Moving a glider to Europe

[connekt]

A friend of mine is thinking about moving temporarily a US-registered
glider (DG300, with its trailer) to Europe. The final destination is
Italy, but the entry port can be anywhere.

I heard that sometimes this can be tricky, could end up with a bunch
of duties to pay and/or the impossibility to fly the plane while
there. I'm sure someone else has done it before, and I would
appreciate any suggestions about where to entry (Germany? Holland?
maybe Slovenia?) and the paperworks necessary.

Thanks in advance

[Frank Whiteley]

On Sep 1, 8:54 am, connekt > wrote:
> A friend of mine is thinking about moving temporarily a US-registered
> glider (DG300, with its trailer) to Europe. The final destination is
> Italy, but the entry port can be anywhere.
>
> I heard that sometimes this can be tricky, could end up with a bunch
> of duties to pay and/or the impossibility to fly the plane while
> there. I'm sure someone else has done it before, and I would
> appreciate any suggestions about where to entry (Germany? Holland?
> maybe Slovenia?) and the paperworks necessary.
>
> Thanks in advance

Not familiar with all that, but there may be time period limits to
operating an N-registered airframe in any particular country or within
the EU. IIRC, there used to be a 12 month limit in the UK, but that
was around 1990. I doubt that you'd pay any customs duty or VAT
unless the glider is sold. The annual condition inspection on an N-
registered experimental airframe may require a US qualified sign-off
to be legal. They are available in Europe, but you need to find one.
I know one that is in the process of moving to Switzerland. You may
find some around US military installations, especially where there are
aero clubs.

Frank Whiteley