting on the border, it would have to
fly some way within canadian airspace. *That* is forbidden without
insurance.

- FChE

[Shad]

Frank is right - in Canada you need liability insurance to fly. Even
if you're flying a N-numbered aircraft up there, you'll legally need
liability.

I was able to find out some info from talking to several branches of
the FAA and Transport Canada. I'll first beg the current owner to get
insurance on it and fly it to the states. Otherwise, I'll have to keep
it in Canada, deregister it, get it registered with the US and stick an
N-number on it. Then I'll need a special flight authorization from
Transport Canada to fly to the border and another one from the local
FSDO to fly from the border to my desired airport in the states.

After that, I'll need to get the equivalent of an annual and have a DAR
come out and inspect the plane. He says it should take a 1/2 day and
cost $500+travel. I found out that it had an airworthiness certificate
in the US (for the first 9 hours), so I won't need to have Cessna get
one of its reps to issue an "original" airworthiness cert. The only
thing my A&P will need to do is put together a 337 for the Robertson
STOL and hopefully the DAR will issue a CofA on the spot.

I've been told that when importing to the US, there is no import or
excise tax. Some states will tax the plane, but I believe that this
would happen is you bought a plane in the US as well. If the plane was
being imported to Canada, you'd be paying 7% for PST.

So, the bottom line is that it doesn't look like it will cost much $$
and should be done in a reasonable amount of time as long as any mods
on the aircraft were done correctly and have the supporting docs.

I'll try to post what actually happens here when I get done.

Wish me luck!

Shad

[Bela P. Havasreti]

On 13 Apr 2006 15:04:27 -0700, "Shad" >
wrote:

Did this several years ago. Make sure the airplane meets the type
certificate to the T. All paperwork for all modifications must be in
order. The DAR for my conformity inspection consisted of 10 minutes
looking at the airplane, maybe an hour looking at the paperwork and an
hour+ BS'ing with my IA....

More data points:

The DAR I used (he was local) charged $200.

Didn't have to pay any excise or import tax, but I did have to pay use
tax (Washington State).

You can't do a "nation-wide" title search in Canada. You have to do
a title search in each province in which the aircraft was based /
owned. Not the biggest deal in the world I guess, but it just made
for several more hoops to jump through (as well as a few more
C-notes spent).

If I would have had to pay my IA by the hour to prepare the aircraft
for the conformity inspection, any "benefit" of buying an airplane
in Canada (as in lower price / exchange rates for example) would
have been easily wiped out by his bill for his time....

Would I import an airplane from Canada again? Possibly... if
the price was right and it was a desirable aircraft... but I'd only
do it after I got my IA drunk 1st and then talked him into it! 8^)

Bela P. Havasreti

>Frank is right - in Canada you need liability insurance to fly. Even
>if you're flying a N-numbered aircraft up there, you'll legally need
>liability.
>
>I was able to find out some info from talking to several branches of
>the FAA and Transport Canada. I'll first beg the current owner to get
>insurance on it and fly it to the states. Otherwise, I'll have to keep
>it in Canada, deregister it, get it registered with the US and stick an
>N-number on it. Then I'll need a special flight authorization from
>Transport Canada to fly to the border and another one from the local
>FSDO to fly from the border to my desired airport in the states.
>
>After that, I'll need to get the equivalent of an annual and have a DAR
>come out and inspect the plane. He says it should take a 1/2 day and
>cost $500+travel. I found out that it had an airworthiness certificate
>in the US (for the first 9 hours), so I won't need to have Cessna get
>one of its reps to issue an "original" airworthiness cert. The only
>thing my A&P will need to do is put together a 337 for the Robertson
>STOL and hopefully the DAR will issue a CofA on the spot.
>
>I've been told that when importing to the US, there is no import or
>excise tax. Some states will tax the plane, but I believe that this
>would happen is you bought a plane in the US as well. If the plane was
>being imported to Canada, you'd be paying 7% for PST.
>
>So, the bottom line is that it doesn't look like it will cost much $$
>and should be done in a reasonable amount of time as long as any mods
>on the aircraft were done correctly and have the supporting docs.
>
>I'll try to post what actually happens here when I get done.
>
>Wish me luck!
>
>Shad

[Steve Foley]

Thanks for the clarification.

I had ASS-U-ME-d that since it 'just had an annual' it was legal to fly in
Canada

"Frank Ch. Eigler" > wrote in message
...
>
> Steve Foley wrote:
>
> > > [...] Canadian registered 206 and am importing it into the US.
> > > The aircraft just had an annual, but the owner doesn't have
> > > insurance on it, so the option of having him fly it to the US
> > > isn't there.
> >
> > Where is it written that insurance is required to fly in the US?
>
> Unless the airplane is already sitting on the border, it would have to
> fly some way within canadian airspace. *That* is forbidden without
> insurance.
>
> - FChE

[Paul kgyy]

I didn't have any special inspection expenses when I imported my 69
Arrow 5 years ago, and there were no import duties, etc either. The
main hassles were with title search and currency exchange rates.

It helps a lot if your initial inspection is done by an A&P who does
cross-border inspections routinely.

[David Dyer-Bennet]

"Robert M. Gary" > writes:

> I don't think you can fly a Canadian registered aircraft in Canada
> without a Canadian certificate. I believe you can get a Canadian
> certificate on a temporary bases on your U.S. but you have to visit
> their FSDO.

But the OP said "I've got a Canadian license, so I can legally fly a
C-numbered aircraft in Canada" in his message.

This is getting to be a pet peeve of mine -- Usenet really works
better if people read the messages they're responding to.
--
David Dyer-Bennet, >, <http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/>
RKBA: <http://www.dd-b.net/carry/>
Pics: <http://dd-b.lighthunters.net/> <http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/>
Dragaera/Steven Brust: <http://dragaera.info/>